Ryan and Emily discuss Israeli tanks open fire on aid site, NYC mayoral candidate arrested by ICE, Cuomo panics as Zohran surges in NYC.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 4 (00:30):
So with the Internet cut in Gaza and the world's
attention focused on the Israel Iran war, the massacres in
Gaza have only heightened since then.
Speaker 5 (00:41):
We put up this.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
First element here, this Reuter's article. This headline is absolutely extraordinary.
Israeli tanks kill fifty nine people in Gaza crowd trying
to get food. Aid medics say this is similar to
the reports of the very first AID massacre, which defenders
of Israel insisted for many days afterwards that it had
(01:05):
not happened. In all of those days since then another
massacre of people seeking aid has carried out. There's some
you can go to drop site, News, Twitter Feed if
you want to see it. We're not going to play
it here because it's absolutely horrific. There is some footage
of the carnage after the tanks fired on this area
(01:26):
of Communis.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
This was This was.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Another scene where people knew that there was going to
be an AID truck going through and attempted to get
aid from that truck and then they opened fire on them,
killing well over fifty nine. Actually at this point they
went to Nasser Hospital as well as others. Just is
on the brink of total collapse at this point. We
(01:52):
have some less graphic footage that we can show. This
is C one. You can kind of hear the the
shooting in the in the distance. You can see the
scenes about are chaos and I just and you can
see the lights at the in the distance there which
represent the GHF kind of quote quote unquote AID distribution center.
(02:14):
And just to remind people, before Israel took over AID
distribution and had left it to the World Food Program
in World Central Kitchen and others, you simply did not
see scenes like this because these are aid organizations that
have been doing this for for a very long time,
and so they know how to do this.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Speaking of.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Uh Naser Hospital, we can put up CE two.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
This is and we can just roll this. This is UH.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Basically, this is a This is an audio report that
Dropsite got about the state of affairs at perhaps the
largest hospital that is remaining somewhat functional in Gaza.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
Doctor Yusef reports that there is not just a huge
number row patients coming in from the various massacres like
the one today. Nassar Hospital is still in a red
area and importantly Nasar Hospital has no supplies, no consumables,
all items are lacking for the provision of emergency medical care.
(03:20):
He also told me that until now, since the seventh
October in Gaza, the Ministry of Health have recorded the
use of one hundred and fifty thousand units of blood
that have been used, which means approximately two hundred and
fifty units of blood daily. Now, blood is lacking because
(03:42):
of the starvation of the population. They cannot no longer
ask people to donate blood because of nutritional anemia and
the fact that many have already donated units, they are
unable to receive more cases because they cannot provide life
(04:03):
saving first aid or damage control or life saving surgery.
There is practically no food available. They're trying to cook
some bread in Nasser Hospital, but they are also in
addition to being out of food material, there is no
cooking gas and they are actually using staff to collect
(04:24):
firewood in order to make some food available for the
staff and the patients. This is the reality in Naster Hospital.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
And so for many months what drops O and other
reporters have been in contact with the hospital staff at
Nacera and other places, getting regular updates.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
It's never been I think it's dire.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
As it is now overall. Last night and let's put
up C four there was another attack in Kanye.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
That is an.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Assemblage of tents that you're that you're watching burning there.
So the footage that's shot around the world over the
last you know, months and a year ago, we're constantly
seeing people burning alive. God only knows what the upclose
footage looks like there. Uh that this comes as effectively
(05:28):
nobody's paying attention for the last week or so because
of the other war. The other war be between Israel
and I run. And when you see the numbers of
casually is coming out of that and compare it to
what's continuing to happen every single day and Gaza, it's
kind of extraordinary.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Brian, what is the what have you heard from sources?
Speaker 7 (05:53):
No drop site is regularly in contact with people in
Gaza and in West Bank, and what is their spirit like,
what have you heard well west Bank?
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Interestingly, I'm glad you mentioned that the UN put out
a report yesterday that the West Bank is now basically
on total lockdown for Palestinians. Israeli settlers who live in
the West Bank can move freely from their settlements to jobs,
just like a few miles away in forty eight Israel.
But the West Bank just just you know, if you're
(06:28):
in an area, you can't leave it. Basically, if you're
in a town, you can't leave the town. The checkpoints
have become almost impassable, which means you can't as a family,
you can't get to your job, you can't visit friends,
you can't can't do anything. Yeah, like just a complete
you imagine COVID lockdown times thousands and with guns everywhere
(06:53):
in the Despair is pretty extreme in Gaza. The hunger
like the you know, hunger is one of those things
that we can all identify with because we get hungry.
Everybody gets hungry. We have the ability when we get
hungry to go feed ourselves. Sometimes we complain about the
(07:18):
food we'll get, but if we're thirsty, we can drink.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
If we're hungry, we can eat.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Sometimes we have to wait an hour, and it's like, oh,
that's how awful was that? Like today, I forgot to
bring a granola bar, so I'm going to suffer for
like thirty minutes. You do love those, We love granola bars.
It's that feeling just multiplied to infinity with no sense
of when you're going to be able to feed yourself.
(07:44):
And you know that at every almost every single a
distribution scene, people will be killed, people will be shot at,
and people will be fighting over flowers and the other provisions.
That's the other thing you're seeing now, like people fighting
(08:04):
each other. Yet and so you know that if you go,
you you may get killed right when wounded, and if
you get wounded, you're probably gonna die because of the
lack of any medical care. Yet you go because of
the hunger and not just your hunger, Like we can
handle that. It's it's your family's hunger. There was a
(08:28):
man who was killed about last week. His last words were, please,
somebody take care of my children.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
I left them hungry.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
And for like, I think any parent around the world
can can identify with that feeling.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Like of like, because that's that's what you care about.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Even in his dying moment, like, the thing that he
was thinking about is his children and how they're hungry.
So yeah, it's I don't think. I think it's impossible
to describe the depth of spare at this moment. And and.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
I don't see how I don't see how it.
Speaker 7 (09:06):
Ends right, No, I mean if yeah, as everything is
escalating in Iran, everyone's attention is increasingnything elsewhere already, and
that looks poised to get even more significant. That that
redirection of attention looks poised to get even more significant
in the days ahead, which is it has to be
(09:28):
incredibly a bleak, a very bleak future, feels like, I'm sure.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
And and the worse it gets, the more.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Severe the international consequences will be for uh world opinion
of Israel. When Western press gets in there and says, oh,
that's stuff that Dropsite was reporting in these tiktoks and
Instagram videos that we were seeing. That was only scratching
(09:57):
the surface of what Western reporters are gonna be able
to find when they get in there. And because of
this chauvinism around believing Western reporters over you know, all
standing reporters who are on the ground, that will have
a greater effect, you know, once people can get in there.
So people have to get in there at some point.
But if you keep a simmering conflict going, you can
(10:20):
fend off that day. And then Yahoo is a very day,
one day at a time type of person just kicking
whatever political pain there is just to the next week.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
And so.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
That's why I said, I don't know when, Like, I
don't know what's going to force that to come to
an end.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Awful thank you for your reporting on that, Oh.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Thank you appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
So up next, the comptroller of New York City, Brad Lander,
was arrested yesterday by Ice agents at a federal courthouse
and he's joining us next. New York City mayoral candidate
Brad Lander was a yesterday in New York by Ice authorities.
He's joining us today to talk about his time and attention.
(11:06):
What brought him to that and what brought him to
that situation. Comstroller of New York City, Brad Lander, thanks
so much for joining us.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
All right, So we're going to roll a little clip
that has gone around the world from yesterday.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
But first, can you goin to set up the scene, like,
where were you? Why were you there? Who was who
was ICE trying to detain?
Speaker 8 (11:30):
This is twenty six Federal Close.
Speaker 9 (11:32):
It's a federal building where immigration hearings take place. It
was the third week that I'd been there to observe
cases in immigration court, and ICE has started what's called
dismissing people's cases and then making them subject to expedited removal,
and then masked ICE agents have been grabbing them in
the elevator lobby. So we've been observing and then just
(11:55):
trying to escort people out of the building five times.
Previously I was able to just walk with families out
of the building. They did not get grabbed. But this
is an individual, Edgardo, who I was trying to escort
out of the building when this scene breaks out in
the elevator lobby.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Well, let's let's roll the scenes so people have the context.
Let's play that here.
Speaker 10 (12:15):
You have a judicital war.
Speaker 8 (12:18):
Do you have a judicial warrant?
Speaker 11 (12:22):
The judicial warrant.
Speaker 8 (12:25):
I will let go when.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
You show me the judicial warrant.
Speaker 11 (12:28):
Where is it warrant?
Speaker 5 (12:46):
You don't have the gloria to arrest US citizens.
Speaker 11 (12:51):
You don't have the authority to arrest US citizens.
Speaker 8 (12:57):
You don't have I'm not obstructing. I'm standing right here
in the hallway.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
I asked to see.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Okay, So first question.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
Homeland Security responded and said they found an old post
of yours from twenty twenty four where you said no
one is above the law. Homeland Security responds, no one
is above the law, and if you lay a hand
on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences. They
said you were arrested for quote, assaulting law enforcement and
impeding eight federal officers. So, Brad, could you respond to
(13:26):
that from DHS yesterday.
Speaker 9 (13:28):
I mean, everyone can see the clip that you just played.
I don't lay a hand on an ice officer. I
don't assault anyone. I'm attempting to escort someone and asking
the agents to show a judicial warrant. And that's what
plays out in the interview. And what's happening here is
that the Trump administration is trying to escalate conflicts, strike
(13:49):
fear into immigrants, to port millions of people, and undermine
elected officials who are just trying to defend due process
in the rule of law. That's what is happening before
our eyes.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
And so who did you have your hands on there?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Like everybody's kind of locked together as you're being kind
of pushed down the hall.
Speaker 9 (14:07):
So the individual that I was trying to escort, I
only know his first name.
Speaker 8 (14:11):
His name's Gardo.
Speaker 9 (14:13):
I had literally met him seconds before his case had
been dismissed, so he knew and I knew that he
was now stripped of status and subject to expedited removal.
And others are walking with us as well. We had
done this, as I say, five times before, and just
before they'd been able to walk with a family out
of the building unimpeded. That's what I was hoping would
(14:35):
happen here.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And so their argument, I guess you somehow are getting
in the way of their ability to affect this arrest.
