Mamdani’s Chameleon News Conference After the Murder of NYPD Officer Didarul Islam

When faced with tragedy, real leaders rise to the occasion. Mamdani ducked.

At his first press conference following the horrific murder of NYPD Officer Didarul Islam — gunned down in the line of duty on Park Avenue — Mamdani was asked a simple, direct question: “Do you regret calling to defund the police?”

He didn’t say yes. He dodged. He pivoted. And that silence spoke volumes.

Mamdani, who for years championed the “Defund the Police” movement, used the moment not to show accountability or remorse — but to reinvent himself. Suddenly, the same candidate who once called the NYPD “a threat to public safety and racist” was expressing admiration for officers and claiming his tweets from 2020 no longer reflect his views.

But don’t be fooled. While Mamdani now says, “I’m not running to defund the police,” he still supports disbanding the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (SRG) — the elite unit trained to respond to terrorism, riots, and mass shootings. The same unit that responded to the scene where Officer Islam was killed.

He even floated the idea that hate crimes — including anti-Asian, antisemitic, and anti-Black attacks — should no longer be handled by the NYPD, but instead by a new “Department of Community Safety.” Translation: social workers, not law enforcement.

At the press conference, Mamdani tried to distance himself from his past by blaming his rhetoric on the “frustration” of 2020. But when asked about his notorious “nature is healing” tweet — posted in response to a video mocking a police officer crying in his patrol car — he didn’t apologize. He deflected.

Mamdani then accused his critics of “politicizing” the moment, even as he used the event to rewrite his own record. He lashed out at one of his opponents, claiming he was “speaking exclusively about me” instead of honoring the fallen officer. That’s not humility. That’s spin on all the votes of NYC.

New Yorkers should not be fooled. This wasn’t a change of heart. It was a change of messaging. Mamdani’s radical anti-police views didn’t evaporate — they were just repackaged under the pressure of political scrutiny.

But words have consequences. And when a candidate spends years attacking law enforcement, mocking officers, and pushing to dismantle the very units that protect New Yorkers — he can’t expect to wipe the slate clean with a few vague stateents and a sudden embrace of “nuance.”

Zohran Mamdani showed the city who he was in 2020. He reaffirmed it in 2021. And even in this latest news conference, he couldn’t bring himself to say the five words that matter most: “I was wrong. I apologize.”

He couldn’t say it. Because deep down, he still believes it. And that makes him unfit to lead a city that relies on safety, trust, and truth.