Curtis Sliwa is back in the news cycle, and not for a reason likely to improve his standing with Republicans. 

The Guardian Angels founder previously ran as a Republican against socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Sliwa insisted on staying in the race despite calls from Republicans and moderate Democrats for him to drop out, amid concerns that a divided field would hand Gracie Mansion to a socialist mayor, which it did.

Now he has given critics another reason to question that decision. In a video posted to social media, Sliwa promoted a drag-queen show, not merely any show, but one built around mocking First Lady Melania Trump. 

"Oh, look, do me a solid. You gotta come to the Melania Trump drag show on October 17th," Sliwa said.

"I got it embedded in my medulla and cerebellum, be there."

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Sliwa is, of course, within his rights to promote a drag show, but that is not the point.

Republicans should have been more clear-eyed about what was at stake when he refused to leave the mayoral race. Sliwa centered his campaign on crime, an especially resonant Republican issue in major cities, and his opposition to socialism and anti-police politics made him an understandable vehicle for voter frustration. Still, conservatism is more than a single-issue posture, and a Republican label means more than checking the correct boxes on crime.

Had party leaders and voters taken a fuller measure of Sliwa earlier, they might have had greater clarity about the case for consolidating behind Andrew Cuomo rather than splitting the anti-Mamdani vote and ceding Gracie Mansion to a socialist. Instead, Republicans got the worst of both worlds: a candidate who stayed in the race, divided the opposition, and now appears comfortable promoting a show mocking the first lady.

Nor is this an isolated episode. Sliwa dismissed calls from relatives of Sept. 11 victims for Zohran Mamdani to skip the Ground Zero commemoration as “sore losers.” He has failed to mount a meaningful critique of socialism or make a case for free markets, and earlier this summer, video circulated of Sliwa dancing on a float during New York City’s Pride parade.

Taken together, it is fair to ask what, exactly, Republicans believed they were getting in Sliwa. It should also serve as a cautionary lesson the next time Republicans find themselves searching for an alternative to a political creature like Mamdani: opposition to the left is not, by itself, a substitute for a credible conservative candidate.