Well. When they speak, they don't speak to the people. But to the very wealthy. Many people do not get that detail.

I'm not in favor of taxing the rich give them free baskets instead

He's been coddled by cronies and yes-men for so long that he's forgotten how to speak without expecting ot hear applause.

One where the president says he should be "cherished"

Ah yes, everybody knows that New York has the ability to hand out capital punishment based on what you out on your tax return. Stupid liberal Mamdani, how did he not do this! /s

Police have a lot of leverage power.

Almost all police are part of some form of union, and they have the ability to say "fuck you, we're not going to respond to emergency calls if you don't give us what we want"

...

aaaaaaand they'll use that tactic to force cities not to implement alternatives to police, like qualified, unarmed, de-escalation trained mental health experts that handle certain situations better than cops, so police retain a total monopoly over state violence and decisions about if someone should be arrested or not... which then lets them keep their bargaining power to do it all over again.

In exchange for taxing billionaire's second homes in the city, it seems