Conservative Infighting, Cognitive Empathy, and How We Move Forward

 

By Frank Filocomo

It seems like there's just too much going on in the world right now. It's head-spinning, really: The Brown University Shooting, the Bondi Beach shooting, the internecine Civil War brewing in the American conservative movement, and the emergence of nasty online personalities and podcasters accruing unprecedented followings. 

With all of these events still unfolding, it's hard to find one thing to zero in on. Thus, the following are some thoughts I've had bouncing around the ole noggin concerning two matters in particular: Infighting in the conservative movement and how we ought to think about bigotry. 

The Turning Point USA Debacle:

If AmFest 2025 was supposed to be a look inside the future of the modern conservative movement, color me pessimistic. Instead of a continuation of America's rich conservative tradition (I'm thinking of figures such as Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley Jr., Pat Buchanan, and others), what we got was - barring some notable exceptions - a collection of crackpot internet personalities with, I would wager, little to no comprehension of conservatism properly understood. 

Tucker Carlson emitted platitudinous slush about why dialogue is important and proceeded to utter his unsettling, cartoonish cackle; intellectual firebrand and rapper Nicki Minaj read off her sardonic Tweets about Governor Newsom and glazed Trump; and one Groyper questioner grilled Ben Shapiro on the topic of the USS Liberty attack, a common talking point of Israeli-skeptics and Fuentesian trolls. 

The elephant in the room: Jews. These folks can talk about how their gripe is with Israel and "forever wars" all they want, but I'm not sure I buy it. The irritation seems to be with American Jews, whom Fuentes and his supporters despise. To Fuentes' credit, at least he doesn't beat around the bush in the way that Tucker does. 

To be sure, Buchanan and others in the conservative movement had intelligent reasons for not supporting Israel. His books are well worth a read. The Groypers, however, just don't care much for Jews. This isn't hard!

Navigating the GOP's Fuentesian Takeover:

According to former senior editor of The American Conservative, Rob Dreher, "between 30 and 40 percent of the Zoomers who work in official Republican Washington are fans of Nick Fuentes."

Make of those numbers what you will, but the fact of the matter is that far-Right Groyperism is ascendent, at least among disaffected young men in Republican circles. 

I recall, back in 2017 or thereabouts, strongly disliking Fuentes and his ilk, for, in my opinion, the little video-gaming troll was taking a salient message - the paleoconservatism of Pat Buchanan - and de-intellectualizing it and turning it into a low-IQ meme. See, Buchanan, Paul Gottfried, and others, had good points to make regarding the perils of trade liberalization, globalization, unfettered immigration, and myriad social issues. The not-so-thoughtful Groypers, however, co-opted paleoconservative messaging - which, again, had its merits - and turned it into something fundamentally unserious. 

I fully expected this cheapened version of Buchanan's message to die on the vine, but alas, here we are nearly a decade later. 

The reality: Fuentes and his followers aren't going anywhere. This is a fact that GOP-insiders will have to shake hands with. 

The answer to the Fuentes question, though, should not be censorship, debanking, or deplatforming of any kind; that's what the Left does. Fuentes' claims - most of which are utterly false, and rebarbative - ought to be defeated on the merits, not by shadowbanning. 

Establishmentarians on the Right, though, must get this through their thick skulls. 

Mark Levin is a good example of what not to do. 

At the Republican Jewish Coalition's Annual Leadership Summit last month, Levin - known for his strident monologies - said the following about cancel culture:

What do you mean we don't cancel people? We canceled David Duke. Donald Trump canceled David Duke. We canceled Pat Buchanan. We canceled the John Birch Society. We canceled Joseph Sobran. We canceled pornography on T.V. We cancel stuff all the damn time. Hitler-admirers, Stalin-admirers, Jew-haters, American-haters, Churchill-haters... You're damn right we're going to cancel them and de-platform them. 

Again, this is not the way. Canceling the Groypers won't make them go away; it will embolden them. Right-wing provocateurs often flex the amount of platforms they've been canceled from. Fuentes, whose wildly-popular show has been relegated to Rumble, has demonstrated that mainstream deplatforming only makes him a more formidable force. He has become something of a free-speech/ anti-censorship martyr. If conservatism's gatekeepers continue this push for cancelation, his following of disenfranchised young men will only grow.  