Did they ever present the arrest warrant or anything else
that so they.
Speaker 8 (14:47):
Have not brought charges.
Speaker 9 (14:48):
I'm told that my case is under review, but have
not brought charges so far. But look, you know, this
is what Look what happened to Alex Badia and Ras Baraka,
a staff member of Congressman Jerry Knadler or Is Pambondi,
has been very clear they're trying to liberate democratic cities
from their own elected officials, and we have to find
a way to stand up for the constitution and do
(15:10):
process and the rule of law. I want to do
it peacefully, non violently, just as a witness, but I'm going.
Speaker 8 (15:17):
To do it.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
Where did they take you in for? How long?
Speaker 9 (15:20):
I was in detention in another room in that same
building for about three and a half hours and then
Governor Hoko came down and they released me.
Speaker 7 (15:31):
Okay, So, and this is the question from the right.
But there were according to the New York Times, a
net there was a net migration of eight million people
during the Biden administration. We know, you know, whether we
agree with the administration or not, when they say, you know,
it's all criminals or many many, it is full full
of criminals and all of that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
We know that obviously there's.
Speaker 7 (15:53):
Some level of that population that is criminal and that
normal American citizens would oppose being in the kind So
what should immigration enforcement look like, especially in the city
like New York that has genuinely dealt with some measure
of crime from people who are undocumented over saying BASAs
or you know, waiting for asylum claims to go through
(16:14):
the very labyrinthine court system.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
What should that look like, Brad.
Speaker 9 (16:19):
So, the individuals yesterday are people not accused of any
crime outside of the immigration system, and in fact, more
than that, they're doing everything right. They crossed at the border,
they checked in with border patrol, and they got a
hearing date and showed up for their hearing. And if
we make it that you're going to be arrested for
showing up at your hearing, no one's skin like we're
(16:41):
going to wreck the rule of law. Of Course, the
NYPD investigates crimes when they're committed, and that's just a
totally separate process. So individuals who commit crimes, of course,
the NYPD should investigate where people, you know, it should
arrest people who have committed crimes in New York City,
regardless of their immigration status, and if are immigrants, and
if they're convicted of a serious or violent crime, our
(17:04):
sanctuary city laws then allow for cooperation, but none of
that is happening here. These are not people accused of
anything of anything. What they've done is shown up in
immigration court to have a hearing that they were given
a date for. And all we want for them is
do process, the chance to have their asylum claim heard,
(17:26):
to get legal representation, and not to be kind of
manhandled and disappeared. If I face charges, I'll have a lawyer.
I know my rights will be protected. We have no
idea where ed Gardo is. He doesn't have a lawyer,
We don't know what his rights are. Trump is trying
to strike fear and undermine the rule of law, and
it's an important time for people to step up and stay.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
So in that video, you say, you know ICE agents
don't have the authority to kind of arrest American citizens.
Are you going to what is your understanding since then?
Speaker 5 (17:59):
Have you talked to lawyer? Is like?
Speaker 4 (18:01):
And are you going to kind of respond to the
way that you were treated in your detention? Like, if
it's the case that I doesn't have the authority to
do what they did, is there a lawsuit here? Is
there some type of action that you that you're planning
on taking.
Speaker 8 (18:14):
I mean, right now, I'm waiting to see what happens.
Speaker 9 (18:16):
As I say, you know, there were no charges brought,
but my case is under review, so I will wait
and see what happens there. But let's be clear, I'm
going to be back at twenty six Federal Plaza trying
to in a peaceful and non violent way witness what's happening, and.
Speaker 8 (18:32):
I hope other people will as well.
Speaker 9 (18:35):
You know, one hundred thousand New Yorkers were out on
the street over the weekend saying, you know, we don't
want kings in this country. I was there with an
organization called Immigrant Arc. I love for people to sign
up with them and also join and bear witness. We
can together insist on the rule of law and protecting
New Yorkers. Forty percent of New Yorkers are immigrants, including
(18:55):
a million children, And you know that's where I'm going
to stay focused.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
So the last estion for me is if you could
flesh out because one of the craziest things in the
last couple of months has been arguing about what the
like the definition of due process and what it looks like,
what it should look.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Like for citizens versus non citizens.
Speaker 7 (19:14):
I think most people agree that non citizens do and
should have are do literally due process. So for hypothetically
a person like Edgardo, who is not so hypothetical in
this case, but generally, what would do process look like
for him? What do you think due process should look
like for him? And how does that contrast with what
you saw yesterday?
Speaker 9 (19:34):
Yeah, I mean, he should get a real hearing on
his asylum application to determine whether he's got a credible
fear of violence or repression if he's returned to his country.
That's what you do under international law and under US law.
And this expedited removal they've never done it before in
(19:56):
New York City or in the interior of the country,
and to what they're doing is stripping people of the
basic right to get that credible fear hearing and make
their asylum case. And if they don't have credible fear, fine,
then you know, deportation is what happens.
Speaker 8 (20:12):
But that is not what happened here.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
On the mayoral election, we've covered the race on the
program here and our audience I think was totally mystified
at the last debate, where kind if every candidate went
around saying like that they would go to Israel as
like they're basically their first act as after getting elected
(20:35):
mayorics except for Zora and Mamdani and then who was
then pressed like why wouldn't you go to Israel. There's
also something like one hundred thousand Pakistani Americans who live
in New York City, and you know, many of them
are supporters of him Ron Khan, who's been detained since
twenty twenty two. And it occurred to me like nobody said, well,
I'm going to go to Pakistan because there are one
(20:58):
hundred thousand Pakistanis here and this is a very important
issue to them.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
I'm going to go to Pakistan.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
I'm going to visit Imran Khan in prison because this
is a violation of you know, international human rights and
democracy and this is something we're going to stand up for.
Can you help our audience understand like why, like why
this one country and why does every New York City
mayoral Canada have to say that they're going to go there.
Speaker 9 (21:23):
Well, for what it's worth, I said, my first trip
would be to Canada.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
Okay, Also why myself would be.
Speaker 9 (21:29):
My second would be to Mexico. It's like those are
our trading partner as well.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Yeah, that makes sense. You know.
Speaker 8 (21:34):
And I am a proud Jewish New Yorker.
Speaker 9 (21:37):
I am the highest ranking Jewish elected official in New
York City government. And I have been to Israel multiple
times and I'll go again. I believe in the division
of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, but I
think that requires an end to Israel's occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza, and Israeli some Palestinians have to
figure out how to live in mutual self determination. Piece
(22:00):
that is not the job of the New York City mayor,
you know. The New York City mayor can, though, try
hard to set a tone that enables very diverse people
from all around the world to live together in peace,
without hatred, without anti Semitism, without Islamophobia.
Speaker 8 (22:15):
So that's the kind of mayor.
Speaker 9 (22:16):
I will be somebody who shows up like I did
for ed Gardo yesterday, does it peacefully and non violently,
stands up for the rule of law, and then tries
to bring people together, Jews and Muslims and Christians.
Speaker 8 (22:29):
And it's an incredible city.
Speaker 9 (22:31):
It's got a mayor who has sold us out to
Donald Trump. It's got a Canadate and Andrew Cuomo, who
though asked many times, couldn't remember the last time he
had ever been to a mosque, lied about many things
on that debate stage.
Speaker 8 (22:43):
So we need honesty at city Hall.
Speaker 9 (22:45):
We need somebody who can bring people together and deliver
the safer and more affordable and better run city New
Yorkers deserve. And I got six more days to be
out there making my case.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Did you face any blowback for that answer? For saying
you'd go to Mexican in Canada as your.
Speaker 9 (23:02):
I mean, on this issue, you face blowback, you know,
and kind of you know, but to me, stand up,
you say what you believe, you know, you'd be who
you are. This city has been an incredible place for
Jewish New Yorkers and for immigrants and folks from all
around the world. And the mayor's job is to bring
people together, make the city run better so it can
(23:23):
stay that way.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
Yeah, and last question for viewers who don't know, Zorahen
Mamdanni has kind of has endorsed you for mayor. You
have endorsed Zorhan Mamdanni because of the rank choice voting process.
You know, if one of you wins, do you expect
that Cuomo will carry on and run in the general election,
and do you think he would have a shot in
that case.
Speaker 9 (23:42):
Andrew Cuomo has said he's going to run as an
independent regardless of whether he wins the Democratic primary. Eric
Adams has two separate ballot lines, one absurdly named and
anti Semitism, even though yesterday he was so busy meeting
with the anti Semite sneak oh that he couldn't bother
to say anything about Edgardo or about me.
Speaker 8 (23:59):
It is strange time.
Speaker 9 (24:02):
I sure hope Andrew Cuomo loses the Democratic primary. I
was proud to cross indoors with Soroan Mamdani. And I'm
focused hard, of course, you know, winning this race and
making sure Andrew Cuomo gets nowhere near a city hall.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
All right, well, I think I'll be up in New
York on Tuesday for the election. We're gonna do a
live stream that night. I'll look for you out on
the out on the polls. But it sounds great, Comptroller,
thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 8 (24:29):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
New York City mayoral candidate Zorn Mamdani and aoc rallied
yesterday in New York.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
Let's roll some of this.
Speaker 12 (24:40):
To everyone who pulls me aside to whisper with the
best intentions, you have already won. I am sorry, but
the days of moral victories are over. And as my
(25:03):
father told me years ago, when the right wins power
the left rights a great book, those days are over too,
because this is a campaign that is going to win
on June twenty fourth.
Speaker 10 (25:27):
For so long, we have had political leadership, including in
the Democratic Party, that has just wanted to play it's safe,
that has just wanted to be neutral, where so many
(25:50):
people are motivated by their own individual political careers. And
I cannot tell you how shocked I have been to
see so many of the individuals who called on Andrew
Cuomo to resign in disgrace after so many details of
(26:14):
harassment against women, and for them, for those saying people
who called on him to resign to stand behind him
and endorse him for mayor of New York City, they
still decided to throw all of their weight behind Andrew Cuomo.
(26:36):
And I want to be clear about the message that
that sends when they do that. Three Palestine's will.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
All right joining us how to discuss the rallies independent
reporter who was at it. He runs a substack to
Metropolitan Review. He's also a columnist at New York Magazine,
Ross barcan thank you so much for join us.
