💬 Mamdani breaks big campaign promise

Mamdani broke a big campaign promise hours after winning the mayor's race, and arrivederci Nancy Pelosi

Another week down, and it's really a week of goodbyes if you think about. Goodbye, NYC -- it's been real.

Goodbye to Republicans' chances to pick up some key governor seats in New Jersey and Virginia. As I said several times this week, I don't think it's a political crisis or necessarily means anything for the 2028 midterms -- those were blue states, and, had Republicans won, those results would've been considered major upsets. Same is true for New York City. But it was a good opportunity that slipped through our fingers.

Goodbye, California. And goodbye, Nancy Pelosi.

But let's start in New York, where Zohran Mamdani, a communist, is now the mayor-elect. Not even 24 hours after winning the race, Moron Zamboni (as I like to call him) broke one of his big promises. The guy who promises everything -- the buses, the childcare, the groceries -- will be free can't even manage a transition into the mayor's office without asking for money from constituents. That's right -- the man who promised everything for free is now asking New Yorkers for money to pay for his transition team. Watch this -- you can't make this stuff up.

I could go on and on about Mamdani -- in fact I have. But one thing that is very telling is the reaction that some on the left had to Mamdani's win. Take a good look at what Van Jones, a dyed-in-the-wool liberal who sometimes goes on TV and cries about things, had to say about Mamdani's acceptance speech.

"I think the Mamdani that we saw on the campaign trail, who was a lot more calm, who was a lot warmer, who was a lot more embracing, was not present in that speech," Jones said the other night on CNN. "I think he was using the microphone in a way that he was almost yelling, and that's not the Mamdani that we've seen on TikTok and in the great interviews and stuff like that. So, I felt like there's a little bit of a character switch here."

A character switch. You don't say. 🤔 I've been warning for months that Mamdani's a wolf in sheep's clothing. And the wolf is coming out. Speaking of predictions -- how about my World Series prediction? Nailed it! And I know some of you noticed, too. But I digress.

Goodbye, California.

After Prop 50 passed this week, and when Newsom gerrymanders the state, no Republican will ever win anything again on a national or state level out there. The state is just gone. And it can all be blamed on Gavin Newsom, who lies almost as easily as the rest of us breathe, and has no remorse or contrition for those constant lies.

We've shown you probably thousands of clips of Newsom on The Rubin Report over the years. This week, we found the worst one ever. Just when you think the lizard man can't go any lower, he finds a way. This clip from Meet The Press is the single worst Gavin Newsom clip. Ever. Watch it here -- his response when asked about running for president. 🤯

Finally, Nancy Pelosi, Gavin's good buddy, has decided to ride into the sunset. Pelosi announced she won't seek re-election at the end of her term, meaning she will retire after almost 40 years in Congress. 40 years. I don't know if you're aware of this or not -- but she lasted in Congress twice as long as her facelift lasted.

The question is: How will you remember Nancy Pelosi? Trump this week said she's an “evil woman” who “was a tremendous liability for the country.” Remember that time she tore up a copy of Trump's State of the Union address right after he finished delivering it? But it's Trump who shatters all the norms, the mainstream media says over and over.

Maybe you'll remember her as an unparalleled stock picker. She certainly had a knack for timing the market.

As "good" as she was at that, though, she was pretty bad at "deciding" the outcomes of U.S. presidential elections. My favorite Nancy Pelosi memory will always be this quote, given last year on a podcast just a few weeks before the election. "I decided that Donald Trump would never set foot in the White House again as President of the United States," Pelosi boasted at the time. Stick to the stock-picking, Nancy. 😂 Arrivederci!

Schumer, Mamdani voted worst Democrats right now by Rubin Recap readers

Took a little break from the Top Trump Peeps poll to take your temperature on who’s the worst Democrat right now as the shutdown drags on and New York City goes off the deep end. And, maybe not surprisingly, we have a tie between Chuck Schumer and the communist mayor-elect of New York, Zohran Mamdani. Evil lizard man Gavin Newsom ran a close third. Rubin Recap reader Jay summed up many readers’ take on this poll and had a good question.

My spidey senses were tingling last week, and I left Pelosi off the poll because I suspected the woman might do something good for the country for a change. Voila! Retirement announcement.

Let’s do worst Democrat again this week. Frankly, I’m stunned Elizabeth Warren didn’t get a single vote last week. Don’t tell me you didn’t know who “Pocohontas” is. Get your vote in ⬇️

Tweet of the week

What to know

• You know how I love to call Copal the official tequila of free speech — well, now it has a new title: award-winning tequila. In fact, Copal won two awards this week. On Monday, Copal won the “Best Reposado” award at the 2025 Sunset International Spirits Competition. It scored a 97 out of 100 and beat out all the big boys, some of which cost triple the amount Copal does.

And then on Wednesday, Copal took home another, winning gold in Tequila & Spirits Magazine’s 2025 Tasting Awards with a score of 95 and a rating of “Exceptional.” Their word, not mine, but I agree completely. No better time to order up a bottle, or three. We’re still running a deal — buy three, we’ll ship them to you for free.

• In last week’s newsletter, I asked you to send in pics of yourselves dressed up for Halloween. And many answered the call. We couldn’t show all of them, but featured a few of our favorites at the top of Monday’s show. If you didn’t see it, check it out here. Big fan of that “Let’s Go, Brandon” shirt 🤣 right next to a replica Michael Jordan college jersey. Good stuff, people.

• It’s not all politics when you tune into The Rubin Report. This week, during our community Q&A, I answered some questions that had nothing to do with politics or the news cycle. Even gave a little advice on shopping for Christmas gifts on Thursday at the request of a viewer named. ICYMI, here’s a clip of that. Christmas is less than 50 days away, so get crackin’ on those gifts.

• Speaking of Christmas gifts, reminder — The Rubin Report merch store is open with our new fall collection. Check it all out here.

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Until next week … — Dave