When the facts expose the utter folly of your long-cherished prejudices, dump your “principles” — or at least pretend to: That’s Zohran Mamdani’s latest “I’ll say whatever you want to hear” gambit in the wake of Monday’s Park Avenue massacre.
The Democratic mayoral nominee rushed back from his family Ugandan villa to meet with the widow and dad of murdered cop Didarul Islam, then announced that he never really meant all those years of “Defund the police” statements.
All the anti-police talk was just because he was “frustrated” over the killing of George Floyd, Mamdani says . . . now.
Plus, the hate mostly came five years back, before he even won his Assembly post.
Never mind that his current agenda doesn’t aim to solve the very real problem of too much NYPD overtime by hiring more cops, but rather by burning $1 billion-plus on social workers who’ll supposedly pick up the burden.
So his claim that his #Defund posts are now “out of step with the way” he views police today doesn’t even pass the most elementary sniff test.
What do all the lefties who backed him in the primary think of this turnaround?
Do they feel fooled — or are they happy winking at the obvious flim-flammery?
It’d be one thing if Mamdani were maturing to a sincere appreciation for policing and the urgent need for improved public order, but the timing of this turnaround is simply damning.
No: He just can’t say he still wants to defund the police if he’s about to attend a hero cop’s funeral as he tries to win power.
New York City doesn’t need a mayor who can’t make up his mind about whether having police is a good idea; it needs a mayor fully committed to a strong program of public safety.
That is, one who stood foursquare behind the men and women in blue before a cop got killed.