Speaker 8 (27:02):
May be excited to be on.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
So.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
I don't know if I've ever heard of New York
City mayoral audience with that kind of volume. You know,
typically you're looking at, you know, a couple dozen or
maybe a couple hundred people coming out to a New
York City mayoral rally.
Speaker 7 (27:18):
I guess you've never been to one of those Bloomberg rallies,
the famous Bloomberg rally for.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
The Bloomberg rallies. So, Ross, how big was this? What
was the energy like?
Speaker 8 (27:27):
Like big? So it is still Terminal five, which is
a sizable music venue in Manhattan.
Speaker 13 (27:33):
At least three thousand people were there, and it's it's
the sort of event that probably if the venue had
more capacity, they could have more. So incredibly high energy,
very crowded, much more like a presidential campaign event than
something for mayor. There have been rallies for mayor before
that brought people in, but I would say of this scale,
(27:55):
certainly I've never attended. I've covered mayoral races since twenty thirteen,
I have not attended a rally like this one. He
also had a fairly big one a little about a
month ago, a little bit more about a thousand people.
Speaker 8 (28:10):
This was larger.
Speaker 13 (28:11):
This is with AOC, So undoubtedly the crowds are there
for him. As we know, that's not everything, as I mean,
you'll win, but the energy for this campaign is like
nothing that I have seen in New York City in
recent years at least.
Speaker 7 (28:26):
And Russi, you wrote a piece on your subseect just
called Life with Zoron that published recently and folks should
go read it at Ross Elliot Barkain dot com and
on your substack. But could you tell us I'm curious,
particularly about what you observed in terms of just name
recognition and how engaged people are in this particular election.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
You know, you're just you mentioned it. It's not like
what you've seen in the past.
Speaker 7 (28:50):
I'm curious, as you spent time with Zaramondani, like, are
people really plugging into the race. Are people connecting the
dots and saying, Okay, that guy is the guy who's
running from mayor and this is what he believes in.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
What did you just notice as he was out campaigning?
Speaker 13 (29:10):
Well, in general, the engagement has gone up a lot
in the last few weeks. It was a pretty sleepy
mayoral race. For many months. Cuomo had a very large lead.
Cuomo was barely campaigning, the other candidates were struggling to
gain traction. Zoron's polling really started to surge or i'd say,
(29:30):
move in a real way in March. But really in
the last few weeks, his name recognition has increased by
a lot, and he is now very well known in
New York City, perhaps on the scale of Cuomo now.
And Cuomo enjoys universal name recognition having been governor, having resigned,
(29:51):
everyone knows, there's no one who doesn't have an idea
of who Andrew Cuomo is.
Speaker 8 (29:56):
But Zoron is getting there, or he's there already.
Speaker 13 (30:00):
It's remarkable, And especially if you go break it down generationally,
I'd say almost any voter now under fifty years old
who's not an Orthodox Jew is coming out hard for Zorroon.
Older voter is much more skeptical. So there's a real
generational divide happening right now, and it's going to be
(30:21):
very interesting to see how that plays out because New
York City, in one hand, is a place where older
voters traditionally in Democratic primaries dominate, They are more reliable,
they show up. There also is just a growing cohort
of younger voters in the city, college educated voters, people
(30:41):
who are engaging more with local politics than they used to.
So that would be very fascinating. As we're now in
the home stretch under a week, there's definitely a lot
of energy and interest in this race, which I would
say less so a few weeks back.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
It feels like if Cuomo is going to eke out
this victory, it's going to be because the attack ads
on Zorhan land and revert and reverse the momentum that
we've seen since March. If you if you look at
his kind of climb in the polls, and you look
at the trajectory, and you look at the date, the
time of the election, like he's he's headed to eclipse
(31:21):
Cuomo unless something changes. Does are the attacks landing and
does Cuomo have the ability to get those attacks in
front of voters who would then absorb them and decide
that actually, after all, they will rank Cuomo.
Speaker 13 (31:40):
I would say that I'm a little less optimistic on
the xoron trajectory than you. I don't know if he's
on track to win even without the onsen negative advertising,
just because no independent polls actually showed him ahead. Today
Marris poll came out the race has strunk dramatically since May.
So Marist in May showed Cuomo up twenty four points
(32:04):
on Zoron after OURCV. Of course, this primary is RCV
can vote up to five candidates. People get eliminated and
you end up with a winner when they hit fifty percent.
So Zoron has gotten from down twenty four to down
ten in Marist. Most polls show similar movement. He's moving
towards Cuomo, no doubt it's getting very close. No polls
(32:26):
yet to show him on top. I do think, so
what the negative ads do? They're everywhere the ubiquitous So I, myself,
other people, my mom have gotten many anti Zoron mailers.
Speaker 8 (32:39):
There's been mailed coming in TV to Constant.
Speaker 13 (32:42):
There's a Cuomo superpack that's probably going to have more
than twenty million dollars from this race is over. That
has been blanketing the airwaves NonStop. Now used to be
pro Cuomo ads and now it's pivoted in the last
few weeks is purely anti Zoron. So you've got that
the new York Times came out strongly again in Zoron.
They issued a non endorsement in the race, but made
(33:04):
some very cutting remarks about him and his experience that
will be turned into an ad. So there's no doubt
this negative campaign is something that Zoron will have to overcome.
It's going to be a big challenge for him.
Speaker 8 (33:18):
You know, these candidates are so different.
Speaker 13 (33:20):
It's also hard to say what if, because literally you've
never seen a mayoral race, at least in our lifetimes
where the top two candidates just are so diametrically opposed
ideologically and have such different life experience. Someone who's been
in government for decades, who's been governor of the state,
the most powerful person in New York State, versus the
thirty three year old state assemblyman.
Speaker 8 (33:41):
One's an avowed socialist.
Speaker 13 (33:43):
One is from very much the center of the Democratic Party,
even somewhat conservative depending on how he feels. One is
very scandal scarred. One has no scandals. So so different, right,
And that's what makes this race really interesting. Thing that
the the the undecided voter here cannot be undecided for
(34:06):
too long. Maybe they won't choose either candidate or rank
someone else, but You've got stark choices in a way
you don't typically see in almost any election, I would say,
even beyond New York City.
Speaker 7 (34:20):
And it's sort of the perfect race for both of
you guys having written like actual books about the left,
and it tests a lot of what you guys have covered.
And so I'm curious Ross as Zorn has been pitching
this I think strain of democratic socialism in a very
(34:40):
kitchen table type of way and in a way that
doesn't often get a lot of play, and like mainstream
democratic politics and Cuomo then, on the other hand, is
like the perfect foil for all the reasons you just listed.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
So how do you think.
Speaker 7 (34:57):
Going going forward, let's just say beyond actually this election,
and obviously that this will change if someone Amondanna wins,
I mean it gets even more powerful. But how how
has he tested out that that pitch for that version
of sort of democratic socialism as a foil to establishment
(35:18):
democratic politics, saying like this actually can work, you can
get average voters on board with you know, bernieism.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
What people think of as that strain? What's that? What's
that been like?
Speaker 13 (35:29):
Well, he's definitely taken the sewer socialist tact. You know,
once upon a time there were socialist mayors of big
cities like Milwaukee, and they're really focused on local issues
and kind of making government run better and providing goods
and services and sort of building a social safety net.
So you look at the planks of his campaign, it's
frees the rents on rent, stabilized apartments, it's making buses faster,
(35:54):
and free universal child care.
Speaker 8 (35:58):
You know, he wants five city.
Speaker 13 (36:01):
Run grocery stores, which are actually not all that ambitious.
I always get very views and people are like this
is communism, Like, well, you know, the city can't run
five supermarkets, and we have a lot more problem. The
New York City runs a million kid Department of Education
and a massive police force. So his actual campaign is
(36:21):
not the kind of like green new deal, massive upheaval
that you know candidates or federal office will pitch. Right,
there's no Medicare for all pitch here. You can't do it.
So that's very interesting and it's been successful. I mean,
I think Zoron at the very minimum offers a blueprint
for leftist campaigns going forward, which is, you know, you
(36:44):
focus on economics, you focus on bread and butter. Zoron
is very smart. He's very savvy, so he knows this.
There's also the elements of Palestine politics of Israel Palestines,
and Zoron is Muslim, and he is used to certainly
identifies Nancy Zionist. He's still pro BDS, so his views
(37:05):
on foreign policy have become a big part of this
race too, though I will say he himself is not
really running on that. You don't go to his website
and find I support BDS. It comes up and he's
honest about what he believes in, but he is He's
really pushed it into this economic lane. And I think
this race is really important for the left because it's
(37:27):
the it's the biggest left wing campaign since Bernie Sanders.
Speaker 8 (37:33):
New York City is a huge city.
Speaker 13 (37:36):
They're going to be a million Democrats voting in this
primary at probably at least. So you're talking about this
is a state wide race, that this is like a
governor's race in most states. So he is running the
sort of race you've not seen from any leftist candidate
since Bernie running for president.
Speaker 8 (37:55):
And it's on a scale far greater than AOC.
Speaker 13 (37:58):
Not to take anything away from her, but she won
in one congressional district in the Queens in Queens in
the Bronx, you're talking, I don't even know how to
be voters vote in that primary, maybe forty thousand. So
he's just operating on a huge I mean, the money
being spent, the amount of volunteers, the whole the whole
machine of it is just so much bigger. So win
(38:20):
or lose. That is really interesting. There has not been
any campaign like this in any city really, especially since
Zorn started from zero that's important. It's not so much
like a Brandon Johnson thing in Chicago, who is very
close to the Teachers' Union. You really had a lot
of institutions kind of bringing him up. And that was
(38:41):
also an interesting race. Zoron, you know state assemblymen for
four years pulling at zero percent. He built this from
from scratch and with the help of DSA, but but
he he really bootstrapped it and it became this massive
thing very quickly.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
Well, to get a sense of what polls voters are
concerned about when it comes to zorhand, you can probably
look at the attack ads, because you know, the these
super PACs that have twenty million bucks to spend, they
don't just guess at what ads are going to resonate
with voters. They they test these, you know, very deeply,
and then they go with the ones that they think
(39:17):
are going to work the best. I my my own
gut if I without testing it was the New York
Times one about lack of experience, and those other digs
that's gonna be him, that's gonna that's huge, Like they're
gonna that's gonna crush because you can say the New
York Times says this about this guy, and for people
who are following casually be like, oh, well, new York Times.
