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A New York Police Department captain, recently reassigned to a less favorable position after criticizing NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani as “an embarrassment” in a viral video, has emerged as a folk hero, gathering a significant following for his outspoken stance against the radical socialist agenda.
Prominent Republicans and other conservative leaders have rallied in support of Capt. James G. Wilson, advocating for his right to free expression under the Constitution.
Critics argue that the decision to move Wilson from his role as the second-in-command at Brooklyn’s 94th Precinct to a post at the NYPD’s 911 call center in The Bronx epitomizes City Hall’s double standards. They claim it demonstrates a preferential treatment for far-left allies at the expense of others.
“If Capt. Wilson had criticized Donald Trump instead, he might have been celebrated and even honored with a ceremony at Gracie Mansion,” stated Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens).
“But since his remarks targeted Mayor Mamdani, the outrage machine is in full swing, with radicals attempting to stifle any public dissent. This is their usual tactic, yet an increasing number of New Yorkers are beginning to see through the censorship and understand the true situation,” she added.
Council Minority Leader David Carr (R-Staten Island) agreed, saying, “We have heard city employees make disparaging remarks about our president, sometimes about Republicans or conservatives and even entire groups of New Yorkers, with absolutely no consequence.”
“Even if a policy prohibiting political speech by public employees is Constitutional, it sure as hell isn’t enforced fairly or consistently,” he said.
Wilson was captured on video blithely bashing Mamdani during a heated protest last week outside a Bushwick hospital.
He also faces potential discipline for flouting an NYPD policy prohibiting cops from expressing personal views about a political party while on duty.
“He’s expendable, he’s temporary,” Wilson said in the video, as protesters egged him on by pointing out Mamdani is his boss.
“Nah, he’s total nonsense. He’s an embarrassment and total nonsense,” Wilson scoffs, cracking a smile. “Not my mayor.”
A still-smiling Wilson later in the clip goes on to diss all Democrats as “waste of human race.”
The video emerged as one of several controversies swirling around the chaotic late May 2 demonstration outside Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where anti-ICE protesters got wind that immigration agents had taken an illegal Nigerian migrant for medical attention.
Wilson shouldn’t have his First Amendment rights snubbed just because he’s a police officer, a high-ranking NYPD source said.
“Mamdani’s track record shows that he doesn’t believe in police work,” said the source.
“Why is a cop different than anyone else? He has First Amendment rights.
“He was out there doing his job, and he was being recorded. That’s their First Amendment right, but what about his First Amendment rights?”
Lawyers representing firebrand Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R-Queens) in her free-speech lawsuit have also contended Republicans and Dems get treated differently at City Hall.
Paladino faces potential censure over alleged Islamophobic remarks, but her lawyers say some of her Democratic colleagues have a history of raging without consequence against white people and painting their enemies — including President Trump, Republicans, and NYPD cops — as “white supremacists” and “racists.”
Mamdani on Wednesday told reporters he saw the video but didn’t “have any involvement” in Wilson’s “transfer — nor did my City Hall.”
“My understanding is a decision that was made in accordance with NYPD’s administrative guidelines,” he said.
The NYPD said Wilson’s disciplinary process is “ongoing.”