Even if AOC, Eric Adams, and Alvin Bragg were entirely correct that Jordan Neely wouldn't have been on that train threatening people with violent force if it weren't for systemic problems in our system, that still doesn't make Daniel Penny any more guilty.
If anything, if you're going to argue that Neely was on that train, doing what he was doing, because of a systemic problem, the people involved in the system are the people who put him there in the first place.
The arguments from these people can only lead to the basic idea that Neely lacked agency at any point while, at the same time, assuming that Penny had absolute agency at all times.
This is nonsensical, incoherent, evil, and probably racist.
Why isn't the same argument being made for Penny? How was he not placed into that difficult situation by the system, too?
This is the manifestation of leftist ideology.