(39:39):
You know, that's a pretty credible newspaper. And if they
say that, I can't rank him.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
What else are the negative ads hitting him on?
Speaker 4 (39:47):
For a sense of what the left left's vulnerabilities.
Speaker 8 (39:52):
Are, He's been getting hit on defund the police.
Speaker 13 (39:55):
Zoron did support defunding the police, not running on that
in this campaign. Notably has talked about hiring additional social
workers to handle some mental health situations, but it's not
called for any NYPD budget cuts at all. But he's
on the record supporting defund So he's been getting hit
very hard on that raising taxes, which actually don't think
(40:17):
will be all that effective because he wants to raise
the corporate tax rate to something that the state actually
needs to do that the city itself can't do that,
it needs state approval. But I also I don't think
that's really unpopular, So I'm a bit skeptical. That almost
seems like, you know, the Cuomo, the very wealthy Cuomo
superpackbackers are telling you got to do something on the taxes.
(40:39):
I think defunds certainly that that still can hurt, you know.
I think Cuomo's message is effective and that he's not experienced.
So you can say to the average vot or listen,
do you want to hand the city over to a
thirty three year old state legislator?
Speaker 8 (40:56):
You take away all the ideology.
Speaker 13 (40:58):
You can call him radical, you know, since he's also
you know, he's a socialist, he's he's he's Muslims. So
it's all the things you accused Obama of. He literally
is these things and he's proud of it. So certainly
you can you can move in that direction. You're seeing
kind of dog whistling that way. But I would say
the primary attacks are kind of what the New York
(41:21):
Times said, versions of that this this guy is flimsy
he's weak, he has no experience, he's not serious, he's
a he's a playboy. It's it's that kind of framing,
and Cuomo's the serious old man who's going to come
in straighten everything out.
Speaker 8 (41:39):
He's the tough guy.
Speaker 13 (41:40):
For a lot of Liberals who are thinking about how
to stand up to Trump, they think Cuoma, well, he's
a bully, maybe he's thuggish, but we need a bully
and someone thuggish. He's also from Queens to combat Donald Trump.
So uh that that has been the framing. I think
the most effective attacks are probably on his experience, because
you can't spin around that he's young.
Speaker 8 (42:02):
He's very young.
Speaker 13 (42:04):
There's not been a mayor this young of New York
City in literally over one hundred years. So that's that's
just the fact. It's going to come down to what
do voters think. Also, how many voters leave Cuomo off
their ballots, how many leaders are on.
Speaker 8 (42:20):
Off their ballots.
Speaker 13 (42:22):
Each side has been has had a very concervative push
to do this. Cuomo has leaned very hard of late
into the Orthodox Jewish community, which actually doesn't like him
all that much anymore, though he's extremely pro Israel. Because
of COVID he imposed these lockdowns on Orthox Jewish neighborhoods
(42:42):
in twenty twenty. There's a lot of bitterness over that.
So late, I've been seeing a lot of videos from
rabbis basically telling telling their communities. You know, I know
you dislike Cuomo. I know you'd rather vote for Eric Adams.
Eric Adams is not in this primary. You can vote
from later. We've got to stop Zoran is an existential threat.
(43:02):
So there's a lot of that rhetoric too. As a
as a Muslim who's critical of Israel. There's been a
lot of talk of how he can be terrible for
the Jews, he can hurt the Jews, and that's also
become an attack line in the final week.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
All right, Ross, last question, give us your prediction.
Speaker 13 (43:21):
Oh gosh, I don't love predictions. I think Cuomo's the favorite.
I think he has the slight edge. I think there
won't be a lot of clarity on election night, necessarily
because you'll have the art, you'll have the we'll see
an election night is the first place vote. So if
Cuomo's up seven points, let's say, you're then gonna have
(43:42):
to run the RCV calculation, which the way the Board
of Elections does it.
Speaker 8 (43:45):
It can take some time, think at least a week.
Speaker 13 (43:48):
So if you remember four years ago, Eric Adams I
think finished in first place with around thirty percent. Catherine Garcia,
who is the runner up, was around twenty twenty one
after OURCV. She lost by less than ten thousand votes.
It's literally almost fifty to fifty. So my prediction is
it's going to be very close. And also watch the
(44:09):
general election. General election is typically very sleepy in New
York City, not so here. Eric Adams, the once indicted,
be leaguered mayor, is running as an independent, probably cannot win.
Andrew Cuomo has an independent party ballot line he can
run in the general election. Zoron could take the Working
Families party line he could run the general election. There's
(44:30):
also a Republican candidate as well, will get probably just
under thirty percent. So my prediction is you could have
a very topsy turvy general depending on what happens. And
this race is going to get close, and election night
will be fascinating one way or the other. If someone's up,
if someone's down. I expect the margins to not be
(44:51):
very big, and I expect us to have to wait
to see how the RCV votes shake out, and then
from their decisions will get made. Right, if Zoron wins
by I'm making up a number twenty thousand votes after
our CV, Andrew Cuomo is going to say, well, I'm
going to run in the general and beat him. If
Zoron loses by ten to twenty thousand votes fifty thousand votes,
(45:15):
there will be pressure on him to run again because
then the general election will be Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams,
Kurtis Sliwa progresses in the city will be like, these
are all bad options. So it happened, No hard predictions,
but just look out for all of that.
Speaker 5 (45:32):
If loses, would he have a ballot line anywhere?
Speaker 8 (45:35):
Yeah? The word yes, the word where he can give him.
They can give him the ballot line.
Speaker 13 (45:39):
They can choose to give it to him, so he
will have that option. Cuomo created his own ballot line.
Eric Adams created.
Speaker 5 (45:47):
His own ballot.
Speaker 8 (45:49):
Yeah, it's stupid.
Speaker 13 (45:51):
They stupids think Adams like stop anti semmonism or something.
Support why yes, help help all women. So yeah, so
they all have that option. So the general election is
potentially very interesting. Now, if one Kendiate wins by a
lot gets the Democratic nomination game over, but if it's
close enough, each side.
Speaker 8 (46:12):
Will feel pressure to continue onward.
Speaker 5 (46:15):
That's his last ques last reason.
Speaker 4 (46:17):
Briefly, because we had brad Lander on the show earlier today,
and you know he had that big arrest yesterday.
Speaker 5 (46:22):
He's endorsed sorehand. Does that How does that play in?
Speaker 13 (46:27):
I think it's good. It's good for Zoran. He needs
brad Lander votes. Brad Lander right now is in the
third place. It's kind of a distant third, but he's
got a base. You know, he is a technocratic progressive.
So there are people who like brad Lander who want
him to be mayor, but they aren't sure about Zoron
because of his inexperience. So for brad Lander to endorse him,
(46:50):
I do think brings along some voters who will now
put Zoron on their ballots.
Speaker 8 (46:55):
Does it help brad Lander?
Speaker 13 (46:56):
I think to an extent yes, is going to be
a Zoran surge, and there's many people putting brad Lander
on the ballots, so it'll go deeper into the RCV rounds.
So I think I think it's mutually beneficial. I don't
know if it helps brad Lander get over the hump.
I mean, one challenge for Zoron in this race is
the other candidates haven't performed that well. Cuomo has really
(47:17):
been far ahead of all of them, and Zoron has
ran to catch up. But third, fourth, fifth place, they're
way way behind. Zoron might be in better position right
now if someone like a Brad Lander or Scott Stringer
Adrian Adams had really moved into a better pole position.
But they really have not, so it's become a two
horse race. And that's where you get the polarization, the
(47:40):
extremely negative attacks, and the possibility of either Zoron pushing
past Cuomo or Cuomo kind of beating him back at
the last minute.
Speaker 5 (47:50):
Fascinating stuff.
Speaker 4 (47:51):
Ross Barkan, The Metropolitan Review Columns from New York Magazine.
Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you all right, Emily,
what about your prediction?
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Don't have a prediction. What do I care about? New
York City?
Speaker 4 (48:03):
The Republicans, if they had a decent candidate, could actually
win this time.
Speaker 5 (48:06):
I mean, no, they've won a bunch.
Speaker 7 (48:08):
Yeah, I guess right, quote decent candidate, I guess, decent candidate,
palatable or Republican.
Speaker 4 (48:14):
They're nominating like a kind of a crank. Yeah, they
didn't really take it.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
So it's an interesting guy, though. I wonder if you
would come on the show.
Speaker 5 (48:22):
I bet you've never met an uninteresting crank.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
That's fair enough.
Speaker 5 (48:25):
I bet we can get him on the show though,
let's do it, Curtis, come on.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
Isn't he the old school Guardian Angels?
Speaker 5 (48:32):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Yes, interesting. I think you two would hit it off.
Speaker 5 (48:36):
We would. This could have been the Republican's year, though
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Maybe isn't Eric Adams a Republican?
Speaker 12 (48:43):
Now?
Speaker 5 (48:43):
Actually, shouldn't they give Adams the nomination?
Speaker 1 (48:46):
Well, as we were talking, maybe.
Speaker 5 (48:47):
Win as a Republican slash independent?
Speaker 1 (48:49):
Maybe?
Speaker 7 (48:49):
And now he owes a debt to Republicans, So who
knows what you could get out of Republican Eric Adams
if you are Donald Trump or the GOP. But actually,
when we were talking to Ross, it occurs to me
that in a general election roughly going to Sliwa as
Ross predicted, I wonder if Zoron could start pulling from
that vote, could be interesting, could get the mag of
(49:11):
people over to universal childcare and all that.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I don't know, it might be interesting to watch.
Speaker 4 (49:16):
All right, we'll stick around for our Ama for Greeum subscribers.
If you're not one of them, become one. You can
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And the second half of the Friday show.
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You get, and you get the second half of Friday.
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Only for subscribers, and that's what we We save all
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That which are recruiting Saga to join on Friday.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
I thought you were going to say it to join
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Speaker 5 (49:44):
Yes, I hope he'd better be.
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He's got to get behind the paywall so you can
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Speaker 1 (49:49):
Thanks so much everyone for tuning in. We'll see you
back here soon
Hey guys, Saga and Crystal here.
