India, Nov. 18 -- The Mamdani moment is saturated with symbolism: A young progressive American with Indian and African roots has victoriously asserted his social democratic politics in the world's financial capital. It is too early to tell if the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York portends a larger, fundamental shift in American politics. However, it does afford an opportunity to get a glimpse of an exciting ideological churn in America. In India, we have taken interest in Mamdani's victory because of his India connection. But we should take an interest in American politics regardless of an India angle because the profound battle for the country's soul is a once-in-a-lifetime story. The defining feature of America's national politics is nearly a decade old. On the surface, it has looked like a fierce ideological contest between conservative and liberal politics. But in substantive terms, it has been about the rise of Donald Trump and his control of the Republican Party and the disarray of the Democratic Party in terms of both ideology and leadership after the Obama presidency. However, recent developments have set off a genuine ideological churn on both ends of the political spectrum, which has the potential to produce a real contest of ideas and policies. On the right, there is growing concern that Trump has been co-opted - or compromised - by America's deep State establishment, a force that ensures status quo in the power structure regardless of the party or person in office. His comfort with America's super rich billionaires, his unqualified support for Israel, and reports of his family businesses benefitting from the presidency are seen to be a betrayal of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. The group that is voicing this unease is a small number of ideologues, podcasters and at least two lawmakers, but it has a massive and influential voice, especially amongst the youth. The likes of Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the late Charlie Kirk - not to mention the more extreme voices to their Right - want the US to follow an "America First" line. This means an end to America's support for Israel's militarism in West Asia, focus on creating a "real" economy based on manufacturing, end to illegal immigration, free speech, and revival of America as a Christian country in which White people do not feel as if they are "strangers in their own land". Some amongst this group are beginning to doubt Trump's sincerity or ability to deliver on this agenda. Trump has retaliated by withdrawing support from Greene, who is a Congresswoman from Georgia. On the other side, a genuinely Left-leaning social democratic politics has made a fresh start with Mamdani's victory, although its veterans include senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. This politics breaks ranks with the showy and vacuous progressivism on the liberal-Left, which began with the Obama presidency. Through its focus on the economic pinch for the ordinary New Yorker - access to a decent quality of life in terms of housing, transport, and child care - Mamdani's social democratic politics has taken on an issue that has mass appeal going beyond the city. The crisis of affordability in New York draws a stark contrast with the extraordinary concentration of wealth in the city, which resonates with the perception that even the national economy is polarised between oligarchy and economic despondency. This is also an issue for the renegade Right. Thus, both sides are concerned about the toll that unaffordability is taking on ordinary people, including their ability to raise families, though their conceptions of family differ: The Right prefers the conventional heterosexual one; the Left is fine with a familial laissez faire. The two sides also share discomfort over the influence of lobbies and donors on politics and policy. The renegade Right has become openly critical of the influence of lobbyists and wealthy Americans who they claim have captured America's foreign policy, particularly on Israel and West Asia. Curiously, the same class of people also funded the campaign of Andrew Cuomo, a Democratic Party politician and former New York state governor, who ran as an independent against Mamdani after losing the Democratic ticket. That Trump endorsed Cuomo while calling him a "bad Democrat" because he wanted to keep the "Communist" Mamdani out of office brought to light, to the renegade Right, the grand nexus of lobbies and oligarchs who insidiously capture political power for their special, self-serving interests. It is also worth noting that during the mayoral campaign, while other contestants expressed their commitment towards Israel, Mamdani said his focus was on the city. In other words, he stood for "New York First", quite like the renegade right's America First. This ideological churn faces two prospects. Each can be undone by status quo forces within. Or the two can develop into distinct ideological poles of American politics. The second development will spawn a genuine ideological contestation on whether America will continue on its trajectory of becoming an immigrant, multi-racial, multi-confessional country, or stare at something unclear and restless, as anxiety over the loss of an America that was once White, Christian and western deepens....