Do our elected officials just plain fear the cops now? The usual line is that they need their support to get re-elected, but I wonder if, deep down, de Blasio understands that this hyper-militarized, jacked up NYPD could very easily overthrow the city government if they wanted to. Even if the National Guard were called in to restore orde…
Do our elected officials just plain fear the cops now? The usual line is that they need their support to get re-elected, but I wonder if, deep down, de Blasio understands that this hyper-militarized, jacked up NYPD could very easily overthrow the city government if they wanted to. Even if the National Guard were called in to restore order in that scenario, it's not like they would start shooting the cops -- those soldiers might even stand down in solidarity. It could partially explain his firm reluctance to hold them accountable for anything, after he initially ran on a platform of progressive police reform. When the NYPD began turning their backs to him in public early in his first term, it could have spooked him beyond the usual concerns about optics. Maybe he's simply a craven opportunist, but it's never made a ton of sense to me how he went from police reformer to bootlicker so rapidly.
Do our elected officials just plain fear the cops now? The usual line is that they need their support to get re-elected, but I wonder if, deep down, de Blasio understands that this hyper-militarized, jacked up NYPD could very easily overthrow the city government if they wanted to. Even if the National Guard were called in to restore order in that scenario, it's not like they would start shooting the cops -- those soldiers might even stand down in solidarity. It could partially explain his firm reluctance to hold them accountable for anything, after he initially ran on a platform of progressive police reform. When the NYPD began turning their backs to him in public early in his first term, it could have spooked him beyond the usual concerns about optics. Maybe he's simply a craven opportunist, but it's never made a ton of sense to me how he went from police reformer to bootlicker so rapidly.