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Speaker 4 (00:30):
So with the Internet cut in Gaza and the world's
attention focused on the Israel Iran war, the massacres in
Gaza have only heightened since then.
Speaker 5 (00:41):
We put up this.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
First element here, this Reuter's article. This headline is absolutely extraordinary.
Israeli tanks kill fifty nine people in Gaza crowd trying
to get food. Aid medics say this is similar to
the reports of the very first AID massacre, which defenders
of Israel insisted for many days afterwards that it had
(01:05):
not happened. In all of those days since then another
massacre of people seeking aid has carried out. There's some
you can go to drop site, News, Twitter Feed if
you want to see it. We're not going to play
it here because it's absolutely horrific. There is some footage
of the carnage after the tanks fired on this area
(01:26):
of Communis.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
This was This was.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Another scene where people knew that there was going to
be an AID truck going through and attempted to get
aid from that truck and then they opened fire on them,
killing well over fifty nine. Actually at this point they
went to Nasser Hospital as well as others. Just is
on the brink of total collapse at this point. We
(01:52):
have some less graphic footage that we can show. This
is C one. You can kind of hear the the
shooting in the in the distance. You can see the
scenes about are chaos and I just and you can
see the lights at the in the distance there which
represent the GHF kind of quote quote unquote AID distribution center.
(02:14):
And just to remind people, before Israel took over AID
distribution and had left it to the World Food Program
in World Central Kitchen and others, you simply did not
see scenes like this because these are aid organizations that
have been doing this for for a very long time,
and so they know how to do this.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Speaking of.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Uh Naser Hospital, we can put up CE two.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
This is and we can just roll this. This is UH.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Basically, this is a This is an audio report that
Dropsite got about the state of affairs at perhaps the
largest hospital that is remaining somewhat functional in Gaza.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
Doctor Yusef reports that there is not just a huge
number row patients coming in from the various massacres like
the one today. Nassar Hospital is still in a red
area and importantly Nasar Hospital has no supplies, no consumables,
all items are lacking for the provision of emergency medical care.
(03:20):
He also told me that until now, since the seventh
October in Gaza, the Ministry of Health have recorded the
use of one hundred and fifty thousand units of blood
that have been used, which means approximately two hundred and
fifty units of blood daily. Now, blood is lacking because
(03:42):
of the starvation of the population. They cannot no longer
ask people to donate blood because of nutritional anemia and
the fact that many have already donated units, they are
unable to receive more cases because they cannot provide life
(04:03):
saving first aid or damage control or life saving surgery.
There is practically no food available. They're trying to cook
some bread in Nasser Hospital, but they are also in
addition to being out of food material, there is no
cooking gas and they are actually using staff to collect
(04:24):
firewood in order to make some food available for the
staff and the patients. This is the reality in Naster Hospital.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
And so for many months what drops O and other
reporters have been in contact with the hospital staff at
Nacera and other places, getting regular updates.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
It's never been I think it's dire.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
As it is now overall. Last night and let's put
up C four there was another attack in Kanye.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
That is an.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Assemblage of tents that you're that you're watching burning there.
So the footage that's shot around the world over the
last you know, months and a year ago, we're constantly
seeing people burning alive. God only knows what the upclose
footage looks like there. Uh that this comes as effectively
(05:28):
nobody's paying attention for the last week or so because
of the other war. The other war be between Israel
and I run. And when you see the numbers of
casually is coming out of that and compare it to
what's continuing to happen every single day and Gaza, it's
kind of extraordinary.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Brian, what is the what have you heard from sources?
Speaker 7 (05:53):
No drop site is regularly in contact with people in
Gaza and in West Bank, and what is their spirit like,
what have you heard well west Bank?
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Interestingly, I'm glad you mentioned that the UN put out
a report yesterday that the West Bank is now basically
on total lockdown for Palestinians. Israeli settlers who live in
the West Bank can move freely from their settlements to jobs,
just like a few miles away in forty eight Israel.
But the West Bank just just you know, if you're
(06:28):
in an area, you can't leave it. Basically, if you're
in a town, you can't leave the town. The checkpoints
have become almost impassable, which means you can't as a family,
you can't get to your job, you can't visit friends,
you can't can't do anything. Yeah, like just a complete
you imagine COVID lockdown times thousands and with guns everywhere
(06:53):
in the Despair is pretty extreme in Gaza. The hunger
like the you know, hunger is one of those things
that we can all identify with because we get hungry.
Everybody gets hungry. We have the ability when we get
hungry to go feed ourselves. Sometimes we complain about the
(07:18):
food we'll get, but if we're thirsty, we can drink.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
If we're hungry, we can eat.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Sometimes we have to wait an hour, and it's like, oh,
that's how awful was that? Like today, I forgot to
bring a granola bar, so I'm going to suffer for
like thirty minutes. You do love those, We love granola bars.
It's that feeling just multiplied to infinity with no sense
of when you're going to be able to feed yourself.
(07:44):
And you know that at every almost every single a
distribution scene, people will be killed, people will be shot at,
and people will be fighting over flowers and the other provisions.
That's the other thing you're seeing now, like people fighting
(08:04):
each other. Yet and so you know that if you go,
you you may get killed right when wounded, and if
you get wounded, you're probably gonna die because of the
lack of any medical care. Yet you go because of
the hunger and not just your hunger, Like we can
handle that. It's it's your family's hunger. There was a
(08:28):
man who was killed about last week. His last words were, please,
somebody take care of my children.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
I left them hungry.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
And for like, I think any parent around the world
can can identify with that feeling.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Like of like, because that's that's what you care about.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Even in his dying moment, like, the thing that he
was thinking about is his children and how they're hungry.
So yeah, it's I don't think. I think it's impossible
to describe the depth of spare at this moment. And and.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
I don't see how I don't see how it.
Speaker 7 (09:06):
Ends right, No, I mean if yeah, as everything is
escalating in Iran, everyone's attention is increasingnything elsewhere already, and
that looks poised to get even more significant. That that
redirection of attention looks poised to get even more significant
in the days ahead, which is it has to be
(09:28):
incredibly a bleak, a very bleak future, feels like, I'm sure.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
And and the worse it gets, the more.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Severe the international consequences will be for uh world opinion
of Israel. When Western press gets in there and says, oh,
that's stuff that Dropsite was reporting in these tiktoks and
Instagram videos that we were seeing. That was only scratching
(09:57):
the surface of what Western reporters are gonna be able
to find when they get in there. And because of
this chauvinism around believing Western reporters over you know, all
standing reporters who are on the ground, that will have
a greater effect, you know, once people can get in there.
So people have to get in there at some point.
But if you keep a simmering conflict going, you can
(10:20):
fend off that day. And then Yahoo is a very day,
one day at a time type of person just kicking
whatever political pain there is just to the next week.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
And so.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
That's why I said, I don't know when, Like, I
don't know what's going to force that to come to
an end.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Awful thank you for your reporting on that, Oh.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Thank you appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
So up next, the comptroller of New York City, Brad Lander,
was arrested yesterday by Ice agents at a federal courthouse
and he's joining us next. New York City mayoral candidate
Brad Lander was a yesterday in New York by Ice authorities.
He's joining us today to talk about his time and attention.
(11:06):
What brought him to that and what brought him to
that situation. Comstroller of New York City, Brad Lander, thanks
so much for joining us.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
All right, So we're going to roll a little clip
that has gone around the world from yesterday.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
But first, can you goin to set up the scene, like,
where were you? Why were you there? Who was who
was ICE trying to detain?
Speaker 8 (11:30):
This is twenty six Federal Close.
Speaker 9 (11:32):
It's a federal building where immigration hearings take place. It
was the third week that I'd been there to observe
cases in immigration court, and ICE has started what's called
dismissing people's cases and then making them subject to expedited removal,
and then masked ICE agents have been grabbing them in
the elevator lobby. So we've been observing and then just
(11:55):
trying to escort people out of the building five times.
Previously I was able to just walk with families out
of the building. They did not get grabbed. But this
is an individual, Edgardo, who I was trying to escort
out of the building when this scene breaks out in
the elevator lobby.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Well, let's let's roll the scenes so people have the context.
Let's play that here.
Speaker 10 (12:15):
You have a judicital war.
Speaker 8 (12:18):
Do you have a judicial warrant?
Speaker 11 (12:22):
The judicial warrant.
Speaker 8 (12:25):
I will let go when.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
You show me the judicial warrant.
Speaker 11 (12:28):
Where is it warrant?
Speaker 5 (12:46):
You don't have the gloria to arrest US citizens.
Speaker 11 (12:51):
You don't have the authority to arrest US citizens.
Speaker 8 (12:57):
You don't have I'm not obstructing. I'm standing right here
in the hallway.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
I asked to see.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Okay, So first question.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
Homeland Security responded and said they found an old post
of yours from twenty twenty four where you said no
one is above the law. Homeland Security responds, no one
is above the law, and if you lay a hand
on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences. They
said you were arrested for quote, assaulting law enforcement and
impeding eight federal officers. So, Brad, could you respond to
(13:26):
that from DHS yesterday.
Speaker 9 (13:28):
I mean, everyone can see the clip that you just played.
I don't lay a hand on an ice officer. I
don't assault anyone. I'm attempting to escort someone and asking
the agents to show a judicial warrant. And that's what
plays out in the interview. And what's happening here is
that the Trump administration is trying to escalate conflicts, strike
(13:49):
fear into immigrants, to port millions of people, and undermine
elected officials who are just trying to defend due process
in the rule of law. That's what is happening before
our eyes.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
And so who did you have your hands on there?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Like everybody's kind of locked together as you're being kind
of pushed down the hall.
Speaker 9 (14:07):
So the individual that I was trying to escort, I
only know his first name.
Speaker 8 (14:11):
His name's Gardo.
Speaker 9 (14:13):
I had literally met him seconds before his case had
been dismissed, so he knew and I knew that he
was now stripped of status and subject to expedited removal.
And others are walking with us as well. We had
done this, as I say, five times before, and just
before they'd been able to walk with a family out
of the building unimpeded. That's what I was hoping would
(14:35):
happen here.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And so their argument, I guess you somehow are getting
in the way of their ability to affect this arrest.
Did they ever present the arrest warrant or anything else
that so they.
Speaker 8 (14:47):
Have not brought charges.
