{"id":42366,"date":"2026-08-13T04:28:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T23:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42366"},"modified":"2026-08-13T04:28:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T23:28:57","slug":"zohran-mamdani-weighs-in-on-woke-1-was-crazy-sometimes-what-you-believe-can-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42366","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani weighs in on &#8216;Woke 1 was crazy:&#8217; &#8216;Sometimes, what you believe can change&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/AP26121770187088-e1786569788182.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n        <iframe id=\"instaread_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Audio Article\" style=\"display:block\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n    <\/p>\n<p><\/instaread-player><\/p>\n<p>New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) on Wednesday weighed in on the \u201cWoke 1 was crazy\u201d remark said by New York City council member Chi Oss\u00e9 and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), echoing that \u201csometimes, what you believe can change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani, while at an event <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nyc.gov\/mayors-office\/news\/2026\/08\/fast-buses--mayor-mamdani-breaks-ground-on-bronx-s-first-busway-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">breaking ground<\/a> on the long-stalled\u00a0Tremont Avenue busway in the Bronx, said candidates running for office in New York or across the U.S. have the responsibility to say \u201cwhat they believe.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/chayesmatthew\/status\/2087538666792951816\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">clip posted to social media by Newsday<\/a>, Mamdani said, \u201cAnd sometimes, what you believe can change and develop, it can grow, and I know that there are some for whom they still believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve made very clear that I do not believe in defunding the police, that I will not be defunding the police,\u201d the mayor continued.<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani added that delivering on public safety means working with the New York Police Department \u201calongside many other partners,\u201d before citing that the <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/post\/new-york-city-posts-record-low-shootings-shooting-victims-murders-july-year-date-nypd-says\/19618764\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NYPD has reported<\/a> \u201cthe fewest murders on record in New York City and the fewest shooting incidents on record in New York City\u201d through the first seven months of 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that, to me, is how we measure a lot of our public safety,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase made headlines after Ocasio-Cortez paraphrased Oss\u00e9 on ABC News\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d on Sunday when she was asked about former Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong\u2019s (D) past positions. She went on to explain Hong\u2019s shift in positions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, you know, I think that during this time and \u2026 especially during COVID, there was a huge opening of the Overton window,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez said. \u201cWe were shut down. There was some of the highest unemployment rates that we have seen because of those shutdowns. And I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Ocasio-Cortez said these discussions were \u201cquite fruitful\u201d but noted that \u201cduring lockdown, of course, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hong \u2014 a democratic socialist like Ocasio-Cortez, Oss\u00e9 and Mamdani \u2014 in the past made statements about abolishing prisons and defunding the police, along with her comments about canceling Thanksgiving, a holiday she described to CNN as \u201cincredibly painful for many people in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/6023019-crowley-wins-wisconsin-governor-primary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hong lost to David Crowley<\/a>, Milwaukee County executive, on Tuesday. This gave leftists a rare high-profile defeat amid a wave of democratic socialist victories defeating moderate and incumbent Democrats. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Wisconsin\u2019s outgoing Gov. Tony Evers (D) endorsed Crowley in the race, while Hong had the support of some progressive lawmakers like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) \u2014 but <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/6013151-bernie-sanders-francesca-hong-wisconsin-support\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not from others<\/a> such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) or Ocasio-Cortez.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) on Wednesday weighed in on the \u201cWoke 1 was crazy\u201d remark said by New York City council member Chi Oss\u00e9 and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), echoing that \u201csometimes, what you believe can change.\u201d Mamdani, while at an event breaking ground on the long-stalled\u00a0Tremont Avenue busway in the Bronx,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/AP26121770187088-e1786569788182.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}