One of the many things that should have disqualified NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) from public office in the minds of a majority of Big Apple voters was his repeated calls to defund the police.
The Democratic Socialist Party member said it often, whether on social media or in front of crowds of like-minded radical leftist agitators. On the campaign trail – especially after he won the primary, he denied he had any intentions of doing so, but the receipts told a different story:
Even on the morning of the election, he was still trying to suggest he had evolved on the issue, even as those around him on the MSNBC panel, including racial arsonist Al Sharpton, were essentially telling him he should “be more careful” in how he spoke about it — which was code for “keep gaslighting”:
In the immediate aftermath of his Election Day victory, Mamdani ripped off the mask in more ways than one, proudly embracing the Socialist label he had distanced himself from as a candidate and then nominee, and declaring that there is no problem too small for the government to step in and handle.
And now, not quite two weeks into his transition from state assemblyman to NYC mayor, we’re learning more about a key member of Mamdani’s transition team, Elana Leopold, who just so happens to be a staunch “defund the police” advocate:
Elana Leopold, executive director of an all-female transition team, was among the more than 230 past and present staffers of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio who signed a June 2020 “open letter” to de Blasio demanding “radical change” on criminal justice policies – especially at the NYPD.“We are demanding the mayor act immediately to … reduce the NYPD operating budget by $1 billion in Fiscal Year 2021, and reallocate that money to essential social services, including housing support and rental relief, food assistance and health care,” wrote Leopold, a former senior advisor and campaign strategist for de Blasio, and the others.
News that a “defund the police” proponent, one who also advised Mamdani’s general election campaign, would be heading up the transition team for the mayor-elect did not surprise some of Mamdani’s critics, who pointed out that he was good at tailoring his messages to specific audiences to get what he wanted:
Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola said Mamdani’s decision to appoint Leopold to the transition team shows he hasn’t completely abandoned the idea of slashing NYPD spending.“Am I surprised? Not one bit,” said the Queens Republican. “What Mr. Mamdani says when he’s pandering to a crowd, and what he actually hopes to do, I believe, are very different things.“We’ve seen him make statements that go from progressive to moderate to almost conservative, depending on who he’s talking to. … Well, we see who his friends are, and they’re the same people who want to dismantle public safety in this city.”
Not surprisingly, Leopold isn’t the only one on Mamdani’s team who thinks this way:
Relatedly, there is also this:
While 50% of New York City residents who voted chose Mamdani, the other 50% didn’t. I pray things aren’t about to get worse in NYC, but I fear they are.
– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X.
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