Manhattan Institute

Working to keep America and its great cities prosperous, safe, and free. Follow @CityJournal for more.

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

When Mayor Mamdani fails to deliver all he has promised, we will be here to pick up the pieces.

We love New York. We love the free market. And we're here to deliver solutions that work. https://t.co/zoiiNzUowu

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

. @yaf's capitalism vs socialism debate gets heated: "I'm not asking you to talk right now!"

Dem. socialist Tim Denson: "This isn't working right now...let's actually decide that we wanna be productive in our discussions."

@DanielDiMartino: "This is all extremely performative...if you thought this was not productive then you should have gone out to help the people you're saying you're helping."

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

18 years and $15 billion later, and not a single piece of track has been laid for California's bullet train.

They are, however, demanding money to use dogs to sniff for lizard scat, dig small burrows for mammals by hand, and count bumblebees one by one.

@christopherrufo & @kennethschrupp's latest report featured on @FoxBusiness: https://t.co/nDUUphAHbZ

[Jesse Arm @Jesse_Leg]

Earlier this month, I went back to my home state of Michigan and spoke with 20 undecided voters about the issues driving the midterm elections, their views on Donald Trump, and the Senate race between Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed.

They’re frustrated with rising costs and the president. But for many, that frustration hasn’t translated into support for El-Sayed.

Here's what they told me... 🧵

https://t.co/w53x9qaOxH

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

Take the 5 minute quiz to find out if you’re a Manhattan Institute Urbanist 🇺🇸🗽

Post your results below! ⬇️
https://t.co/um8hxVRUky

[Daniel Golliher 🗽 @danielgolliher]

Are you a Manhattan Institute Urbanist? Swipe to find out at https://t.co/evtwNewWrc!

cc @ManhattanInst

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

Insane story out of California:

Gavin Newsom admitted in 2014 that "we wildly overstated the ridership projections" and "manipulated some of the revenue projections" for California's high-speed rail project. He said the full project was unlikely to "materialize in our lifetime."

Yet the project is still ongoing, and has sunk more than $677 million on environmental paperwork.

That money is benefiting well-connected contractors, who have requested $480,000 “to dig small burrows for mammals by hand”; $352,490 for lizard surveys and reports; and $290,000 to implement the state’s environmental-requirements-tracking software.

In one case, California’s high-speed rail agency revised its draft environmental report after the state proposed a regional mountain lion as a candidate for protected status.

Investigation by @christopherrufo & @austenhufford: https://t.co/Wvrva4DxYC

[City Journal @CityJournal]

Full investigation by @christopherrufo and @kennethschrupp: https://t.co/LSR01b0AcP

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

How do you break out of a "low-status" box?

"You can find ways to repair some of those things, where you can learn take elocution lessons and learn to speak louder, more clearly; you can practice body language; you can take improv classes. There are successful stories of people who glow up."

@robkhenderson on 'Figuring Out' with @rajshamani:

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

The inmates run the asylum at the American Psychological Association.

APA Division 39's flagship conference featured workshops on "Fragments of a Queer Anarchist Psychoanalysis," "'White' Analysis," and "family abolition."

One session, "Feel the F— Fantasy (Redux): Drag, Desire, and Queer Theory at WERK in Psychoanalysis," concluded with a drag performance.

A substantial part of organized psychology has ceased behaving like scientific and professional bodies and has become a vehicle for left-wing political activism, @SwipeWright & Andrew Hartz write in @WSJ. https://t.co/DwUP2SOrT1

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

The property tax debate often emerges as a fight between older and younger Americans, but the anti-property tax movement also divides the Right as a whole.

"Anti-tax activists contend that the levies turn homeowners into vassals who pay rent to the government for the use of their own house — one that could be seized after an unpaid bill.

'That branding has been one of the most successful political slogans in modern memory,' @judgeglock said. 'It is incredible how powerful that language has become on the right to strike down anybody who believes in any sort of property taxes.'"

[POLITICO @politico]

“I’m old. I’ve paid my home off,” said Ray Warner, a 72-year-old Akron resident. “Why would I pay property tax?”

Across the country, homeowners are asking the same question and revolting against property taxes at a scale not seen in a half century.
https://t.co/AmzUaO47Sp

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

New York finally had its turnaround moment in 1993.

"When New Yorkers set aside their long-standing antipathy to be considered a Republican and voted for Rudolph Giuliani...that led to the most radical, successful urban revolution in urban governance in history."

@HMDatMI on @TheUnspeakeasy with @meghan_daum:

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

$122 for three items from a Thai takeout place?

Blame sky-high minimum wages for delivery drivers: Seattle passed legislation that guarantees a $26 minimum wage for drivers. Other cities have done the same.

@judgeglock tells @JohnStossel: "You have, frankly, usually an economically illiterate city council or mayor who comes in and thinks basically by looking at an industry through reading the daily news, they can appropriately regulate the exact wage."

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

Communism kills kindness.

"During Stalin's forced collectivization campaigns, Lev Kopelev describes being horrified at hearing the screams of children. And then upon feeling compassion he immediately reprimands himself because you shouldn't be feeling this way, you shouldn't be feeling compassion, you shouldn't be feeling sympathy, because all of this is in service of the communist ideology...

...we're seeing, I think, some echoes of this today where if you are a member of the wrong class or category then you shouldn't feel sympathy. You actually should be celebrated for being cruel to that person."

@robkhenderson on the @BenShapiroShow ⬇️

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

Perhaps one of the more amusing instances of DOGE-induced panic were data librarians who panicked about cuts to statistical agencies and created a "Data Rescue Project."

The datasets that have stopped publication since Trump’s inauguration included an annual count of mink pelts produced, an interactive map guessing how much climate change might cost each U.S. county, and a consumer complaint database about financial companies (perhaps the administration concluded that American consumers already have plenty of outlets for complaining online).

[Judge Glock @judgeglock]

DOGE worked. Most importantly, the civil service is 12% smaller than it was in Jan 2025.

In the Fall @CityJournal, I show they were not replaced by contractors, the biggest cuts were to middle managers, and the predictions of disaster were proven false. https://t.co/heja4NTRbh

[Joe Lonsdale @JTLonsdale]

Balanced piece by Judge: the civil service is 12% smaller, cuts to grants far less steep than even I had hoped, but done well overall.

"By most indications, the federal government is running much as it did before. Some critics may have to admit: the DOGE workforce cuts worked."

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

41% of voters under 30 said it was acceptable to shoot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the back.

"This is terrifying...it's easy to feel compassion for your allies and for your friends. But the real test of that human feeling is, can you feel it for people who are members of disfavored groups or people that your group despises?"

@robkhenderson on the @BenShapiroShow ⬇️
You can read the full @TheFP piece that's referenced here: https://t.co/m8rkKoqz9e

[Jesse Arm @Jesse_Leg]

Californians are unhappy with how their state is governed, and many support reforms that challenge progressive orthodoxy: mandatory treatment for people living on the streets, greater accountability for public-sector workers, and tougher controls on government waste. But that frustration hasn’t translated into a willingness to elect Republicans. Voters want different results while remaining resistant to candidates associated with the Right.

That disconnect protects establishment Democrats from accountability and gives the far Left an opening. When voters want change but consider Republicans unacceptable, socialist challengers can present themselves as the only alternative—even when their policies don’t match what those voters actually want. Democratic victories therefore shouldn’t automatically be interpreted as endorsements of progressive governance, nor should enthusiasm for socialist candidates be mistaken for enthusiasm for socialism.

Achieving meaningful reform would require a coalition that crosses partisan lines, likely through relatively pragmatic Democrats who can reach voters Republicans simply cannot. San Francisco’s Daniel Lurie offers one example. Conservatives have to decide whether they care more about advancing Republicans or changing how California governs, while reform-minded liberals have to decide whether they’re willing to confront the unions, activists, and politicians obstructing their stated goals.

California has no shortage of voters who understand that something is broken. What the Golden State lacks is a durable political vehicle for fixing it.

My latest in @CityJournal on some of our recent @ManhattanInst California polling statewide and in Los Angeles:

https://t.co/csYmiDOOAH

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

Two of California’s most prominent Democrats carry negative net favorability ratings with voters: Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris.

Newsom and Harris are especially unpopular among men and Asian voters.

From our latest poll: https://t.co/A36bqc25qk

[Jesse Arm @Jesse_Leg]

California contains contradictions.

Read about them in our latest @ManhattanInst statewide and LA polling: https://t.co/Mi6vJ7Ll7S

[Jesse Arm @Jesse_Leg]

California contains contradictions.

Read about them in our latest @ManhattanInst statewide and LA polling: https://t.co/Mi6vJ7Ll7S

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

A far-left "femme-led" activist group whose founders want to abolish prisons is helping elect judges in L.A.

La Defensa says that it "belong[s] to" several "communities," namely "Chicanx, queer, immigrant, undocumented, working class people with incarcerated loved ones."

[City Journal @CityJournal]

NEW: Prison abolitionists just bought three L.A. Superior Court seats: One judge equates the bench to a slave ship; another wants healing circles to "deconstruct" the justice system; a third suggested that the violent crime problem in L.A. is "exaggerat[ed]" and wants to end "mass incarceration."

La Defensa hopes to use L.A. as the launchpad to transform the judiciary "all the way up to the Supreme Court"—and they've spent nearly a million dollars to do it.

@christopherrufo & @austenhufford's latest: https://t.co/Df0a1E0Bab

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

The majority (62%) of California voters support involuntary treatment for homeless addicts as the "more compassionate" response.

Only 20% think that it's more compassionate to allow homeless addicts to refuse treatment.

From our latest poll: https://t.co/tc6MrWDt7X