Zohran Mamdani, son of a politics professor and a Disney director, is a child of immense privilege, so it’s easy to dismiss his ideas about policing as the product of youthful excess emerging untouched by reality from an insulated upbringing. But Mamdani is a heavy favorite to become the next mayor of New York City, so his ideas demand close scrutiny. A poll released this week finds he has a commanding lead in the election campaign, leaving his rivals trailing by nearly 30 points. His support remains above 50% despite hypothetical matchups in which Mayor Eric Adams or former Gov. Andrew Cuomo are left off the ballot.
This is troubling for several reasons, not least Mamdani’s consistent demand for years that the police be defunded. He strategically backed off this mad idea a little during the Democratic primary for mayor, saying at a debate that he would not defund but “work with” them, whatever that would entail. Recent reports also suggest he would consider keeping police commissioner Jessica Tisch. But his previous disdain toward the NYPD and police, in general, allows doubt that these recent promises would be kept if he took over as mayor.
“We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety,” he wrote in 2020.
Responding to a comment by Cuomo that attempted to explain what people “really mean” when they say “defund the police,” Mamdani said plainly, “No, we want to defund the police.”
Perhaps most disturbingly, Mamdani responded, “nature is healing” to a post on social media in which someone laughed about having seen a police officer crying in a car. That reveals a sadistic side to the young revolutionary that New Yorkers should repudiate.
Mamdani’s voiced opinions are not those of a pragmatic reformer or even of a typical progressive activist but of a hardened revolutionary bent on torching the existing public safety infrastructure. The last remark demonstrates that Mamdani hates not only the idea of a police force but also individual officers. This should send a chill up the spine of police and citizens of the city who rely on police for safety.
A recent mass shooting in Manhattan puts Mamdani’s views in stark relief. On Monday, a gunman armed with a rifle stormed an office building at 345 Park Avenue and shot four people dead, including NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, a father of two children. He died protecting others.
Mamdani, who received this grim news while at his family’s armed compound in Uganda, responded by praising “first responders” but failing to acknowledge the slain officer. Only after heavy criticism did he mention Islam’s name 11 hours late.
Newly unearthed comments from December revealed Mamdani’s desire to disband the police department’s Strategic Response Group, a specialized unit that deals with crises needing a rapid response — the same unit that responded to Monday’s mass shooting.
“As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements and brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their First Amendment rights,” the socialist candidate wrote.
This reckless pledge will please terrorists, gangs, and others who thrive on chaos.
A reporter asked Mamdani at a press conference on Wednesday if he regretted his past statements about defunding the police. He tried to walk back his past denigration of law enforcement by placing his comments in the context of 2020. But he notably refused to take them back.
ERIC ADAMS MOCKS MAMDANI TRIP: “I CAN’T JUST UP AND LEAVE”
Cuomo, hardly an attractive candidate, nevertheless framed the matter well on Tuesday, saying, “This is a reality check: public safety is literally a matter of life and death. His [Mamdani’s] positions when it comes to public safety are abhorrent and wholly disconnected from any responsible government approach.”
New York City is a global hub facing complex problems and threats from violent criminals and even terrorists. It needs a serious leader, not an air-headed radical who does not let reality interfere with policymaking directed by leftist theory. We urge New York City voters to reject the real threat to its security, which is not the police, but a would-be mayor who would eviscerate a force devoted to public security.