Ex-mayoral candidate and founder of the Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa, slammed AOC for comparing her leftist congressional district to the likes of Communist China. AOC recently praised the rise of left-wing populism in the Big Apple at an event while flanked by other like-minded ‘Democratic Socialists.’ During her speech, she proclaimed the rise of the ‘People’s Republic of Astoria’ in Queens, New York, which drew fierce criticism from GOP hopefuls seeking to restore the prestigious city to its former glory. Sliwa said he is forming “Ronald Reagan Republican Clubs” throughout New York City to create a block of Independents, moderate Democrats, and Republicans who can take back the city and kick out socialist politicians. According to Sliwa, AOC and her posse of leftists create almost irreversible damage to the city. In recent years, the left in New York has doubled down on their defunding the police agenda and dangerously advocated for communal mob rule. A Democrat supermajority currently governs New York City, and only small bastions of conservative politicians are holding out in various parts of the city. However, Sliwa hopes that by building bridges between Democrats and Republicans, who are fed up with the lawless city, conservatives can make a stunning comeback in New York.
FOX NEWS: Guardian Angels’ Sliwa calls for moderates to unite with GOP after AOC dubs Astoria ‘The People’s Republic’
By Charles Creitz; April 19, 2023
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa slammed fellow New Yorker Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, after she labeled a trendy community in the otherwise working-class borough of Queens “The People’s Republic of Astoria” for its apparent proclivity to elect far-left lawmakers like herself.
Sliwa told “Hannity” it should be a signal for moderate Democrats to unite with Republicans to replace socialists and left-wingers from elected office – after the congresswoman utilized the title used by Communist China while joined by democratic socialist State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, D-Long Island City, and Assemb. Zohran Mamdani, D-Ditmars.
“Well, the way you fight it, Sean, is you have to go at AOC and the socialists who hide behind being Democrats.”
“I was just in Astoria where she announced just last week, in Queens — the home of Tony Bennett, the Astoria kid – that we are the People’s Republic of Astoria. They want to remove the police, remove prisons,” said Sliwa, a native of neighboring Brooklyn.
At the event, Ocasio-Cortez reportedly referenced supporting the closure of Rikers, the sprawling island prison near Hell Gate which fails in her district.
Sliwa said it is time to take action in the traditionally working-class borough – dramatized in that regard over the years as the home of “Seinfeld”‘s Costanza family, and Doug & Carrie Heffernan of the “King of Queens,” – that is also the birthplace of populist Republican Donald Trump.
Sliwa, who unsuccessfully ran as the Republican nominee against Eric Adams for mayor of New York, said he has organized “Ronald Reagan Republican clubs” and has enlisted strong candidates of all stripes to run against Ocasio-Cortez and other “socialist” politicians like City Councilwoman Tiffany Caban, D-Woodside.
“[I’m] bringing in moderate Democrats and independents and sharing with them this vision that, without public safety, there can be no improvements in quality of life. And that’s how you defeat the socialists, because we need to teach the moderate Democrats to take their party back.”
He said that Democratic Party has been otherwise “hijacked” by those on the political extremes.
In all, New York’s city council holds a 45-6 Democratic supermajority – though reflecting a recent doubling of the longtime three-seat Republican minority shared between Howard Beach, Queens and two-thirds of Staten Island.
The city also has only one remaining Republican-held U.S. congressional seat – that of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis in Staten Island and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Through redistricting, the Nassau County-centric congressional seat of Republican Rep. George Santos does however include a small piece of northeast Queens.
New York City also has not elected a Republican mayor since Michael Bloomberg switched parties in his successful bid to succeed the GOP’s Rudolph Giuliani in 2001.
On “Hannity,” Sliwa said that “anarchy prevails” when district attorneys in places like New York fail to properly enforce the laws and protect law-abiding citizens.
“Look, [Mayor-elect Brandon] Johnson won in Chicago because Bernie Sanders and AOC-All-Out-Crazy, came in there and helped him,” he said. “Where were the moderates helping the moderate who had won the [general pre-runoff] election – Paul Vallos? They were missing in action.”
He said Reagan, for whom his new clubs are named, brought together Republicans and moderate Democrats in his groundbreaking 49-state sweep versus Minnesota Democrat Walter Fritz Mondale in 1984.
Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar