‘How could they be that stupid?’ They aren’t — that’s the problem.

In 2013, I published an article at American Thinker titled “How Detroit Almost Killed My Business.” It drew attention — enough to earn me a spot on Fox News Radio. The theme was simple: Government actions drive up costs until businesses can’t survive. I had to leave Detroit in 1984, along with hundreds of other business owners facing the same pressure.

The title of that article could just as easily have been: “How Could These Government Officials Be So Stupid?”

None of it makes sense — until you realize it isn’t stupidity. It’s sabotage.

Detroit finally declared bankruptcy in 2013. But looking back now, I realize my premise was wrong. The politicians weren’t stupid. They knew exactly what they were doing.

That same year, Diana West released her remarkable book “American Betrayal.” In a book that is part thriller, part tragedy, West exposed the depth of communist infiltration in the U.S. government — a war between those hiding the truth and those trying to expose it. Her research, though controversial, convinced me that America had long been the target of a coordinated effort to destroy it from within.

If America fell, the rest of the free world would follow.

With that lens, I reconsidered Detroit. The people running the city weren’t incompetent. They were executing a plan — to destroy the greatest industrial marketplace the world had ever seen. And they succeeded.

So when I now ask, “How could they be that stupid?” I catch myself.

How could anyone in 2020 vote for a man clearly not in his right mind? How could Americans allow COVID to justify the most extreme restrictions on freedom in modern history?

Masks, social distancing, lockdowns, mandatory shots — all of it was wrong. We know that now. And yet it was pushed with religious fervor.

How could they be that stupid?

How could the government open the borders and let in waves of illegal immigrants — including violent criminals from foreign prisons? Why did we pay to fly migrants in from distant countries, give them EBT cards with monthly refills, and house them in luxury hotels?

How could they cripple energy production, restrict how much water we use to wash dishes, and mandate what kind of car we can drive? What free government tells manufacturers what to build, regardless of market demand?

How could they decide diversity quotas matter more than competence? Why target the military for destruction?

None of it makes sense — until you realize it isn’t stupidity. It’s sabotage.

And now we have Zohran Mamdani, a self-described Democratic Socialist, poised to become the next mayor of New York City. His platform includes rent control, government housing, social policing, city-owned grocery stores, and free public transit. Every one of these policies has failed before.

RELATED: Vance on Mamdani: ‘Who the hell does he think that he is?’

  Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images

Under socialism, living standards always fall. It’s never been otherwise.

How could Mamdani be that stupid?

From my vantage point as an exile from Detroit, I know exactly what’s coming. I watched a government plan hollow out a once-thriving city. Now New York, the world’s financial capital, is in the crosshairs.

Businesses are already preparing to leave. Can you blame them?

Shakespeare wrote, “What’s past is prologue.” Twelve years ago, I warned what would happen to America’s industrial heartland. Now the ruling class has trained its sights on its financial one.

The question isn’t whether people like Mamdani are sincere. The question is: How can we be that stupid?