Newsmax host Lidia Curanaj — a familiar voice on conservative airwaves — recently stunned viewers by asking a blunt question many of us have been too polite to voice: maybe the once-great city has to fall before the nation wakes up to the consequences of radical left-wing governance. Her words were raw because they reflect a reality Americans see on the ground, even when legacy outlets look the other way.
Look at the strain on city services and the shelter system: New York’s budget papers and comptroller reports make plain that a surge of asylum seekers and rising shelter costs have reshaped municipal finances and stretched safety nets to the breaking point. This is exactly the outcome conservatives warned about when open-border policies and sanctuary politics were embraced by Democratic leaders; taxpayers, small businesses, and the vulnerable are paying the price.
Progressive mayors will tout headline crime declines as proof their soft-on-crime experiments work, but those numbers hide volatile local spikes and the human toll of repeat-offender policies that left neighborhoods vulnerable for years. The NYPD’s own reports show recent drops in major crimes, yet city residents still tell a different story of fear, property loss, and a justice system that too often fails to keep repeat criminals off the streets. Conservatives aren’t denying improvements where they exist; we’re insisting on durable public safety, not PR-driven resets.
Meanwhile, the business landscape in our big cities is a tale of two markets: prime, upgraded office space is scarce and in demand, while vast swaths of older commercial real estate sit vacant because firms refuse to pay for decrepit, unsafe environments. The so-called “office apocalypse” never hit prime assets, but the broader reality is clear — companies and entrepreneurs vote with their feet, and an environment of high taxes, onerous regulation, and permissive law enforcement drives investment elsewhere. The market data is uncomfortable for the left: policy choices, not mysterious forces, are reshaping urban economies.
This is why Lidia’s harsh suggestion lands: conservatives must use hard truths to force a reckoning. We need restoring of law and order, sovereignty at the border, and pro-growth tax and regulatory policies that reward work and innovation rather than punishing success. If Democrats prefer ideological purity to practical governance, then voters who love America must be louder and clearer about the consequences.
Make no mistake — Americans can rebuild cities, but only if common-sense leadership returns. Patriots across the country should demand mayors and governors stop pretending that ideology can substitute for competence, stop funneling endless dollars into systems that reward dysfunction, and start putting ordinary citizens first. If a city must fall from grace to remind the nation what’s at stake, then let that wake-up call be used to elect leaders who will restore order, prosperity, and the American dream.
