Episode Details

New York City is heading in the wrong direction — and Rafael Mangual of the Manhattan Institute is here to break down exactly why.

In this episode of the LoU Perez Podcast, Rafael and I discuss the real story behind the Washington Square Park snowball attack on NYPD officers, why anti-police disrespect has become normalized, the media's deliberate obfuscation of the Gracie Mansion IED attack, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani's dangerous blind spots on public safety.

 Topics Covered:

- The Washington Square Park "snowball fight" and what it actually revealed about anti-police sentiment

- "Is This What Fear Looks Like?" — Rafael's viral piece on the myth of police brutality

- How progressive guilt culture has made New Yorkers afraid to call the cops

- The media's shameful framing of the Gracie Mansion IED attack

- Mayor Mamdani's failure to name the perpetrators or their motivations

- Why disbanding the NYPD's Strategic Response Group is dangerous

- The revolving door of the criminal justice system (and why the average prisoner has 10–12 prior arrests before incarceration)

- New York as a "luxury product" — and why it's losing customers

- Low voter turnout, fringe political power, and who really runs NYC

 Rafael Mangual is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of "Criminal (In)Justice." His work appears in City Journal, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal. https://amzn.to/4tdd8mD

Follow Rafael:

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Lou Perez is a comedian, author, and producer. He's appeared on Gutfeld!, FOX News Primetime, and One Nation with Brian Kilmeade. He was Head Writer and Producer of the Webby Award-winning We the Internet TV, and his sketch "Wolverine's Claws Suck" has over 20 million views. He hosts The Lou Perez Podcast on the Lions of Liberty Network.

 Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro & Rafael's background

01:07 – Washington Square Park snowball fight: what really happened

05:23 – Anti-police disrespect and what it signals

09:07 – "The Talk" and the contradiction in police narratives

14:35 – Confrontations on NYC subway: antisocial power plays

28:57 – When did Democrats stop caring about order?

30:15 – Why progressives won't call the cops

37:02 – The revolving door: prison, recidivism & Heather Mac Donald

49:22 – The Gracie Mansion IED attack

51:33 – Media obfuscation and Mayor Mamdani's faile