I don’t know I feel like if he ordered it and the cops refused to do it that would be preferable to backing down and not ordering it at all and the most likely resolution is that he orders it and then they book Netanyahu and then he gets out immediately and spends the rest of his life complaining about it which would be very funny.
I think there’s a problem that once you order the cops to do a thing and they flat out refuse, it lays bare the kayfabe. Maybe that would be good, actually, but it would mean zero credible leverage with the NYPD ever after. Would make Mamdani look absolutely powerless.
But if you don’t make the order and everyone knows the reason is that the cops might not listen to you, isn’t that having the exact same effect of making you look weak?
Now, Mamdani isn’t this guy, the fact that he didn’t purge Jessica Tisch on his way in proves as much, but the way a mayor is supposed to impose discipline on the cops is by firing ones who don’t listen to them and replacing the leadership with loyalists.
That’s why I called it kayfabe. As long as he doesn’t give an order they won’t execute, people can pretend the mayor has power over the cops. Once it’s out in the open, nobody can pretend. Replacing leadership with communists would be the same exact problem: NYPD is huge and the rank and file would revolt in every imaginable way. The system is resistant to fundamental change.
I think if it came down to the NYPD versus Mamdani, Mamdani would be able to leverage his support among New Yorkers to win. But again, he’s not that guy.
I don’t think he’s “that guy” either, but I also don’t think there really is a “that guy”. If the cops all go on strike or something, the governor (or president) would deploy the national guard (and not to break the strike!).
I don’t know I feel like if he ordered it and the cops refused to do it that would be preferable to backing down and not ordering it at all and the most likely resolution is that he orders it and then they book Netanyahu and then he gets out immediately and spends the rest of his life complaining about it which would be very funny.
I think there’s a problem that once you order the cops to do a thing and they flat out refuse, it lays bare the kayfabe. Maybe that would be good, actually, but it would mean zero credible leverage with the NYPD ever after. Would make Mamdani look absolutely powerless.
But if you don’t make the order and everyone knows the reason is that the cops might not listen to you, isn’t that having the exact same effect of making you look weak?
Now, Mamdani isn’t this guy, the fact that he didn’t purge Jessica Tisch on his way in proves as much, but the way a mayor is supposed to impose discipline on the cops is by firing ones who don’t listen to them and replacing the leadership with loyalists.
That’s why I called it kayfabe. As long as he doesn’t give an order they won’t execute, people can pretend the mayor has power over the cops. Once it’s out in the open, nobody can pretend. Replacing leadership with communists would be the same exact problem: NYPD is huge and the rank and file would revolt in every imaginable way. The system is resistant to fundamental change.
I think if it came down to the NYPD versus Mamdani, Mamdani would be able to leverage his support among New Yorkers to win. But again, he’s not that guy.
I don’t think he’s “that guy” either, but I also don’t think there really is a “that guy”. If the cops all go on strike or something, the governor (or president) would deploy the national guard (and not to break the strike!).