So... What Now? 

As to where we go from here, I defer to editor-in-chief of NonZero, Robert Wright, who advocates for the practice of "cognitive empathy." 

The following definition is instructive:

Cognitive empathy—sometimes called “perspective taking”—is a colder kind of empathy. It does involve awareness of other people’s feelings; you can’t fully understand how people are processing the world unless you understand how they react to it emotionally. But cognitive empathy doesn’t entail identifying with their feelings, or sympathizing with these people. You don’t have to wish them well, or care about their welfare at all. This is an especially important fact when you’re applying cognitive empathy to enemies or rivals, which I recommend.

The bottom line of cognitive empathy is heightened predictive power. If you skillfully exercise cognitive empathy—do a good job of understanding how things look from the vantage point of someone—this will make you better at anticipating what that person will do under various circumstances. It won’t make you perfect at prediction; people are really complicated and hard-to-predict organisms. But it will make you better, and in the long run that will pay off for you and the world. 

We ought to take heed of Wright's advice. The reality is that Groypers were susceptible to Groyperization - so to speak - for a reason, whether it be increased social isolation, unfettered feminism, or whatever. 

As Tim Carney astutely points out in Alienated America, Trump won in 2016 by appealing to the "forgotten man." This message of "I hear you, I see you, and I want to help you" had resonance with despondent inhabitants of flyover country, many of whom voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012. 

Fuentes has a similar appeal. Earlier this year, he referred to himself as "one of the real disaffected white people."  He claims, in other words, to be "one of us." Young, white, male Zoomers, therefore, see him as their leader, while other conservative personalities - particularly of the Boomer variety - are simply out of touch. 

Americans and conservatives who don't like the Groyper-road, thus, must not make the Levin mistake and seek to cancel Fuentes and his followers. Instead, we must try to understand them and the circumstances that led them down this dangerous path.

This is something that Bret Weinstein, co-host of The DarkHorse Podcast, himself a Jew, understands quite well:

The respectable folks are going to keep telling themselves that Nick Fuentes is just some vile, little troll riding a monster wave of bigotry. I’m going to keep pointing out that they’re misunderstanding the wave, and underestimating him. Ultimately I’ll have to explain Fuentes’…

— Bret Weinstein (@BretWeinstein) November 9, 2025

Congressman Tim Burchett Might Be Onto Something

 

By Frank Filocomo

In an age of partisan bickering and performative pugnaciousness, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) has set himself apart. 

Burchett, a three-term Congressman serving Tennessee's 2nd Congressional District, has been a voice of sanity, bipartisanship, and civility in politics.

At an event in October, Burchett spoke about his friendly relationship with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes. 

You know, I can respect a liberal. I respect Cortes. She's my buddy. I mean, she's a Marxist. She's a friendly neighborhood Marxist, as I always call her.

Watch here:

Burchett has also commented on his friendship with far-Left Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN), saying that "he called my momma when my daddy died." 

Burchett and Cohen fist bump

And, just last week, Burchett hosted a 15-minute Christmas party at the Capitol. Republicans and Democrats alike basked in the Christmas cheer, noshing on crackers smothered in Cheez Whiz and drinking Mountain Dew. Perhaps not the healthiest options, but a hit nonetheless. 

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Burchett at Christmas party

Watch NBC's coverage of the party here:

For 15-minutes, politics no longer mattered. The communitarian spirit stole the show. I'd say we can use a lot more of this. 

The Voting Crisis in NYC

By Christopher Turturro

The native should have more of a voice than that of the transplant.

There's a voting crisis here in the Big Apple. The fact that NYC doesn't even require individuals to show state or federal I.D. to vote opens up a slew of issues and possible instances of voter fraud across the board. With NYC being a so-called "sanctuary city," who's to say that illegal or "undocumented" immigrants aren't voting? When going to cast your ballot, poll workers merely ask for your name, address, and date of birth. Everybody has to show I.D. for virtually everything, such as driving, flying, bars/dining establishments, and so forth. Yet, in NYC, city, state, and federal voting seem to be a joke to the powers that be. 

