New York City Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa shared a video of himself consoling a homeless man with emotional and mental health issues at a campaign event this week.
“Yo, what’s up, man?” Sliwa said to the man, named Jamal, who approached Sliwa’s press conference outside Penn Station on Wednesday.
JOIN TRUMP TEAM ON TELEGRAM
We need more compassion in politics, and we need to listen to each other more
That’s how we improve.
Yesterday, I was holding a press conference by Penn Station when it was interrupted by a young man dealing with mental/emotional issues
Here was my response: pic.twitter.com/EmgCmBUq9n
— Curtis Sliwa for NYC Mayor (@CurtisSliwa) August 27, 2021
The man, who was shirtless, told Sliwa he had lived in the area for six years and been hospitalized “a lot of times” and is supposed to be on medication.
“Would you rather be somewhere else than Penn Station,” Sliwa asked Jamal, after telling a police officer who tried to intervene that he had the situation handled.
Jamal, who Sliwa told Fox News he has known for six years, then began to break down and cry.
“I just don’t want to take advantage of you guys,” Jamal said while crying.
“You’re not taking advantage. This is our responsibility. I’m running for mayor. I’m gonna make sure that you and your other friends out here are taken care of, okay,?” Sliwa told him before asking if he wanted to stand with the group at the campaign event.
Sliwa posted the highly emotional video to Twitter and said that there needs to be “more compassion in politics.”
“We need to listen to each other more. That’s how we improve,” he captioned the tweet.
Sliwa told Fox News on Saturday that New Yorkers dealing with mental and emotional problems on the streets of the city have been abandoned by Democratic leaders, and said that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ThriveNYC program has not helped the New Yorkers it said it set out to assist.
The video Sliwa posted on Thursday, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, is meanwhile receiving overwhelmingly positive reactions on social media.
“I keep watching this clip. It’s hard to imagine another politician handling this with such aplomb. He completely diffused the situation. By rights, this should win him the election,” wrote lawyer and professor Randy Barnett.
“Curtis is truly the GUARDIAN ANGEL of New York City!” wrote Andrew H. Giuliani, candidate for NY Governor.
“This is remarkable empathy,” said Chadwick Moore, Editor-in-Chief at Outspoken.