The Blue-State Model and the Politics of Disorder

It’s too nascent to call it a paradigm shift, but the intellectual trends on the elite center-left that Jim chronicled this morning are certainly gratifying. If the New York Times opinion pages and longtime CNN analyst Fareed Zakaria have summoned the courage to identify the crippling failures of governance attributable to the “blue state model,” you can bet they’re speaking for many more who have reached the same conclusion but lack the courage to give voice to it.

The audience that would benefit most from this challenge to their ideological preconceptions and policy preferences is, however, unlikely to encounter these arguments. They’re too busy arguing with one another over the relative virtue of letting homeless people defecate in the subways.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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It’s too nascent to call it a paradigm shift, but the intellectual trends on the elite center-left that Jim chronicled this morning are certainly gratifying. If the New York Times opinion pages and longtime CNN analyst Fareed Zakaria have summoned the courage to identify the crippling failures of governance attributable to the “blue state model,” you can bet they’re speaking for many more who have reached the same conclusion but lack the courage to give voice to it.

The audience that would benefit most from this challenge to their ideological preconceptions and policy preferences is, however, unlikely to encounter these arguments. They’re too busy arguing with one another over the relative virtue of letting homeless people defecate in the subways.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.