To add insult to injury, hundreds of thousands of people move to these cities and try to radically change them within weeks or months of being here. Whether it's a radical push for Democratic policies or Republican policies, these individuals should not be able to fundamentally change the foundation of what each state is and what each state's native citizens and their families have done to build it, maintain it, and make it what it is today. I'm not advocating that newcomers shouldn't have the right to vote in state, city, or other municipal elections. But, the person who's been here 10 years or more, or even the person whose family has been here for generations, should have a bigger influence on the election than that of someone one who just arrived to the city because it's the trendy place to be. We see this happening in cities all over the the U.S. that once had safe streets and booming economies. Fast forward a couple of years, and they are completely different places due to these citizens who run around the country, vote super hard in one direction, and continue the cycle elsewhere. There are examples of this all over the country.

Aside from NYC, some examples are Dallas, Portland, Los Angeles, and so on. While some of these cities were Left-leaning to begin with, the radical change that we see now is like never before. The future of our cities are being voted on by people, young and old, who haven't even been in the state/city for half a decade and they're voting for disastrous policies and politicians that support communism, socialism, and so forth. The point: a vote from a native inhabitant should far outweigh a vote from someone who just arrived a year or two ago. If you've lived somewhere practically your entire life, invested into the economy, paid taxes, been a lawful citizen of that state/city, why should someone else who just arrived recently be able to vote to overhaul everything that makes the city what it is? Its wrong.

Again, I'm not advocating for American citizens to not be able to vote in their state, city, and local elections, nor am I a politician with the ability to make such rules. I am simply saying the natives should have more of a voice than that of the transplant. In my opinion, a waiting period would be best. You must live in the state, work, pay taxes, be a law abiding citizen, and after a time period you can then vote in these state and city elections. You shouldn't be able to just move here, vote for a radical socialist/communist, and then move home with your parents when you find out that NYC or some other major city isn't for you.

Imagine you have a home and take in a family member in their time of need. Without your consent, they change everything. The layout, the walls, the art, the paint, the light fixtures, appliances and so forth without your approval, AND it affects your wallet. I'm pretty sure you'd be upset, no? Then, when a couple months or years go by and they're back on their feet, they leave. Now, you're left with the burden of the mess they created. And, ultimately, it is your money, home, and issue to deal with. 

Christopher Turturro, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, is an HVAC mechanic and 
U.S. Air Force veteran.

The Dating App Blackpill

By Frank Filocomo

App-based dating sucks. 

But this, of course, is nothing we don't already know. 

Collectively, we've become left-right-swiping automatons, numb to both connection and rejection alike. 

It's all so mundane. 

In Chronicles, Gage Klipper writes that, instead of using dating apps as an aid to making romantic connections, we've almost completely jettisoned the prospect of meeting people in-person.  

From the article:

While I did meet my wife a decade ago on Tinder, the app then still functioned as a complement to the dating experience rather than an outright replacement.

Klipper hits it on the head here: the apps have effectively supplanted IRL ask-outs. "Shooting your shot" is relegated to DMs. 

Not long ago, a friend of mine asked me to wingman him at a bar. But I had no idea how to. Since I started dating almost a decade ago, I utilized the apps. Being an in-person wingman, though? He might as well have asked me to recite a poem in Mandarin. 

The dating apps are the lens that Zoomers see the world through. Instead of using the apps to our advantage, we've effectively handed over the reins; now, we're paralyzed by them. 

More from the article:

For those who see nothing but romantic misery in their future, the apps become a crutch, even a coping mechanism. In just a few swipes, you can numb the sting of past rejection by proving that you are still desirable—even if this confidence is short-lived.

As Klipper notes, the constant rejection and ghosting one experiences on these dating apps causes us to feel "damaged." Friends of mine have shared this exact sentiment with me. And I know the feeling quite well myself. It sucks. 

Klipper, while acknowledging that his advice is "easier said than done," ends on a sanguine note:

Stop thinking of the apps as a unique torture device designed to inflict as much pain on you as possible, and instead try using them to your advantage as the tool they were meant to be. Cultivate the cool confidence of someone who knows romance always has its ups and downs.

While I agree with the premise here, I'm not sure that re-wiring the way Zoomers approach dating will be all that easy...

A Note of Gratitude

I spent this Thanksgiving weekend with my folks and their orange cat, Morris.

I felt so blessed: good food and even better people. 

Thanksgiving is about gratitude, something in short supply these days. 

Aside from my amazing family and friends, I'm beyond grateful for everyone who has read and promoted The Frank Forum. I started this blog in March of 2023, and already it has accrued 93,000 pageviews. I know that's not much, but it's nothing to sneeze at either!

Anyway, I hope you all had a restful weekend, accompanied by your loved ones. 

On a side note, I've done a lot or writing recently. 

See my review of Lawrence M. Mead's latest book in the University Bookman here. 

Read my latest on civil society for Philanthropy Daily here. 

Read my piece on a Bay Ridge pub for RealClear Books & Culture here. 

To find more of my work, visit the "Other Writing" tab on this site here. 

Wishing you all an awesome week ahead! 

Where There's Smoke, There's... Community?

 

By Frank Filocomo

Desperate times call for desperate measures. 

Last week, 75 year-old Bob Terry made history. A very cool boomer with a sort of Dave Brubeck-adjacent aesthetic (maybe it's the frames?), Terry hosted a massive gathering of cigarette smokers in Washington Square Park. 

After giving the crowd some obligatory admonishments about how smoking is bad for you (blah blah blah), Terry started ripping stogies with a youthful and care-free swagger. 

Bob Terry, credit: Helayne Seidman, New York Post

The gaggle of smokers amassed quite the buzz on social media.

 

Bob’s cigarette meetup in New York City today was a big success pic.twitter.com/ZZ7dxmqfzy

— Nicotine (@nicotinearchive) November 22, 2025

 

You can't deny the good vibes here...

Also courtesy of Helayne Seidman

Unfortunately, vices like smoking and drinking loosen people up, thus making them more amenable to conversing with each other. 

Alcohol, as they say, is a "social lubricant." 

I suppose cigarettes are, too. 

But, you have to ask yourself, what's worse: not smoking and depriving yourself of community and social connection, or smoking and getting your dose of communion with your fellow travelers? Look, I'm obviously no doctor, but there may be a case that the former is worse. I don't know; I'm just asking questions! 

What's encouraging is that people are getting creative about combating isolation. 

Loneliness After College

 

By Frank Filocomo

A few years back, when I was a student in NYU's Wilf Family Department of Politics, my classmates and I would spend hours studying and comparing notes at Bobst Library. Given the difficulty of our classes, especially our quantitative methodology course, it was imperative that we band together for these little sessions. Often times, after we were done going over our regression models, we'd shoot the breeze, commenting on everything from our favorite professors to our preferred pastimes in the West Village. On occasion, we'd grab coffee at the nearby Starbucks and get a bite to eat at the reasonably-priced Washington Square Diner, not far from the IFC theater. 

Bobst Library

While I was a commuter student at NYU and, thus, never experienced dorm life, I still had something of a college experience. It's often said that for NYU students, the Village is your campus. That's mostly true.

After college, though, I admittedly felt a bit listless. Like, "what now?" My MA thesis had been submitted, classes completed, and, alas, I no longer had to take the train to the 8 St-NYU stop.

Some of the friendships I made lasted for a while, but those soon fizzled out, too. 

I was struck when I heard a similar - though more pronounced - account of this post-college loneliness in Business Insider. 

Grace Reed, who used to share an on-campus apartment with her roommates in Syracuse, felt lost upon returning home after graduation. That apartment, she explains, was more than just a place to crash; it was a little community-hub:

Our apartment had been the home of weekly wine nights, tarot readings, and movie screenings. It was where our friends performed musical numbers and hosted themed parties. And a few houses down the street, there was always a game of Catan ready to be played.

After spending most of my college career working to shed the socially anxious persona I developed in high school, my senior year of college gifted me the life I always wanted.

Now, though, back at her childhood home and scrolling through job-listings, a mind-numbing and hopeless activity, she longed for her college life. 

I often find myself scrolling on Instagram, looking back on old pictures, and trying to remember how it felt to be living in those moments. When I see posts of people hanging out with friends, I feel a pang of desire.

Again, I didn't have a college apartment, but I know this feeling well; it's the feeling of collapsing paradigms. When you're used to regular socialization, your mind and body become accustomed to it. Social connection, after all, is hardwired in us. Then, when that paradigm ends, it can feel like a sort of deracination. 

