How much would you bet on the next presidential election? That's the question Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked his guest panelists when he introduced a new segment on his program in 2015: Candidate Casino.

As the primary campaigns heated up, each guest received $100 in virtual money to wager on the absurdly large field of 17 Republican candidates vying to run against Hilary Clinton in November. A decade later, one episode still resonates:

Having bet 99 of his 100 dollars, the venerable conservative columnist George Will placed his remaining dollar on Donald Trump. Why? "To put to rest forever," he explained, "the fantasy that Trump could ever be elected president."

Of course, fantasy became reality, and Will fell victim to an especially acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Meanwhile, half the country pondered with varying levels of dismay, "How did this happen?"

The answer was never difficult, although many still refuse to see it. It's the same answer that explains the recent nomination of radical socialist Zohran Mamdani as Democratic nominee for New York City mayor. It's also this week's entry into the Ethical Lexicon:

Boomerang theory

The observation that actions often return to their origin with consequences the opposite of those intended.

The election of Donald Trump was quite simply a backlash to the presidency of Barack Obama. As the country's first black chief executive, Obama envisioned himself becoming the most transformational president in history. From his bully pulpit, he would bring together a socially and politically fractured country just as Nelson Mandela had labored heroically to do in South Africa after the end of apartheid.

Instead, Obama presided over possibly the most divisive two terms in the last century. He derided middle Americans for "clutching their guns and religion." He elevated race and identity politics to previously unimagined levels. He shepherded in a culture of anti-Americanism, anti-traditionalism, safe spaces, trigger warnings and white male guilt.

Enter Donald Trump, who brilliantly exploited popular resentment toward the Obama administration's polarizing agenda and sanctimonious messaging. Candidate Trump said what other Republican hopefuls were unwilling to say and what angry voters wanted to hear. His disregard for civility and propriety projected an air of authenticity among those disgruntled by the calculated blandness of his opponents.

Trump's caustic style and blatant disregard for truth struck many as unethical, and justifiably so. But he tapped into the anger and frustration of a massive base that felt marginalized and ill-served by the political establishment.

A decade later, Zohran Mamdani took his cues from the same playbook. Just as Trump had orchestrated a conservative rebellion against the excesses of the far left, Mamdani staged a progressive revolt against the mainstream. His savvy political theater championing New York City street vendors catapulted him past Andrew Cuomo to secure the mayoral nomination.

Mamdani's populist surge was fueled by voters' indignation toward corruption, ineptitude, arrogance and insensitivity. Where Trump targeted extreme ideology, Mamdani took aim at institutional mismanagement. Where Trump rallied his troops by channeling social and political outrage, Mamdani seduced voters by promising bold action in the wake of executive fecklessness.

In either case, voters cast their ballots not in favor but in disfavor. Ideological overreach and smug complacency both boomeranged to legitimize iconoclastic flamboyance, with little regard for the impracticality or implausibility of promised change.

So, who deserves blame for the rise of a narcissistic bully and a utopian anti-Semite to political prominence? Progressive zealots on one side and faltering centrists on the other. Both enabled and empowered their own ideological adversaries by pursuing a self-serving vision untethered to reality.

The most foundational of all ethical values may well be competence. No matter how sincere, well-meaning or passionate we may be in our intentions, failure to do our jobs well invites disaster to follow closely in our wake. Sadly, the same ideological tunnel vision that produces single-minded conviction also blinds leaders to the short-sightedness of their own agendas. Time and again, their transitory wins rebound into long-term failure.

See more by Yonason Goldson and features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists; visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Ben Mater at Unsplash