Mayor Mamdani is discovering that leading New York’s socialist movement into City Hall does not guarantee loyalty from the activists who followed him there. Despite being described as Gotham’s most radical mayor on policing, Israel, and taxing the rich, he is now being denounced [1] by members of his own political camp.
The spectacle exposes what Michael Goodwin calls the absurdity of both the moment and the movement. Some activists appear to view their new political power as absolute, leaving little room for compromise with New Yorkers who hold opposing views.
Darializa Avila Chevalier stands out among Mamdani’s tormentors. She won a Democratic primary last summer against long-term congressional incumbent Adriano Espaillat after receiving Mamdani’s endorsement in an upper Manhattan and Bronx district where she previously was little known.
Chevalier has now turned her fire on the mayor, largely because he has not fired NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Her attack followed an incident in which ICE agents shot and wounded a wanted illegal immigrant with a criminal record who was attempting to escape by car with a child in the back seat.
“Last night, the NYPD and Commissioner Tisch violated the spirit, if not the letter, of our sanctuary city policies and fueled the Trump Administration’s attempt to demonize our communities,” Chevalier wrote on social media. She also demanded that Tisch be removed.
Yesterday, an ICE agent opened fire in Marble Hill. They shot a member of our community in the neck while he was in his car. His five-year-old kid was in a child seat in the back of the car when ICE agents fired at least 7 rounds into it. This was in the middle of the afternoon, with children walking home from school and people heading home from work. Federal agents put every one of them in danger.
When I was in Marble Hill last night I saw NYPD officers rapidly escalating violence. As I was trying to de-escalate, I was shoved to the ground by an officer. I witnessed unmarked law enforcement cars hitting protestors as NYPD officers pushed people out of its path. And instead of condemning ICE’s violence, Police Commissioner Tisch attempted to justify the shooting by reading off our neighbor’s past interactions with police.
The NYPD spent more time protecting a militia that just shot someone than protecting New Yorkers. Last night, the NYPD and Commissioner Tisch violated the spirit, if not the letter, of our sanctuary city policies and fueled the Trump Administration’s attempt to demonize our communities. The NYPD’s Strategic Response Group must be disbanded as quickly as possible, and Commissioner Tisch must step down.
In this district, there are mothers who are afraid to send their kids to school, workers who are afraid to show up for their shifts, and people who won’t call for help anymore because they can’t be sure who will come. That’s what it means to have a violent militia operating in your community. You don’t feel safe walking down your own street.
For decades, we’ve been told ICE can be fixed with more oversight, better training, or reform. But you can’t reform an agency whose purpose is to terrorize immigrant families. You can’t train cruelty out of a system built to enact cruelty. ICE must be abolished.
This moment demands that everyone step up. Elected officials at every level need to stop hedging and say it plainly: Abolish ICE now. Our city must enforce every sanctuary protection we have and city officials must ensure this cannot happen again.
— Darializa for Congress (@DarializaforNY) October 9, 2026 [2]
City Hall regarded the attack as a betrayal from a candidate who wanted and needed Mamdani’s support. One aide told The Post that even before Chevalier wins the general election or takes office, her statement “is a direct undermining of Mamdani.”
Goodwin argues that this behavior follows a familiar pattern. Activists who spent years on the political sidelines finally taste power, then immediately begin fighting among themselves and punishing allies who fail ideological purity tests.
For Mamdani, the revolt represents his first serious outbreak of turmoil among his own supporters since taking office. Pro-Palestinian activists, antisemites, and police haters are now calling him a sellout, even as many other New Yorkers already strongly oppose him.
LMAO! Ugandan Mayor Mamdani’s OWN SOCIALIST BASE just TURNED on him
Socialists are DEMANDING Mamdani fire NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch
Mamdani: I’m not firing her
Now they are FURIOUS
This comes days after pro-Palestine leftists FOLLOWED and HARASSED Mamdani on Oct. 7
This is what happens when you have to appease psychos to keep your base support! Our country must NEVER be ruled by these people.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 14, 2026 [3]
Goodwin compares Mamdani’s predicament with the political suffering of Lyndon Johnson nearly six decades ago. Johnson took office after John F. Kennedy’s death and pursued the Great Society, an ambitious expansion of the federal government’s role in American life.
Working with Republicans and pressuring reluctant congressional Democrats, Johnson secured civil rights and voting rights protections for black citizens. He also created Medicare and Medicaid, built major public housing developments, and launched public broadcasting.
Yet the Vietnam War consumed Johnson’s presidency and damaged his standing among Democrats. At the height of his domestic accomplishments, he also faced criticism from people who had supported his agenda and benefited from it.
Joseph Califano, then Johnson’s chief domestic adviser, described one telling confrontation from the turbulent summer of 1967. Johnson had invited NAACP leader Roy Wilkins and Urban League Executive Director Whitney Young to the White House while seeking support for his response to riots in Detroit and Newark.
Wilkins and Young largely agreed with Johnson’s broader agenda, but they were in despair over the violence and said they could not control the young rioters. Johnson responded by attacking the intolerance he saw among liberals within his own party.
“A liberal is intolerant of other views. He wants to control your thoughts and actions,” Johnson declared. He then delivered the sharper line: “You know the difference between cannibals and liberals? Cannibals eat only their enemies.”
Johnson found no lasting political relief and announced in March 1968 that he would devote his remaining time in office to ending the war and would not seek reelection. Goodwin says Mamdani would be foolish to ignore the warning signs now emerging from his comrades.
The ICE shooting showed how quickly their loyalty could collapse when Mamdani refuses to embrace every demand. Meanwhile, common-sense-minded New Yorkers see keeping the popular and successful Tisch at the NYPD as his best decision, particularly after record-low crime rates during her tenure.
Jessica Tisch jokes about the DSA begging Zohran Mamdani to fire her
“You know, things have gotten a little hot for me this week…Anyone hiring?…There’s a lot of talk that the major’s friends don’t like me. That is simply not true! President Trump and I get along great!” https://t.co/A50lxDfb6i
— Anne Smith (@AnneS4Justice) October 16, 2026 [4]
More tests are inevitable because police work produces incidents that anger the cop hating far left. If Mamdani and Tisch eventually take opposing positions in a major case, their carefully cultivated relationship could collapse, forcing the mayor to choose between public safety and the socialist movement that carried him into City Hall.