Post-deracination, however, can be a time to build up from the bottom again. This requires a sort of inventiveness that college doesn't really prepare for. Because college is a highly-structured environment, regular socialization comes to you. Upon finishing school, however, you need to find it for yourself. 

The search for third places can be arduous, but without these essential places of community, we fall ill, physically, mentally, and spiritually. The quest, therefore, is a necessity. 

In the meantime, though, it isn't bad to practice solitude, the art of being content with being with yourself. This is exactly what Grace did:

Thanks to a spontaneous trip to the craft store and helpful YouTube tutorials, I've gotten into jewelry making. For the first time since graduating, I've found something to do for myself — a hobby that stops me from spiraling into memories and grounds me in the present.

I've also returned to old pastimes, like creative writing. My journals have seen more activity than they have in years, which has helped me appreciate this chapter.

Solitude mustn't be conflated with loneliness. I wrote about that for this blog here. 

The secret sauce, I think, is a balance between solitude and communitarian activity. Like all things, it takes work. 

Cars: Just Say No

 

By Frank Filocomo

My war against cars continues...

The coldness of the city, which every New Yorker can feel, is compounded by its prioritization of cars over people. 

In the Big Apple, pedestrians take a backseat - no pun intended - to these four-wheel death contraptions. 

In Streetsblog NYC, Nolan Hicks reported on a pedestrian that was struck and killed by a van making an illegal maneuver:

According to the NYPD, the driver, whose name was not released, pulled out of a parking garage on Morton Street just east of Seventh Avenue at around 8:30 a.m. But instead of turning right to drive eastbound on one-way Morton, he made the illegal left, and then struck and killed the 27-year-old woman. 

This, regrettably, is all too common.  

Too many drivers are indifferent to the welfare of pedestrians, and think that the world revolves around them and their vehicles. 

Thus, following the rules of the road become secondary:

Residents of the area said that many drivers make the illegal left turn to head the wrong way on Morton from the garage because it eliminates the need to circle around the block with a right on Bleecker Street and then a second right onto Carmine Street before making the left onto Seventh Avenue.

So, this young woman, who had her whole life ahead of her, is dead because some self-centered ass wanted to shave a few minutes off of his commute. 

This is, in many ways, emblematic of our me-centric culture. 

A few days ago, I was crossing the street in front of my building. Our municipal government, which is profoundly incompetent, somehow managed to make the crosswalk more dangerous by placing these ambiguous stop signs, and then subsequently removing them. 

See below:

New crosswalk sign.

These signs, aside from being ambiguous in intent, are inconspicuously placed outside of my building. Many drivers disregard them and plough through the crosswalks without yielding to pedestrians. 

So, when I went to cross the other day, a vehicle saw me, but didn't stop until the last second. I put my hand up, gesturing for him to break. He rolled down his window and shouted, "Hey, s****head!"

Again, what a total ass. 

Pedestrians must be made to feel safe when crossing the street. 

Please also see Streetsblog NYC's blueprint for how our new mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, can make our city more livable. 

As Kevin Duggan writes, it is incumbent on the city to "reduce the dominance of cars."

Is the Real Enemy Capitalism or Oversized Government?

 By Christopher Turturro

The more we allow government to intrude into our lives, the worse things are going to get.

In 2025, the demonization of free enterprise is all the rage. Everyday, I hear more about how capitalism isn't working, and that we need a change in our system, etc. While I agree that the status quo is no longer sufficient, capitalism is not the root cause of the problem; bloated government is. Because government is overreaching and ineffectual, radical ideologies seem more appealing to the little guy. This is happening all over America, especially in major cities. 

The overpriced cost of living has pushed people to their breaking point, so much so that people here in NYC were willing to vote for a Socialist/Communist, who just became the Big Apple's next Mayor. People are revolting against a free market system that they feel is rigged against them. But the system wasn't always this way, and capitalism isn't the enemy. The real enemy is government overreach and control through financial and regulatory means, which is negatively impacting all of our respective bottom lines.

Take NYC, for example. We pay city tax, state tax, local tax, federal tax, and sales tax. Just like that, about 25-35% of all our money is gone before it even gets into our pockets. This is all under the guise of morality for the "greater good" in our city while it continues to decline. After we receive our post tax paychecks, the rest of our purchases are also subject to sales taxes. We then pay taxes on land we already own and purchases that were previously taxed on other individuals, such as used automobiles. What do we get for all this taxation in NYC? For starters: terrible infrastructure, some of the worst roads in the country that destroy your vehicle, utility companies such as Con Edison that are partially taxpayer funded and keep raising rates yet can't keep up with the demand during summer season. Regardless of the fact that our taxes fund these companies and programs, we receive no help from government when our vehicles fall apart due to crumbling roads, or when our homes have no air conditioning in the summertime for hours or even days. In addition, NYC has a law enforcement agency that is more focused on generating extra revenue for the city than enforcing Constitutional law and helping citizens.

Through over taxation, government has destroyed the incentive to work harder, put in overtime, and advance. Why? The harder you work, the more you're punished when your paycheck comes, and during tax season. Doesn't sound much like a capitalistic, free market society to me. What happens when you don't get a return on your investment that you had no say in depositing? You become angry and frustrated and instead of blaming the people who hold the cards, you blame the cards themselves. America was a country built on community, individualism, and freedom. The more we allow government to intrude into our lives, the worse things are going to get.

Things didn't always used to be this way. Take, for instance, how life was in our country just a short time ago, in the mid- to late-20th century: families could survive off of one parent's income with a home, kids, and a vehicle. Even an annual vacation. Most of American history shows us that families were able to thrive in a household where one parent worked and the other took care of the family if they so chose to. To blame our current day issues on capitalism is very disingenuous and to turn a blind eye to the real problem and blame a free market economic system is deceitful. The only difference between then and now is the magnitude in which the government has grown. All the choices they supposedly made on our behalf have not benefited the average American, and have affected the cost of so many things in our country.

It's crucial that we continue to speak up against government overreach and corruption. Doing so will take time, prudence, and determination. 

Christopher Turturro, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, is an HVAC mechanic and 

U.S. Air Force veteran.

The Progressive Monopolization of the Commons

By Troy M. Olson

One of the more frustrating aspects of New York City's local politics is how driven it is by progressive activists with pet causes, time on their hands, and no access to a mirror or larger perspective on life. But the average activist is largely harmless in the scheme of things. It's the multiplication of them pursuing a fact-free proposition that can be the problem. However, what compounds this in the city is what passes as the "leadership class" for progressives also monopolizes public time for these same issues far beyond its weight class. Transportation and trip modes in the city is a perfect example of how out of touch this group is.

In NYC, you would think that buses and bikes have taken over the city from Zohran Mamdani's "free buses" campaign plank (one of four top repeated slogans and issue planks that he either does not have the power to do or wouldn't do a thing in the scheme of things) to the TransAlt (Transportation Alternatives) bike lanes all over the city obsession.

Source: NYC DOT Citywide Mobility Survey courtesy of Reza Chowdhury's X 

Let's look at the facts: a bus makes up just 4% of the total trip mode in NYC, while a bike makes up just 3%. On the other hand, walking takes up 46%, vehicles 32%, transit 18%, and rail/subway 14%. These percentages add up to more than 100% because some will combine more than one in their daily commute to work or wherever else they're going. 

Walking is the most common trip mode in the city. And increasingly, its conflict is not with cars but with bikes, especially of the e-bike and scooter variety, who, unlike vehicle operators, lack the requisite understanding for their responsibility on the road, do not face the legal liabilities like someone operating a vehicle does, and pretty much do whatever they want at increasing levels. 

Many people in their various trip modes frequently break the rules of the road and the street. But those on bikes seem to not have grasped the consequences like the rest. Pedestrians and frequent walkers know they're going to lose a battle and perhaps their life against a car. Those driving a car, even the terrible drivers, have an ingrained sense of destruction of what a car accident will do not just to a pedestrian, but to the drivers. Bikes operate in this middle ground where they have become both a hazard and dangerous to pedestrians and a hazard and dangerous to vehicles too, although in this case they seem to lack the understanding of how vulnerable they are on a bike if they face off against a car. Putting a bike lane all over the city has not brought any greater order to this off-kilter relationship, no matter how many statistics NYC's Department of Transportation wants to roll out. People make value judgments with their eyes and experiences. 

NYC is a place that is totalitarian in its administrative code and closer to anarchy in its day-to-day realities. And the increasing anarchy in transportation to being driven by the 3% of those whose trip mode is with a bike of some form. The 4% part of this equation is part of the "free bus" plan that Zohran keeps talking about. A few things on this: while, no doubt, the honest citizens of the city would benefit from this, especially elders, there are already many fare evasions on buses just like there are in the subway. This is not going to be some game changer because it already happens, would make the MTA's finances even worse off, cannot even be done unilaterally by an NYC Mayor, and again... we're talking about 4% of trip modes. What about safety for pedestrians, the most common trip mode? What about congestion pricing? A tax on the second most common trip mode and as you can see above, utilized by every income bracket considerably more than bikes, buses, and yes, even the subway. 

In fact, during the congestion pricing discussion the last few years these same activists would use the data on how many New Yorkers drive (around one-third) for their commute to make the case that the majority is somehow with them. I have my issues with the MTA, but even its Chairman points out how flawed Zohran's transportation plans are for the city. 

A real discussion on transportation in New York City would be holistic and in proportion to actual trip modes. This is not what we're doing and this has not been at all how the public debate has gone this year. Progressives in leadership and in their activism are guilty of the same mistake they accused "car culture" of: they are not centering their ideas and transportation around the actual needs, realities, and preferences of people. They have been myopically obsessed with being anti-car and making it as hard as possible to own and operate one. So far they have been unsuccessful. We're not a city of bike riders using these bike lanes, they're still mostly empty years later. And those who do ride bikes are still going on sidewalks, still operating how they wish when they're in traffic, and, at the recreational level, they are even going into city parks where families with children and seniors frequently gather. Simply put, they control by law or by behavior a share of the public commons far beyond what is justifiable. 

I wish this were just an isolated issue. But it's not. Issues like this are why it's so easy to call urban progressivism an elitist philosophy and worldview.

On issue after issue, this is the case and nothing much will change until the hard organizational work to build out a civic alternative is done. NYC will never get more affordable, is about to get more dangerous, and to add insult to injury, we will keep paying more and more for less and less, until the day the "new Tammany Hall" and its progressive activist and leadership class is defeated and dismissed from its monopoly control over the city's politics and future.

Troy M. Olson is an Army Veteran, lawyer by training, and co-author of ‘The Emerging Populist Majority’ now available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Target. He is the Sergeant-at-Arms of the New York Young Republican Club and co-founder of the Veterans Caucus. He has appeared on CNN, CBS, and OAN. He lives in New York City with his wife and son, and is the 3rd Vice Commander (“Americanism” pillar) of the first new American Legion Post in the city in years, Post 917. You can follow him on X/Twitter and Substack at @TroyMOlson

Cars and E-Bikes: A Recipe for Disaster

 

By Frank Filocomo

"Walking," writes Robert Orr in Public Square, "immerses you in your surroundings in ways driving never can."

At 28 years old, I've never owned a car. While I do have a driver's license, I've never desired a vehicle of my own, opting instead for public transit and my own two legs. 

For a fare of $2.90, I can go just about anywhere I need to - in New York City, that is. 

Cars, despite being money-guzzlers, are dangerous and unsightly. SUVs are especially offensive. 

As I've written before, our cities are designed in a way that is pedestrian-unfriendly. Cars rule the roost.

Orr continues:

Long walks reveal not just charm, but also the harsh truths of how our streets are designed: for cars, not people. I remember some close calls; fortunately, they have been limited to being knocked down by a few cyclists so far. The rise of e-bikes, scooters, and skateboards indicates that encounters may become more serious. Even on sidewalks, pedestrians rank lowest.

The e-bikes, as Orr writes, present a new problem. These cyclists - if you can even call them that - often ignore traffic laws, plowing through four-way stops and riding the wrong way down one-way streets.  

Man on delivery e-bike.

I get that having our DoorDash meals delivered to us in a timely manner it like really important, but man, these guys are pedestrian accidents waiting to happen. 

In an article for Carscoops, Stephen Rivers writes that there is a "small subset of consumers who buy up or create e-bikes that aren’t legal on city streets and then ride them there anyway. In New York City, that growing gray area has already turned deadly."

Let's see if the city actually bothers to do something about this...

Again, our communities must be livable. It shouldn't be too much to ask that pedestrians not have to fear for their lives when walking to the grocery store.