Curtis Sliwa at WESS: Q&A of a Lifetime

Curtis Sliwa, a 72-year-old, two-time mayoral candidate, can arguably be considered one of the most charismatic political figures of our time. In a Politics Club Q&A after school on May 29, Sliwa gave WESS students and staff the ride of a lifetime as they listened to his winding tangents and zingers on everything from affordability to feral cats. 

One of the Politics Club leads, Benjy Zhurbin, explained that the event was planned “with the intent…to bring a conservative voice into an environment and community that doesn’t often hear that.” While his conservative voice certainly was heard, the overarching voice of Curtis Sliwa provided us with much more than just political opinions. At one point, there was an attempt to wrap up the event in the interest of Sliwa’s time, but he shut this down promptly, saying, “I could be here all day, ‘til the break of dawn.” 

The highly entertaining Sliwa was quick to joke in his responses. He routinely referred to former Mayor Eric Adams as “the swagger man with no plan” and former Governor and mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo as “Andrew ‘Evil Eyes’ Cuomo.” 

Towards the end of the Q&A, Ross Wolfe, a social studies teacher at WESS, asked about Sliwa’s known involvement with stray cats. Sliwa proceeded to go on a 20-minute tangent about the benefits of stray cats, including a personal tale of using the cats to attempt to remove the rats from Eric Adams’s home. 

Sliwa surprised us all with his in-depth knowledge of electronic dance music (EDM), mentioning BUNT as his favorite artist, but the surprises did not stop there. Every question asked, whether from Zhurbin or a member of the audience, was met with at least one joke or witty remark, followed by an extended answer about his rollercoaster career before landing on somewhat of an answer.  

President Trump remained a prominent topic of conversation, yet Sliwa certainly did not shy away from giving his opinions on the current administration. He threatened Trump at one point, stating he “knows where all [his] bones are buried and who buried them.” While this comment intrigued the audience, Sliwa was as quick to move on from a topic as he was with his jokes. 

He continued, describing himself as a “RINO” (meaning Republican in name only) – a title he explains he aligns with more every day. He described that “at this moment [he] proudly stands as a RINO, even though the MAGA people make fun of [him] all the time.” 

Sliwa continued to emphasize his commitment and involvement in The Guardian Angels, a volunteer group he founded in 1979 in response to growing dangers on the NYC subway. He makes it a point that the Guardian Angels do not carry weapons, a message he relayed through a recounting of the stories of fallen Guardian Angels. Despite facing turmoil that came with the founding of an NYC vigilante group, Sliwa expressed how proud he was of the program he’d created.

When asked what he hoped we would take away from his talk with us, Sliwa answered simply: “Empower them.” hoping to inspire the next generation of leaders. His final remark, as he wrapped up his talk, left the audience sitting with a hard truth. “We exploited the world, now you have to heal the world.”