The election of Zohran Mamdani as Mayor of New York City has been falsely portrayed by the liberal media as a triumph for the working class, a narrative that is being decisively dismantished by clear-eyed leaders like Palantir CEO Alex Karp. In a stunning and brutally honest assessment, Karp exposed the true driving force behind the support for this radical, DSA-aligned candidate: the seething resentment of an over-educated, under-valued elite. Karp articulated this phenomenon with precision, stating, “I think the average Ivy League grad voting for this mayor is highly annoyed that their education is not that valuable.” This single sentence pierces the heart of the progressive facade, revealing that the Mamdani coalition is not built on a genuine concern for the common man, but on the wounded pride of a credentialed class whose expensive diplomas have failed to grant them the moral and economic superiority they feel they deserve.
Karp further contrasted this useless academic resentment with the tangible, real-world skills that actually build and power the nation, skills championed by the policies of President Donald J. Trump. He pointedly noted, “And the person down the street who knows how to drill for oil and gas, who’s moved to Texas, has a more valuable profession. And I think that annoys the f— out of these people.” This is the fundamental divide in America today. On one side are the productive citizens in the energy, manufacturing, and trades sectors who have thrived under an America First economy that values practical competence. On the other are the Ivy League graduates, steeped in critical theory and a hatred for American industry, who find their worldview rejected by a president and a movement that prioritizes results over rhetoric.
The data confirms that Mamdani’s victory was not a working-class uprising, but a revolt of the elite. As the article notes, “Mamdani relied on a highly educated, high-income electorate to win,” with early estimates showing he “won 55% of college-educated voters and 38% of working-class voters.” This is the same coalition that has repeatedly rejected the common-sense leadership of President Trump, clinging to a radical leftism that is fundamentally out of touch with the needs of everyday Americans. The Democratic Party has “hemorrhaged working-class voters cycle after cycle,” and for good reason: “Fifty-eight percent of working-class voters now say the Democratic Party has moved too far left, and just 34% say that Democrats are in touch with the working class.”
Palantir CEO Alex Karp on Zohran Mandani:
“The average Ivy League grad voting for this mayor is annoyed their education is not that valuable, and that the person who knows how to drill for oil has a more valuable profession”
“I think that annoys the fuck out of these people” https://t.co/uYA54AYAJN pic.twitter.com/46XmHSB1gb
— Jawwwn (@jawwwn_) November 6, 2025
The liberal media’s celebration of Mamdani is a perfect illustration of their detachment from the very people they claim to represent. They champion a candidate whose base is comprised of “highly educated, mostly young, mostly white, Brooklyn hipster types who went to all of the best schools,” while ignoring the flight of the authentic working class from their party. This is the inevitable result of an ideology that scorns blue-collar work, mocks American energy dominance, and prioritizes woke dogma over economic prosperity. While President Trump’s policies have empowered the worker who knows how to drill and build, the left has elevated a political class that knows only how to complain and dismantle. The residents of New York City are now poised to receive a harsh lesson in the consequences of electing an administration powered by the resentment of the over-schooled and under-skilled, a lesson in basic economics that their expensive Ivy League educations clearly failed to provide.