Down here in Mississippi, where the Gulf breeze carries the scent of freedom and the piney woods remind a man every day that self-reliance is what keeps you standing when the storms hit, I sat in my study in Gulfport on January 2, 2026, watching the replay of New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, getting sworn in the day before. As a retired Air Force colonel with 32 years under my belt—dodging IEDs as an EOD tech, commanding B-1 bombers dropping justice on tyrants, and surviving the hell of the Pentagon on 9/11—I couldn’t let this slide without calling it out straight.Mamdani, this self-proclaimed democratic socialist born in Uganda and now running the Big Apple, stood there on January 1 and declared war on America’s core: “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Idiotic. Pure, unadulterated idiocy. Rugged individualism isn’t frigid—it’s the roaring fire that forged this nation. It’s what carried us through Valley Forge, crushed Hitler, and landed us on the moon. It’s the veteran enlisting broke and rising through merit, the entrepreneur betting everything on a dream, the family farmer grinding from dawn to dusk without begging the government for scraps.To show you how dangerous this collectivist nonsense is, let me tell you about Jack Harlan—a stand-in for every hardworking American I’ve fought alongside. Jack was a third-generation New Yorker, a plumber who built his business from nothing in the gritty ‘90s when the city was a war zone of crime. Toolbox in hand, truck on credit, he fixed pipes in dangerous high-rises, earning every dollar through sweat and skill. No handouts, no unions forcing his hand. He embodied that rugged spirit: up before sunrise, black coffee, hustling jobs till dark. After 9/11—the day I ran back into the burning Pentagon searching for brothers-in-arms—Jack’s crew helped rebuild, welding and piping without waiting for federal permission.Now, under Mamdani’s “warmth,” imagine what hits Jack. This mayor rolls out his socialist playbook: equity mandates shaking down successful businesses to fund the collective. Jack’s shop gets labeled “privileged” for hiring skilled tradesmen—mostly vets and tough guys who’d earned their spots. Quotas force him to hire based on identity, not ability. Incompetents flood in, costs explode with training and lawsuits. Profits vanish, but the collective gets its “warm” hug.Then the big one: universal handouts tied to compliance. Everyone gets a check—if you attend indoctrination on “oppression,” push green rules banning real tools, and surrender your firearms for “safety.” Jack, a staunch Second Amendment man who’d served in the reserves, says no. “I built this myself,” he tells the bureaucrats. They fine him, seize his truck under some forfeiture scam for defying “collective goals.” His crew scatters—some groveling for government crumbs, others fleeing to freer states.One cold night, Jack stares across the harbor at Lady Liberty, the symbol we fought for overseas, now dimmed by homegrown tyranny. “This ain’t the America I defended,” he’d say, words I’d echo on my show. Collectivism’s warmth? It’s the smothering blanket of coercion, promising equality but delivering shared poverty. History’s littered with its corpses: Stalin’s forced famines, Mao’s millions starved, Castro’s chains. All began with sweet talk of sharing and community.I’ve seen supporters of this garbage—latte-sipping activists cheering Mamdani’s lines. They’d fold in a foxhole, yet they’re dismantling the individualism that shields them. Rugged isn’t cold; it’s the forge of heroes like Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough-Riders storming San Juan Hill, not some mayor erasing his legacy to appease the fragile.Jack packs up and heads south—to Texas, where merit reigns. New York’s bleeding talent, but Mamdani’s folly is our alarm bell. We patriots, we veterans—we bled for liberty, not Marxist drivel. As a 9/11 survivor, I say enough. Reclaim individualism before the “warmth” turns to ashes. Stand firm, America. Fight this creep, or watch the city of dreams freeze into a collectivist nightmare.#Collectivism #Individualism #NYCMayor #Mamdani This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit colrobmanessret.substack.com/subscribeDiscover other shows on the Talk Red Podcast Network, and get your daily fix of news, sports, and entertainment at https://TalkRed.com. DISCLAIMER: Some elements of this podcast may include AI-generated content, such as cover thumbnail images, show descriptions and some background audio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
