Hey, Zohran Mamdani: If you disagree with the Democratic Socialist of America’s call to end all policing of misdemeanor offenses, better say so — convincingly.
Start with the social-media fury over a recent Post online headline: “Zohran Mamdani wants to end all misdemeanor charges: ‘E-ZPass for criminals.’“
Headlines, by necessity, are only sketches; and this story’s top two paragraphs explain that it’s about how the national DSA’s most recent platform, adopted in 2021, calls for an end to “the criminalization of working-class survival,” which requires ending “all misdemeanor offenses, accounting for 80% of total court dockets”; readers soon learn that the “E-ZPass” charge comes from one of his opponents.
Yet Mamdani’s defenders went ballistic, insisting that it’s not Mamdani who wants to end misdemeanor offenses, it’s just the organization he’s a card-carrying member of.
And Mamdani’s campaign, which declined to comment on the original story, on Tuesday wouldn’t say much more on the record, simply assuring us that a Mayor Mamdani’s NYPD will continue to enforce misdemeanors and noting that the no-misdemeanors stuff is from the national DSA, while he’s endorsed by the New York City branch.
It wouldn’t even go on the record disavowing the national group’s positions.
Mind you, Mamdani was a keynote speaker at the DSA’s 2023 national convention, which sure suggests agreement with more than just the NYC crew.
And DSA-NYC can’t actually be more moderate: The national outfit calls the policy shots, with local branches obliged to toe the line.
Read the DSA constitution: “Members can be expelled if they are found to be in substantial disagreement with the principles or policies of the organization.”
And there’s never been much daylight between the DSA’s radical positions on crime and Mamdani’s, at least not ’til it looked like it might be a problem for his mayoral campaign: He’s supported defunding the police and urged dismantling the “entire carceral system” and called the “police & prison systems in America” one of the “many faces” of “white supremacy.”
Even now, his declared goals include shutting down Rikers, getting rid of police overtime and taking cops’ focus off “non serious crimes.”
Exactly which crimes does Mamdani deem unworthy of police attention? Misdemeanors, perhaps?
Remember: The DSA’s not a political party like the Democrats or Republicans — it’s a membership organization of staunch ideologues who require purity tests to remain a member in good standing.
It unendorsed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez last year because, among other things, she signed onto a statement that supported strengthening Israel’s Iron Dome, and DSA members called for Rep. Jamaal Bowman to be booted out for visiting Israel in 2021.
Friendly advice, Zohran: Having staffers simply announce in your name that you no longer hold a position you took publicly just a year or three ago didn’t work for Kamala Harris last year, and it won’t do well for you now.
If you disagree with the clearly stated positions of an organization you’re a member of, say so yourself — and show you really mean it, by explaining in your own words why that position is wrong, not just inconvenient.
Or are you just hiding your true agenda until you get elected, then it’s DSA-endorsed policies all the way?
