After Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York attended the funeral for Didarul Islam, a police officer killed in a shooting in Midtown Manhattan, wearing a headscarf, Ted Cruz inserted himself into the discourse. It did not go well for Ted Cruz. Or maybe it did, as MAGA seemed to love it. For normal people, where respect and decency still matter, and compassion is not a character flaw, Cruz's action just pissed them off.
Mayor Eric Adams, Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and independent candidate Jim Walden all gathered at the Parkchester Jame Masjid Mosque, where Islam’s body lay.
Source: New York Times
As New Yorkers mourned the victims of a mass shooting last week in a Midtown Manhattan office building, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, inserted himself into the discourse.
His comments concerned a photo taken on Thursday of Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, sitting on a folding chair inside a mosque, next to Mayor Eric Adams. To her left, men in kurtas and police uniforms kneel on a carpeted floor. Governor Hochul wears a dark pantsuit, a somber expression and, on her head, a black scarf looped over her hair.
After an anonymous social media user posted the photo and asked — appending an expletive — why the governor was “wearing a hijab,” Mr. Cruz shared the post on Friday and added, “Um, wut?”
The photo was taken at the funeral of Didarul Islam, a New York City police officer who was among those killed in the shooting last Monday at 345 Park Avenue. Detective Islam, 36, who was awarded a posthumous promotion, was Muslim, and his hourslong funeral was held at his mosque in the Bronx, with separate viewings for women and men. Before entering, women donned head scarves in accordance with Muslim religious tradition. Many men wore skullcaps.
Governor Hochul responded sharply to Mr. Cruz’s post on Saturday, saying that for her, wearing a head covering was a simple matter of honoring the fallen officer.
“Respecting a grieving family’s faith is ‘wut’ leaders and anyone with basic decency would do,” she wrote on X.
I wore a headscarf to honor a fallen Muslim NYPD officer at his funeral.⁰⁰Respecting a grieving family’s faith is “wut” leaders and anyone with basic decency would do. https://t.co/3fKOCdSnim
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) August 2, 2025
And here's the esteemed comment that Texas Senator Ted Cruz sought to promote. Ted Cruz is a garbage human being.
Cruz would later dig deeper into bigotry.
Others noticed that Cruz's religious bigotry is not always consistent.
The New York Yankees know how to show respect. Ted Cruz does not.