Speaker 9 (14:48):
I'm told that my case is under review, but have
not brought charges so far. But look, you know, this
is what Look what happened to Alex Badia and Ras Baraka,
a staff member of Congressman Jerry Knadler or Is Pambondi,
has been very clear they're trying to liberate democratic cities
from their own elected officials, and we have to find
a way to stand up for the constitution and do
(15:10):
process and the rule of law. I want to do
it peacefully, non violently, just as a witness, but I'm going.
Speaker 8 (15:17):
To do it.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
Where did they take you in for? How long?
Speaker 9 (15:20):
I was in detention in another room in that same
building for about three and a half hours and then
Governor Hoko came down and they released me.
Speaker 7 (15:31):
Okay, So, and this is the question from the right.
But there were according to the New York Times, a
net there was a net migration of eight million people
during the Biden administration. We know, you know, whether we
agree with the administration or not, when they say, you know,
it's all criminals or many many, it is full full
of criminals and all of that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
We know that obviously there's.
Speaker 7 (15:53):
Some level of that population that is criminal and that
normal American citizens would oppose being in the kind So
what should immigration enforcement look like, especially in the city
like New York that has genuinely dealt with some measure
of crime from people who are undocumented over saying BASAs
or you know, waiting for asylum claims to go through
(16:14):
the very labyrinthine court system.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
What should that look like, Brad.
Speaker 9 (16:19):
So, the individuals yesterday are people not accused of any
crime outside of the immigration system, and in fact, more
than that, they're doing everything right. They crossed at the border,
they checked in with border patrol, and they got a
hearing date and showed up for their hearing. And if
we make it that you're going to be arrested for
showing up at your hearing, no one's skin like we're
(16:41):
going to wreck the rule of law. Of Course, the
NYPD investigates crimes when they're committed, and that's just a
totally separate process. So individuals who commit crimes, of course,
the NYPD should investigate where people, you know, it should
arrest people who have committed crimes in New York City,
regardless of their immigration status, and if are immigrants, and
if they're convicted of a serious or violent crime, our
(17:04):
sanctuary city laws then allow for cooperation, but none of
that is happening here. These are not people accused of
anything of anything. What they've done is shown up in
immigration court to have a hearing that they were given
a date for. And all we want for them is
do process, the chance to have their asylum claim heard,
(17:26):
to get legal representation, and not to be kind of
manhandled and disappeared. If I face charges, I'll have a lawyer.
I know my rights will be protected. We have no
idea where ed Gardo is. He doesn't have a lawyer,
We don't know what his rights are. Trump is trying
to strike fear and undermine the rule of law, and
it's an important time for people to step up and stay.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
So in that video, you say, you know ICE agents
don't have the authority to kind of arrest American citizens.
Are you going to what is your understanding since then?
Speaker 5 (17:59):
Have you talked to lawyer? Is like?
Speaker 4 (18:01):
And are you going to kind of respond to the
way that you were treated in your detention? Like, if
it's the case that I doesn't have the authority to
do what they did, is there a lawsuit here? Is
there some type of action that you that you're planning
on taking.
Speaker 8 (18:14):
I mean, right now, I'm waiting to see what happens.
Speaker 9 (18:16):
As I say, you know, there were no charges brought,
but my case is under review, so I will wait
and see what happens there. But let's be clear, I'm
going to be back at twenty six Federal Plaza trying
to in a peaceful and non violent way witness what's happening, and.
Speaker 8 (18:32):
I hope other people will as well.
Speaker 9 (18:35):
You know, one hundred thousand New Yorkers were out on
the street over the weekend saying, you know, we don't
want kings in this country. I was there with an
organization called Immigrant Arc. I love for people to sign
up with them and also join and bear witness. We
can together insist on the rule of law and protecting
New Yorkers. Forty percent of New Yorkers are immigrants, including
(18:55):
a million children, And you know that's where I'm going
to stay focused.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
So the last estion for me is if you could
flesh out because one of the craziest things in the
last couple of months has been arguing about what the
like the definition of due process and what it looks like,
what it should look.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Like for citizens versus non citizens.
Speaker 7 (19:14):
I think most people agree that non citizens do and
should have are do literally due process. So for hypothetically
a person like Edgardo, who is not so hypothetical in
this case, but generally, what would do process look like
for him? What do you think due process should look
like for him? And how does that contrast with what
you saw yesterday?
Speaker 9 (19:34):
Yeah, I mean, he should get a real hearing on
his asylum application to determine whether he's got a credible
fear of violence or repression if he's returned to his country.
That's what you do under international law and under US law.
And this expedited removal they've never done it before in
(19:56):
New York City or in the interior of the country,
and to what they're doing is stripping people of the
basic right to get that credible fear hearing and make
their asylum case. And if they don't have credible fear, fine,
then you know, deportation is what happens.
Speaker 8 (20:12):
But that is not what happened here.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
On the mayoral election, we've covered the race on the
program here and our audience I think was totally mystified
at the last debate, where kind if every candidate went
around saying like that they would go to Israel as
like they're basically their first act as after getting elected
(20:35):
mayorics except for Zora and Mamdani and then who was
then pressed like why wouldn't you go to Israel. There's
also something like one hundred thousand Pakistani Americans who live
in New York City, and you know, many of them
are supporters of him Ron Khan, who's been detained since
twenty twenty two. And it occurred to me like nobody said, well,
I'm going to go to Pakistan because there are one
(20:58):
hundred thousand Pakistanis here and this is a very important
issue to them.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
I'm going to go to Pakistan.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
I'm going to visit Imran Khan in prison because this
is a violation of you know, international human rights and
democracy and this is something we're going to stand up for.
Can you help our audience understand like why, like why
this one country and why does every New York City
mayoral Canada have to say that they're going to go there.
Speaker 9 (21:23):
Well, for what it's worth, I said, my first trip
would be to Canada.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
Okay, Also why myself would be.
Speaker 9 (21:29):
My second would be to Mexico. It's like those are
our trading partner as well.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Yeah, that makes sense. You know.
Speaker 8 (21:34):
And I am a proud Jewish New Yorker.
Speaker 9 (21:37):
I am the highest ranking Jewish elected official in New
York City government. And I have been to Israel multiple
times and I'll go again. I believe in the division
of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, but I
think that requires an end to Israel's occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza, and Israeli some Palestinians have to
figure out how to live in mutual self determination. Piece
(22:00):
that is not the job of the New York City mayor,
you know. The New York City mayor can, though, try
hard to set a tone that enables very diverse people
from all around the world to live together in peace,
without hatred, without anti Semitism, without Islamophobia.
Speaker 8 (22:15):
So that's the kind of mayor.
Speaker 9 (22:16):
I will be somebody who shows up like I did
for ed Gardo yesterday, does it peacefully and non violently,
stands up for the rule of law, and then tries
to bring people together, Jews and Muslims and Christians.
Speaker 8 (22:29):
And it's an incredible city.
Speaker 9 (22:31):
It's got a mayor who has sold us out to
Donald Trump. It's got a Canadate and Andrew Cuomo, who
though asked many times, couldn't remember the last time he
had ever been to a mosque, lied about many things
on that debate stage.
Speaker 8 (22:43):
So we need honesty at city Hall.
Speaker 9 (22:45):
We need somebody who can bring people together and deliver
the safer and more affordable and better run city New
Yorkers deserve. And I got six more days to be
out there making my case.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Did you face any blowback for that answer? For saying
you'd go to Mexican in Canada as your.
Speaker 9 (23:02):
I mean, on this issue, you face blowback, you know,
and kind of you know, but to me, stand up,
you say what you believe, you know, you'd be who
you are. This city has been an incredible place for
Jewish New Yorkers and for immigrants and folks from all
around the world. And the mayor's job is to bring
people together, make the city run better so it can
(23:23):
stay that way.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
Yeah, and last question for viewers who don't know, Zorahen
Mamdanni has kind of has endorsed you for mayor. You
have endorsed Zorhan Mamdanni because of the rank choice voting process.
You know, if one of you wins, do you expect
that Cuomo will carry on and run in the general election,
and do you think he would have a shot in
that case.
Speaker 9 (23:42):
Andrew Cuomo has said he's going to run as an
independent regardless of whether he wins the Democratic primary. Eric
Adams has two separate ballot lines, one absurdly named and
anti Semitism, even though yesterday he was so busy meeting
with the anti Semite sneak oh that he couldn't bother
to say anything about Edgardo or about me.
Speaker 8 (23:59):
It is strange time.
Speaker 9 (24:02):
I sure hope Andrew Cuomo loses the Democratic primary. I
was proud to cross indoors with Soroan Mamdani. And I'm
focused hard, of course, you know, winning this race and
making sure Andrew Cuomo gets nowhere near a city hall.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
All right, well, I think I'll be up in New
York on Tuesday for the election. We're gonna do a
live stream that night. I'll look for you out on
the out on the polls. But it sounds great, Comptroller,
thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 8 (24:29):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
New York City mayoral candidate Zorn Mamdani and aoc rallied
yesterday in New York.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
Let's roll some of this.
Speaker 12 (24:40):
To everyone who pulls me aside to whisper with the
best intentions, you have already won. I am sorry, but
the days of moral victories are over. And as my
(25:03):
father told me years ago, when the right wins power
the left rights a great book, those days are over too,
because this is a campaign that is going to win
on June twenty fourth.
Speaker 10 (25:27):
For so long, we have had political leadership, including in
the Democratic Party, that has just wanted to play it's safe,
that has just wanted to be neutral, where so many
(25:50):
people are motivated by their own individual political careers. And
I cannot tell you how shocked I have been to
see so many of the individuals who called on Andrew
Cuomo to resign in disgrace after so many details of
(26:14):
harassment against women, and for them, for those saying people
who called on him to resign to stand behind him
and endorse him for mayor of New York City, they
still decided to throw all of their weight behind Andrew Cuomo.
(26:36):
And I want to be clear about the message that
that sends when they do that. Three Palestine's will.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
All right joining us how to discuss the rallies independent
reporter who was at it. He runs a substack to
Metropolitan Review. He's also a columnist at New York Magazine,
Ross barcan thank you so much for join us.
Speaker 8 (27:02):
May be excited to be on.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
So.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
I don't know if I've ever heard of New York
City mayoral audience with that kind of volume. You know,
typically you're looking at, you know, a couple dozen or
maybe a couple hundred people coming out to a New
York City mayoral rally.
Speaker 7 (27:18):
I guess you've never been to one of those Bloomberg rallies,
the famous Bloomberg rally for.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
The Bloomberg rallies. So, Ross, how big was this? What
was the energy like?
Speaker 8 (27:27):
Like big? So it is still Terminal five, which is
a sizable music venue in Manhattan.
Speaker 13 (27:33):
At least three thousand people were there, and it's it's
the sort of event that probably if the venue had
more capacity, they could have more. So incredibly high energy,
very crowded, much more like a presidential campaign event than
something for mayor. There have been rallies for mayor before
that brought people in, but I would say of this scale,
(27:55):
certainly I've never attended. I've covered mayoral races since twenty thirteen,
I have not attended a rally like this one. He
also had a fairly big one a little about a
month ago, a little bit more about a thousand people.
Speaker 8 (28:10):
This was larger.
Speaker 13 (28:11):
This is with AOC, So undoubtedly the crowds are there
for him. As we know, that's not everything, as I mean,
you'll win, but the energy for this campaign is like
nothing that I have seen in New York City in
recent years at least.
Speaker 7 (28:26):
And Russi, you wrote a piece on your subseect just
called Life with Zoron that published recently and folks should
go read it at Ross Elliot Barkain dot com and
on your substack. But could you tell us I'm curious,
particularly about what you observed in terms of just name
recognition and how engaged people are in this particular election.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
You know, you're just you mentioned it. It's not like
what you've seen in the past.
Speaker 7 (28:50):
I'm curious, as you spent time with Zaramondani, like, are
people really plugging into the race. Are people connecting the
dots and saying, Okay, that guy is the guy who's
running from mayor and this is what he believes in.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
What did you just notice as he was out campaigning?
Speaker 13 (29:10):
Well, in general, the engagement has gone up a lot
in the last few weeks. It was a pretty sleepy
mayoral race. For many months. Cuomo had a very large lead.
Cuomo was barely campaigning, the other candidates were struggling to
gain traction. Zoron's polling really started to surge or i'd say,
(29:30):
move in a real way in March. But really in
the last few weeks, his name recognition has increased by
a lot, and he is now very well known in
New York City, perhaps on the scale of Cuomo now.
And Cuomo enjoys universal name recognition having been governor, having resigned,
(29:51):
everyone knows, there's no one who doesn't have an idea
of who Andrew Cuomo is.
Speaker 8 (29:56):
But Zoron is getting there, or he's there already.
Speaker 13 (30:00):
It's remarkable, And especially if you go break it down generationally,
I'd say almost any voter now under fifty years old
who's not an Orthodox Jew is coming out hard for Zorroon.
Older voter is much more skeptical. So there's a real
generational divide happening right now, and it's going to be
(30:21):
very interesting to see how that plays out because New
York City, in one hand, is a place where older
voters traditionally in Democratic primaries dominate, They are more reliable,
they show up. There also is just a growing cohort
of younger voters in the city, college educated voters, people
(30:41):
who are engaging more with local politics than they used to.
So that would be very fascinating. As we're now in
the home stretch under a week, there's definitely a lot
of energy and interest in this race, which I would
say less so a few weeks back.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
It feels like if Cuomo is going to eke out
this victory, it's going to be because the attack ads
on Zorhan land and revert and reverse the momentum that
we've seen since March. If you if you look at
his kind of climb in the polls, and you look
at the trajectory, and you look at the date, the
time of the election, like he's he's headed to eclipse
(31:21):
Cuomo unless something changes. Does are the attacks landing and
does Cuomo have the ability to get those attacks in
front of voters who would then absorb them and decide
that actually, after all, they will rank Cuomo.
Speaker 13 (31:40):
I would say that I'm a little less optimistic on
the xoron trajectory than you. I don't know if he's
on track to win even without the onsen negative advertising,
just because no independent polls actually showed him ahead. Today
Marris poll came out the race has strunk dramatically since May.
So Marist in May showed Cuomo up twenty four points
(32:04):
on Zoron after OURCV. Of course, this primary is RCV
can vote up to five candidates. People get eliminated and
you end up with a winner when they hit fifty percent.
So Zoron has gotten from down twenty four to down
ten in Marist. Most polls show similar movement. He's moving
towards Cuomo, no doubt it's getting very close. No polls
(32:26):
yet to show him on top. I do think, so
what the negative ads do? They're everywhere the ubiquitous So I, myself,
other people, my mom have gotten many anti Zoron mailers.
Speaker 8 (32:39):
There's been mailed coming in TV to Constant.
Speaker 13 (32:42):
There's a Cuomo superpack that's probably going to have more
than twenty million dollars from this race is over. That
has been blanketing the airwaves NonStop. Now used to be
pro Cuomo ads and now it's pivoted in the last
few weeks is purely anti Zoron. So you've got that
the new York Times came out strongly again in Zoron.
They issued a non endorsement in the race, but made
(33:04):
some very cutting remarks about him and his experience that
will be turned into an ad. So there's no doubt
this negative campaign is something that Zoron will have to overcome.
It's going to be a big challenge for him.
Speaker 8 (33:18):
You know, these candidates are so different.
Speaker 13 (33:20):
It's also hard to say what if, because literally you've
never seen a mayoral race, at least in our lifetimes
where the top two candidates just are so diametrically opposed
ideologically and have such different life experience. Someone who's been
in government for decades, who's been governor of the state,
the most powerful person in New York State, versus the
thirty three year old state assemblyman.
Speaker 8 (33:41):
One's an avowed socialist.
Speaker 13 (33:43):
One is from very much the center of the Democratic Party,
even somewhat conservative depending on how he feels. One is
very scandal scarred. One has no scandals. So so different, right,
And that's what makes this race really interesting. Thing that
the the the undecided voter here cannot be undecided for
(34:06):
too long. Maybe they won't choose either candidate or rank
someone else, but You've got stark choices in a way
you don't typically see in almost any election, I would say,
even beyond New York City.
Speaker 7 (34:20):
And it's sort of the perfect race for both of
you guys having written like actual books about the left,
and it tests a lot of what you guys have covered.
And so I'm curious Ross as Zorn has been pitching
this I think strain of democratic socialism in a very
(34:40):
kitchen table type of way and in a way that
doesn't often get a lot of play, and like mainstream
democratic politics and Cuomo then, on the other hand, is
like the perfect foil for all the reasons you just listed.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
So how do you think.
Speaker 7 (34:57):
Going going forward, let's just say beyond actually this election,
and obviously that this will change if someone Amondanna wins,
I mean it gets even more powerful. But how how
has he tested out that that pitch for that version
of sort of democratic socialism as a foil to establishment
(35:18):
democratic politics, saying like this actually can work, you can
get average voters on board with you know, bernieism.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
What people think of as that strain? What's that? What's
that been like?
Speaker 13 (35:29):
Well, he's definitely taken the sewer socialist tact. You know,
once upon a time there were socialist mayors of big
cities like Milwaukee, and they're really focused on local issues
and kind of making government run better and providing goods
and services and sort of building a social safety net.
So you look at the planks of his campaign, it's
frees the rents on rent, stabilized apartments, it's making buses faster,
(35:54):
and free universal child care.
Speaker 8 (35:58):
You know, he wants five city.
Speaker 13 (36:01):
Run grocery stores, which are actually not all that ambitious.
I always get very views and people are like this
is communism, Like, well, you know, the city can't run
five supermarkets, and we have a lot more problem. The
New York City runs a million kid Department of Education
and a massive police force. So his actual campaign is
(36:21):
not the kind of like green new deal, massive upheaval
that you know candidates or federal office will pitch. Right,
there's no Medicare for all pitch here. You can't do it.
So that's very interesting and it's been successful. I mean,
I think Zoron at the very minimum offers a blueprint
for leftist campaigns going forward, which is, you know, you
(36:44):
focus on economics, you focus on bread and butter. Zoron
is very smart. He's very savvy, so he knows this.
There's also the elements of Palestine politics of Israel Palestines,
and Zoron is Muslim, and he is used to certainly
identifies Nancy Zionist. He's still pro BDS, so his views
(37:05):
on foreign policy have become a big part of this
race too, though I will say he himself is not
really running on that. You don't go to his website
and find I support BDS. It comes up and he's
honest about what he believes in, but he is He's
really pushed it into this economic lane. And I think
this race is really important for the left because it's
(37:27):
the it's the biggest left wing campaign since Bernie Sanders.
Speaker 8 (37:33):
New York City is a huge city.
Speaker 13 (37:36):
They're going to be a million Democrats voting in this
primary at probably at least. So you're talking about this
is a state wide race, that this is like a
governor's race in most states. So he is running the
sort of race you've not seen from any leftist candidate
since Bernie running for president.
Speaker 8 (37:55):
And it's on a scale far greater than AOC.
Speaker 13 (37:58):
Not to take anything away from her, but she won
in one congressional district in the Queens in Queens in
the Bronx, you're talking, I don't even know how to
be voters vote in that primary, maybe forty thousand. So
he's just operating on a huge I mean, the money
being spent, the amount of volunteers, the whole the whole
machine of it is just so much bigger. So win
(38:20):
or lose. That is really interesting. There has not been
any campaign like this in any city really, especially since
Zorn started from zero that's important. It's not so much
like a Brandon Johnson thing in Chicago, who is very
close to the Teachers' Union. You really had a lot
of institutions kind of bringing him up. And that was
(38:41):
also an interesting race. Zoron, you know state assemblymen for
four years pulling at zero percent. He built this from
from scratch and with the help of DSA, but but
he he really bootstrapped it and it became this massive
thing very quickly.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
Well, to get a sense of what polls voters are
concerned about when it comes to zorhand, you can probably
look at the attack ads, because you know, the these
super PACs that have twenty million bucks to spend, they
don't just guess at what ads are going to resonate
with voters. They they test these, you know, very deeply,
and then they go with the ones that they think
(39:17):
are going to work the best. I my my own
gut if I without testing it was the New York
Times one about lack of experience, and those other digs
that's gonna be him, that's gonna that's huge, Like they're
gonna that's gonna crush because you can say the New
York Times says this about this guy, and for people
who are following casually be like, oh, well, new York Times.
(39:39):
You know, that's a pretty credible newspaper. And if they
say that, I can't rank him.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
What else are the negative ads hitting him on?
Speaker 4 (39:47):
For a sense of what the left left's vulnerabilities.
Speaker 8 (39:52):
Are, He's been getting hit on defund the police.
Speaker 13 (39:55):
Zoron did support defunding the police, not running on that
in this campaign. Notably has talked about hiring additional social
workers to handle some mental health situations, but it's not
called for any NYPD budget cuts at all. But he's
on the record supporting defund So he's been getting hit
very hard on that raising taxes, which actually don't think
(40:17):
will be all that effective because he wants to raise
the corporate tax rate to something that the state actually
needs to do that the city itself can't do that,
it needs state approval. But I also I don't think
that's really unpopular, So I'm a bit skeptical. That almost
seems like, you know, the Cuomo, the very wealthy Cuomo
superpackbackers are telling you got to do something on the taxes.
(40:39):
I think defunds certainly that that still can hurt, you know.
I think Cuomo's message is effective and that he's not experienced.
So you can say to the average vot or listen,
do you want to hand the city over to a
thirty three year old state legislator?
Speaker 8 (40:56):
You take away all the ideology.
Speaker 13 (40:58):
You can call him radical, you know, since he's also
you know, he's a socialist, he's he's he's Muslims. So
it's all the things you accused Obama of. He literally
is these things and he's proud of it. So certainly
you can you can move in that direction. You're seeing
kind of dog whistling that way. But I would say
the primary attacks are kind of what the New York
(41:21):
Times said, versions of that this this guy is flimsy
he's weak, he has no experience, he's not serious, he's
a he's a playboy. It's it's that kind of framing,
and Cuomo's the serious old man who's going to come
in straighten everything out.
Speaker 8 (41:39):
He's the tough guy.
Speaker 13 (41:40):
For a lot of Liberals who are thinking about how
to stand up to Trump, they think Cuoma, well, he's
a bully, maybe he's thuggish, but we need a bully
and someone thuggish. He's also from Queens to combat Donald Trump.
So uh that that has been the framing. I think
the most effective attacks are probably on his experience, because
you can't spin around that he's young.
Speaker 8 (42:02):
He's very young.
Speaker 13 (42:04):
There's not been a mayor this young of New York
City in literally over one hundred years. So that's that's
just the fact. It's going to come down to what
do voters think. Also, how many voters leave Cuomo off
their ballots, how many leaders are on.
Speaker 8 (42:20):
Off their ballots.
Speaker 13 (42:22):
Each side has been has had a very concervative push
to do this. Cuomo has leaned very hard of late
into the Orthodox Jewish community, which actually doesn't like him
all that much anymore, though he's extremely pro Israel. Because
of COVID he imposed these lockdowns on Orthox Jewish neighborhoods
(42:42):
in twenty twenty. There's a lot of bitterness over that.
So late, I've been seeing a lot of videos from
rabbis basically telling telling their communities. You know, I know
you dislike Cuomo. I know you'd rather vote for Eric Adams.
Eric Adams is not in this primary. You can vote
from later. We've got to stop Zoran is an existential threat.
(43:02):
So there's a lot of that rhetoric too. As a
as a Muslim who's critical of Israel. There's been a
lot of talk of how he can be terrible for
the Jews, he can hurt the Jews, and that's also
become an attack line in the final week.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
All right, Ross, last question, give us your prediction.
Speaker 13 (43:21):
Oh gosh, I don't love predictions. I think Cuomo's the favorite.
I think he has the slight edge. I think there
won't be a lot of clarity on election night, necessarily
because you'll have the art, you'll have the we'll see
an election night is the first place vote. So if
Cuomo's up seven points, let's say, you're then gonna have
(43:42):
to run the RCV calculation, which the way the Board
of Elections does it.
Speaker 8 (43:45):
It can take some time, think at least a week.
Speaker 13 (43:48):
So if you remember four years ago, Eric Adams I
think finished in first place with around thirty percent. Catherine Garcia,
who is the runner up, was around twenty twenty one
after OURCV. She lost by less than ten thousand votes.
It's literally almost fifty to fifty. So my prediction is
it's going to be very close. And also watch the
(44:09):
general election. General election is typically very sleepy in New
York City, not so here. Eric Adams, the once indicted,
be leaguered mayor, is running as an independent, probably cannot win.
Andrew Cuomo has an independent party ballot line he can
run in the general election. Zoron could take the Working
Families party line he could run the general election. There's
(44:30):
also a Republican candidate as well, will get probably just
under thirty percent. So my prediction is you could have
a very topsy turvy general depending on what happens. And
this race is going to get close, and election night
will be fascinating one way or the other. If someone's up,
if someone's down. I expect the margins to not be
(44:51):
very big, and I expect us to have to wait
to see how the RCV votes shake out, and then
from their decisions will get made. Right, if Zoron wins
by I'm making up a number twenty thousand votes after
our CV, Andrew Cuomo is going to say, well, I'm
going to run in the general and beat him. If
Zoron loses by ten to twenty thousand votes fifty thousand votes,
(45:15):
there will be pressure on him to run again because
then the general election will be Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams,
Kurtis Sliwa progresses in the city will be like, these
are all bad options. So it happened, No hard predictions,
but just look out for all of that.
Speaker 5 (45:32):
If loses, would he have a ballot line anywhere?
Speaker 8 (45:35):
Yeah? The word yes, the word where he can give him.
They can give him the ballot line.
Speaker 13 (45:39):
They can choose to give it to him, so he
will have that option. Cuomo created his own ballot line.
Eric Adams created.
Speaker 5 (45:47):
His own ballot.
Speaker 8 (45:49):
Yeah, it's stupid.
Speaker 13 (45:51):
They stupids think Adams like stop anti semmonism or something.
Support why yes, help help all women. So yeah, so
they all have that option. So the general election is
potentially very interesting. Now, if one Kendiate wins by a
lot gets the Democratic nomination game over, but if it's
close enough, each side.
Speaker 8 (46:12):
Will feel pressure to continue onward.
Speaker 5 (46:15):
That's his last ques last reason.
Speaker 4 (46:17):
Briefly, because we had brad Lander on the show earlier today,
and you know he had that big arrest yesterday.
Speaker 5 (46:22):
He's endorsed sorehand. Does that How does that play in?
Speaker 13 (46:27):
I think it's good. It's good for Zoran. He needs
brad Lander votes. Brad Lander right now is in the
third place. It's kind of a distant third, but he's
got a base. You know, he is a technocratic progressive.
So there are people who like brad Lander who want
him to be mayor, but they aren't sure about Zoron
because of his inexperience. So for brad Lander to endorse him,
(46:50):
I do think brings along some voters who will now
put Zoron on their ballots.
Speaker 8 (46:55):
Does it help brad Lander?
Speaker 13 (46:56):
I think to an extent yes, is going to be
a Zoran surge, and there's many people putting brad Lander
on the ballots, so it'll go deeper into the RCV rounds.
So I think I think it's mutually beneficial. I don't
know if it helps brad Lander get over the hump.
I mean, one challenge for Zoron in this race is
the other candidates haven't performed that well. Cuomo has really
(47:17):
been far ahead of all of them, and Zoron has
ran to catch up. But third, fourth, fifth place, they're
way way behind. Zoron might be in better position right
now if someone like a Brad Lander or Scott Stringer
Adrian Adams had really moved into a better pole position.
But they really have not, so it's become a two
horse race. And that's where you get the polarization, the
(47:40):
extremely negative attacks, and the possibility of either Zoron pushing
past Cuomo or Cuomo kind of beating him back at
the last minute.
Speaker 5 (47:50):
Fascinating stuff.
Speaker 4 (47:51):
Ross Barkan, The Metropolitan Review Columns from New York Magazine.
Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you all right, Emily,
what about your prediction?
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Don't have a prediction. What do I care about? New
York City?
Speaker 4 (48:03):
The Republicans, if they had a decent candidate, could actually
win this time.
Speaker 5 (48:06):
I mean, no, they've won a bunch.
Speaker 7 (48:08):
Yeah, I guess right, quote decent candidate, I guess, decent candidate,
palatable or Republican.
Speaker 4 (48:14):
They're nominating like a kind of a crank. Yeah, they
didn't really take it.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
So it's an interesting guy, though. I wonder if you
would come on the show.
Speaker 5 (48:22):
I bet you've never met an uninteresting crank.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
That's fair enough.
Speaker 5 (48:25):
I bet we can get him on the show though,
let's do it, Curtis, come on.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
Isn't he the old school Guardian Angels?
Speaker 5 (48:32):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Yes, interesting. I think you two would hit it off.
Speaker 5 (48:36):
We would. This could have been the Republican's year, though
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Maybe isn't Eric Adams a Republican?
Speaker 12 (48:43):
Now?
Speaker 5 (48:43):
Actually, shouldn't they give Adams the nomination?
Speaker 1 (48:46):
Well, as we were talking, maybe.
Speaker 5 (48:47):
Win as a Republican slash independent?
Speaker 1 (48:49):
Maybe?
Speaker 7 (48:49):
And now he owes a debt to Republicans, So who
knows what you could get out of Republican Eric Adams
if you are Donald Trump or the GOP. But actually,
when we were talking to Ross, it occurs to me
that in a general election roughly going to Sliwa as
Ross predicted, I wonder if Zoron could start pulling from
that vote, could be interesting, could get the mag of
(49:11):
people over to universal childcare and all that.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I don't know, it might be interesting to watch.
Speaker 4 (49:16):
All right, we'll stick around for our Ama for Greeum subscribers.
If you're not one of them, become one. You can
even do it monthly. Now, that's right, So Breakingpoints dot
com go there and get the show early, mostly without ads.
Sometimes YouTube tries to slip ads into the YouTube link.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
And the second half of the Friday show.
Speaker 5 (49:34):
You get, and you get the second half of Friday.
Speaker 7 (49:35):
Only for subscribers, and that's what we We save all
our good stuff for.
Speaker 5 (49:38):
That which are recruiting Saga to join on Friday.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
I thought you were going to say it to join
as a premium subscriber.
Speaker 5 (49:44):
Yes, I hope he'd better be.
Speaker 7 (49:45):
He's got to get behind the paywall so you can
see the ship we talk about him, all right.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Thanks so much everyone for tuning in. We'll see you
back here soon
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