Musk Says "People Will Die" Over NYC's New Fire Commissioner

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I've already been doing it for five years and I plan on doing it for 10 more and the only way that we can continue doing this is with your support. So one second of your time to hit the subscribe button right now would help this show tremendously. Thank you so much. Elon Musk posted a warning on Friday about New York City's incoming fire commissioner. His words were very blunt. He said people will die because of this. Proven experience matters when lives are at stake. Now the target of his criticism is lillian Manor, a 31 year fire department of New York veteran who led the city's emergency medical services during the COVID 19 pandemic. She's had to become the second woman and the first openly gay person to run the nation's largest fire department. Now the person who appointed her is Zorin Mamdani, New York City's incoming mayor, a 34 year old democratic socialist who takes office January 1st. Musk's complaint is that Bonsignor has never been a firefighter. She came up through ems, not the fire side of the department. Ramdani fired back on Saturday with a pointed response. He said experience does matter, which is why I appointed the person who spent more than 30 years at EMS. You know the workforce that addresses at least 70% of all calls coming into FDNY. So who is right here? The argument over qualifications for fire commissioner is playing out against a much larger political backdrop. Musk and Mamdani are on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Musk served in President Trump's administration as part of Doge. Mamdani is a Democratic socialist endorsed by Bernie Sanders and AOC. Now Trump called Mamdani a 100% communist lunatic after he won the Democratic primary in June. Trump also suggested that he might try to arrest and deport Mamdani if he won the mayoral electorate. Now Mamdani was born in Uganda, raised in New York City and became a US citizen in 2018. He's the first Muslim and first South Asian mayor of New York City. Now we're going to walk through the qualifications of this person. Mazignor why this appointment is controversial in whether this criticism holds up. We'll go right into that after this very short break. Joined the FDNY as an emergency medical technician in 1991. She was among the first responders to the World trade Center on September 11, 2001. By 2002 she had risen to lieutenant. She became a captain in 2005 and a deputy chief in 2009. In 2016, she was named chief of the EMS Academy at Fort Totten. In 2019, she became chief of EMS operations, a role she held through the early and most brutal brutal phase of COVID 19 pandemic. And during that period she oversaw more than 4300 EMS providers, responding to approximately 1.5 million calls per year. She became the first woman to achieve a four star rank in FDNY history and she retired in 2022 and came out of retirement to accept this appointment. Now Bonsignora's supporters point out that the FDNY is not just a fire department. The majority of calls handled by FDNY personnel are medical emergencies, not fires. Mamdani emphasized this in his response to Musk, not noting that EMS handles at least 70% of all FDNY calls. Laura Kavanaugh, the first woman to serve as FDNY commissioner and the person who held the role before resigning in 2024, praised this appointment. She called her one of the strongest leaders I have ever worked alongside. Congressman Richie Torres, a Democrat from New York, also pushed back on Elon Musk's criticism. He wrote then Bonzignor is a 31 year veteran in a 911 first responder and accuse the far right of ignoring facts to fit their narrative. Now critics argue that running a fire department requires operational firefighting experience. The FDNY battles high rise fires, structural collapses and complex industrial incidents that require technical expertise developed on the fireside. A commissioner sets strategy, allocates resources and makes decisions during major emergencies. Now Musk's argument is that someone without firsthand experience fighting fires cannot effectively lead an organization whose core mission is firefighting. Now the appointment has drawn mockery from conservative commentators, some of whom have focused on Bonsignora's sexual orientation rather than her qualifications. One writer one writer at the Federalist wrote sarcastically that at least trapped occupants would know the commissioner was a lesbian even if she never served as a firefighter. Now that kind of commentary is sick, and it tends to undercut legitimate questions about experience by making the criticism appear to be about identity rather than competence. It that person is stupid. They're an idiot, by the way. And the appointment also needs context around what happened the same week outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who is still in office until December 31, made his own FDNY commissioner appointment. On the same day, Adam named mark Wera, a 37 year FDNY veteran who had been serving as interim commissioner. Adams described where as principled and qualified, saying that keeping New Yorkers safe has always been his administration's North Star. Now Mamdani brushed aside the dueling appointment, noting that Adams is free to be mayor until the end of the year. Lillian's light is one that can't be dimmed by anything else that takes place, mamdani said. The question of which appointment will actually stick a straightforward Mamdani takes office January 1, his appointee will be commissioner, and Adam's appointment is essentially a placeholder for the final days of his administration. Now, the broader political context matters here, too. Elon Musk and Trump have both been hostile to Mamdani since before the election. Musk urged New Yorkers to vote for Andrew Cuomo instead of Mamdani in November, even though Cuomo was running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary, Trump repeatedly called Mamdani a communist and suggested he might not be a legal citizen, a false claim given that Mamdani was naturalized in 2018. Now, Mamdani, for his part, called Trump a fascist and a death spot during the campaign. Yet after Madani won, the two met at the White House in November and emerged smiling. They had a good time, Trump said he would be looking to hurt or would not be looking to hurt New York City, but rather to help it. Mamdani said his views about Trump remain unchanged but that he is willing to work with the federal government. Now the FDNY commissioner controversy fits into this larger pattern of friction between Musk, Trump and New York City's incoming progressive leadership. And retired NYPD lieutenant John Mockery, who co hosts a podcast about New York policing, offered a counterpoint to Musk's criticism them now he pointed out the last two FDNY commissioners appointed by Eric Adams also had zero operational firefighting experience. He also noted that the current NYPD commissioner, Jessica Tish, has no law enforcement experience. Makari argued that Bon Signor's 30 years on the EMS side of FDNY gives her deep institutional knowledge and that the overwhelming majority of calls handled by firefighters are EMS runs. Now, whether this is a persuasive defense depends on what you think the commissioner role requires. If the commissioner is primarily an administrator who sets policy and manages budgets, then EMS experience may be sufficient. If the commissioner is expected to have tactical expertise in firefighting operations, then the lack of fire experience is a huge gap. Now bouncing Nori dressed her qualifications directly at her appointment news conference. She said, I know the job, I know what the firefighters need, and I can translate that to this administration who's willing to listen. She also noted that she can do things most fire commissioners cannot. And she said, and now you have a commissioner that could start n iv, a reference to her hands on medical training. Now, whether that skill matters for leading a fire department is debatable, but her point was that she brings practical experience just in a little bit of a different domain than critics expected. Madani's appointment of Bonzignor is also being interpreted interpreted as a commitment to raising wages for EMTs who have long lobbied for pay increases to match other first responders. That political dimension may be as important to the incoming mayor as any question of operational expertise. Now, Elon Musk's criticism drew attention because of his platform and his connection to El or to Donald Trump. But the underlying question about qualifications for public safety leadership is not new. Cities have appointed police commissioners without law enforcement experience for decades. Fire departments have been led by administrators from the EMS side before, also for decades. And the debate about whether leadership experiences one part of an agency transfers to another is genuine and reasonable well made this particular controversy louder than most is the political context. And I want you to think about this for a second. Did Elon Musk have any experience building cars before he joined Tesla? Did Elon Musk have any experience building rockets before he started SpaceX? Just to put that in a context there now, the controversy is pretty loud. So think about this. A billionaire who served in a Republican administration attacking a democratic socialist mayor over an appointment that also happens to be historic for LGBTQ representation created a combustible mix. Now, the facts about Bazing Nora's career got somewhat lost in the noise. She spent three decades in the fdny. She led the agency's medical response during a pandemic that killed tens of thousands of New Yorkers. She's a 911 first responder who was at the World Trade center on that day. Whether that is enough to lead the department's firefighting operations is a fair question. Whether people will die because of it is a prediction that sounds more like political rhetoric than measured analysis. Now, the timing also matters here. Madani takes office in just a few days. His administration will face immediate scrutiny from Musk, from Trump, and from a media environment that is deeply polarized now. And the right wing of our government now owns most of the mainstream media. Every appointment, every policy decision, every budget request will be filtered through the lens of whether the country's most prominent Democratic socialists can effectively govern its largest and most important city. Monzignora is the first test case. Her performance as commissioner will be watched very closely because if she messes up, everybody will know about it. And if she does mess up, right wing people will freak out. Every podcast, every single weird Newsmax host will have something to say about this. They're not going to say anything about her skills. I'm sure they're going to add some other stuff in there, too. Now, if the department runs smoothly and responds effectively to emergencies, the criticism will fade. Something goes wrong. Elon Musk's prediction will be cited as evidence that he is a truthsayer and he knows the future, that the appointment was a mistake. That's the reality of governing in a hostile political environment. But you know what? Every FDNY leader has had problems. This one's going to be magnified because Elon stuck his nose in it. He has no business doing that. He has no. He has no connection to New York. So think about it. Logistically, Elon doesn't really have anything to do with New York City, and he's just doing some political rhetoric here. Now, every decision here carries both policy consequences and political risk. But you know what? New York City doesn't care. They don't care. They're just going to keep doing their thing. They're going to keep doing FDNY stuff in New Yorkers are going to support them. Hey, thank you so much for listening today. I really do appreciate your support. If you could take a second and hit this subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast platforming on right now, I greatly appreciate it. It helps out the show tremendously. And you'll never. And each episode is about 10 minutes to get you caught up quickly. And please, if you support the show even more.com stage zero and please take care of yourselves and each other, and I'll see you tomorrow.