New York City is always a hotbed for violent political “protests” and mass chaos from radical leftists, and Monday night was no exception.
The city, like many big Democrat-controlled cities across America, was the site of another round of marches yesterday over the death of George Floyd. Floyd died May 25th after (former) Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kept a knee pressed firmly onto his neck for nearly nine minutes after responding to a report alleging use of a counterfeit $20 bill for a purchase from Cup Foods, according to the criminal complaint (pdf) filed Friday.
Chauvin was arrested, charged with 3rd degree murder and 2nd degree manslaughter, and currently sits in a maximum security prison. But neither his arrest, nor pleas from Floyd’s family to stop the violence, have succeeded in stopping the looting, destruction, fires, and assaults that have broken out during the protests in cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles and New York.
New York state in particular was like grand central station for anarchy Monday night. Videos shared on social media showed police being brutally attacked by rioters in New York City as stores were looted and set on fire. In two particularly vicious attacks in NYC, two police officers were struck by hit and run drivers. A separate violent hit and run incident happened in Buffalo, where one local police officer and two state troopers were rammed by someone driving a Ford Explorer during another riot.
It looked like scenes straight out of “The Purge.” And the morning after, outraged New Yorkers began pointing fingers at NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), pointing out, among other things, that their joint announcement Monday of an 11 p.m. curfew was an epic failure.
When asked during his Tuesday presser about the apocalyptic scenes that played out across his Monday night going into Tuesday morning, Gov. Cuomo put the blame squarely on everybody but himself. “The NYPD and the Mayor did not do their job last night,” he stated. “It was a disgrace.”
Cuomo went on to state that the NYC police force is plenty large enough to handle the protests and riots, and that he had offered de Blasio National Guard resources, but that the mayor turned him down. Cuomo also speculated on the possibility of displacing de Blasio with National Guard leadership, citing alleged state of emergency powers, but stopped short of calling for it:
“I believe the mayor underestimates the scope of the problem. I believe he underestimates the duration of the problem, and I don’t think they’ve used enough police to address the situation,” Cuomo said.“You have 38,000 police officers. Deploy them. Give them support. On the video tape, to me, you see a lot of looting, and not enough police presence,” he added.Cuomo, a Democrat, said that he had offered to send the National Guard to New York City and that de Blasio, who is also a Democrat, had not accepted the offer. In comments that at times appeared to be thinly veiled threats, Cuomo repeatedly noted that a way to override de Blasio on the matter would be to “displace the mayor.”“Can you displace a mayor? Yes. A mayor can be removed. It has not happened. I can’t find a precedent. But theoretically it is legally possible,” Cuomo said at one point. “It is a bizarre thing to try to do in this situation. I think it would make a bad situation worse. Also, I don’t think it’s necessary, because I believe the NYPD can do this, because the NYPD has done this.”
Watch:
A spokesperson for de Blasio criticized Cuomo for attacking police officers, saying “It would be nice if our officers knew they had the respect of their Governor.”
The fed up NYC PBA went off on both de Blasio and Cuomo for what they’re calling a lack of leadership and support:
The situation has gotten so bad in New York that President Trump stepped in and called them both out today in several tweets, urging them to utilize the National Guard:
In pushing back on both Cuomo and Trump, Mayor de Blasio stated Tuesday afternoon that he did not need the National Guard in part because “no good comes” of bringing them into commmunities:
Others have pointed out that Cuomo is just as much to blame for last night’s chaos as de Blasio:
Cuomo’s and de Blasio’s very ugly and public spat is just another reminder that them playing “pass the buck” with each other when it comes to the difficult issues the city and state faces comes with deadly consequences, as their combined failure to come up with a unified strategy in the early days to combat the Wuhan Coronavirus and now this demonstrates.
This whole situation is embarrassing and pathetic, and the people of New York have every right to be angry and disgusted with both of them.
Curfew for tonight and the rest of the week is 8 p.m. Stay tuned.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY