NYC Mayor Candidate Speaks on Fox News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now a big story that's going to be taking place
today and tomorrow and for the next three weeks is
the electorate election of the mayor of New York City.
Eric Adams is out. He's he decided to run as
an independent, then dropped out, so he's finishing his term
essentially here as the mayor as we finish up, and

(00:23):
it's going to be between Andrew Cuomo, who the former
governor of New York who also had to leave kind
of in disgrace. There's a lot of stuff going on there.
There was some hubbub in twenty twenty that maybe he
could run for president of the United States if he
wanted to throw his hat in the ring. Very late
because of the way that early on he was handling
the COVID nineteen situation. A lot of people and the

(00:43):
Democrats I were like, Wow, I really like this guy.
Where's he been? And then it didn't take very long
after that for, you know, things to go south for him,
and he's trying to get back into the public eye.
He's also running as an independent after he was surprisingly
defeated by a Democratic socialist self proclaimed zora On Mamdani,
a guy in his early thirties, a guy who many people,

(01:05):
including Donald Trump, says a communist. I'm not gonna say
that here because that's not what this is about. He
was willing to go on Fox News today and he
spoke with Martha McCallum, and it's a big interview, right,
because this is a guy who is kind of representing
maybe the new generation of Democrat that you're probably gonna

(01:29):
have to get used to seeing if there is success
in general elections New York City. Yeah, it's a microcosm
of New York State. Mostly the region though that he's
talking we're talking about here is very blue, and a
Democrat regardless, is likely to win as it stands right now,
Just like the governor's race in California, for instance, you

(01:51):
wouldn't anticipate, no matter who it is, them fumbling in
that situation. Now, zoron here. If he does get elected, though,
he is going to have a platform that is very,
very different than other Democratic socialists would because not very
many democratic socialists have actually won big races.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Now.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
I don't know if you could consider Alexandria Costio Cortes
a communist or a democratic socialist or whatever, but she
is very, very left. She has campaigned with Zora Mom
Donnie and they are kind of from the same cloth.
And if he wins and he gets this platform, that
could certainly spring up more David Hogg types another young

(02:34):
person who certainly is probably going to feel much more
to the left, then we probably are willing to go
as a country, at least right now. But the more
and more people are like that, the more politicians are
like that, especially the younger generation, it could really start
popping up in this younger gen z and Jen Alpha
as they start to become voters. And that's why I

(02:56):
think it's important for us to pay attention to this.
So let's get to some of these these clips. Going
to start with how it started, Martha McCallum joining, welcoming
Zorah Mom Donna, who's in the studio with her to speak,
and going to talk immediately about the ceasefire in the
Middle East and who should get credit for that.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Obviously New York City policy is front and center, but
I would imagine that some of the big headlines recently
are going to come up tomorrow night as well. So
I want to get to all the policy issues in
New York. But I wanted to ask you this first.
If you are asked tomorrow night, if you give credit
to President Trump for the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas

(03:38):
and the return of the twenty living hostages, would you
raise your hand?

Speaker 1 (03:42):
You know.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
First, I want to say, it's a real pleasure to
be here. Thank you for having me, and it's an
honor to have this opportunity to speak to so many
New Yorkers and Americans across the country. And when it
comes to the ceasefire, I am thankful, and I have
hope that it will actually endure and that it will
be lasting. And I continue to have concerns because I've
seen reports still that's this in the last few days,

(04:03):
that five Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military, And
that's what gives me pause about issuing any kind of
praise or celebration at a moment when it is still
so in its infancy. And what I will tell you
is that in that same moment, it is also one
that requires a focus on ensuring that that hope, that
belief in a better future is one that is emblematic
in our policies right here in New York City as well.

(04:25):
And that's what we're hoping to lead with will.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Would you give President Trump credit or not to any
extent credit or not.

Speaker 4 (04:30):
I think it's too early to do so, too early
to say, but if.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
It proves to be something that is lasting, something that
is durable, then I think that that's where you give credit.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
All right. So I think that's a fair answer, to
be completely honest. I know that he has been on
the record is saying different things about Hamas, and he's
very anti Israel, like so many of the very far
left are. But I do also think it's incredibly early.
I haven't been celebrating. It's great that the hostages are released,

(04:58):
but the piece has to be lasting. We're not sure
it's going to until we get through every phase of
that twenty point plan and instituting new people in charge
in gaz who you're hearing the reports that international newscast
that Hamas is executing people Palestinian civilians who they think
were collaborating with Israel at any point. So it's still

(05:20):
not a healthy situation by any means. Once we do
know that Donald Trump deserves all the credit as far
as he's concerned, because he's being celebrated as such by
the leaders from around the world, including those who are
involved in the Middle East right now. And it's good
to hear Zaron mam Donnie saying if it is lasting
and durable, that's where credit would go. I think that's
an important thing that he said there. Here's another question

(05:42):
in kind of relation to this. Adjacent to this, would
Zoron Mamdannie if Benjamin yaw Who showed up to the
United Nations or anywhere in New York City, would he
want to arrest him something he's said before.

Speaker 4 (05:55):
Okay, one last thought on that.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
You have said that you would arrest netna Who if
he came to the Uni States. You've been very outspoken
in your criticism of him. Do you stand by that
you would arrest him if he came here if you
were mayor.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
I've said that this is a city that believes international law,
and this is a city that wants to uplift and
uphold those beliefs.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
The Primarysure State doesn't stand by the International Criminal Court.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
It hasn't signed the Treaty for the International Criminal Court.
The National Criminal Court, however, has issued a warrant for
the arrest of Benjamin net Yaho.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
As NDS in the United States, could you arrestaurant.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
As it has for Vladimir Putin. I've said that I
believe that we should uphold arrest warrants by the National
Criminal Court, and that we would you should do so
only in abiding with all of the laws in front
of us. I'm not going to make a new law
to ensure that we can actually.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
That Commissioner Tish would allow you to arrest net Yahoo
in New York City.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
I've appreciated Commissioner Tish's leadership of the NYPD, and I
think that she's done a good job at lowering crime
across the city.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
But if she do you think that she would she
would go along with the arresting net.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
Yaho in New York.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
I can tell you that I'm going to exhaust every
legal option in front of me, not to make new
laws to do so.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
All right, So, and that's kind of a roundabout way
saying I'm not going to have a chance to really
do that. But I do think that the United States
should follow the International Criminal Court when they say there's
a warrant out for the arrest of somebody who they
think has committed war crimes. It's uh, he's basically kind
of winking at the camera, saying I can't actually do anything,

(07:17):
but if I could, I would, and all this is bluster.
All right, Good to know. I got some more from
Zoronmamdanni as he spoke with Martha McCallum on Fox News
this afternoon Today with Zoronmamdani, the Democratic socialist who's very
likely to win the mayoral race in New York City
in a couple of weeks. There's a big debate between

(07:39):
he and Andrew Cuomo, who's an independent candidate. Of course,
he's a Democrat who lost to Mom Donnie in the
primary for this particular race, basically said I'm still in
the race. I still want to run as an independent.
It helps that Eric Adams, the incumbent, has said that
he is no longer going to run even though he
was an independent. He says, I'm done with this. It's
Cuomo versus Mom Donnie. There are a Republican. There's a

(08:03):
Republican in there. It's not even worth mentioning because there's
a zero percent chance of a Republican winning this race.
But it's interesting to learn about what Mom Donnie is
saying here because not only is he trying to get elected,
and he knows he's going to get elected, but it's
how he's talking to a conservative audience. For the best
of my knowledge, he hasn't really done a sit down
interview with anyone from a conservative network before and had

(08:25):
to be challenged on some of the things that he
has said or done in the past. And this is
a young guy. He's in his early thirties, a guy
who just kind of popped up on the national raidar
here in the last few months, and he could be
kind of the catalyst for the democratic socialist youth movement
in the Democrat Party to kind of take hold if
he finds himself successful in New York City. There's no

(08:47):
guarantee he's going to be, but it's worth us paying
attention because that could end up looking like what the
future of Democrat Party looks like. Let's go ahead and
go back to this conversation. This is Martha McCallum talking
about the finance center of the world and how she
figured out it was New York City.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Do you want to be the mayor of New York City,
which you know last night I chat gpt' where is
the capitalist and global finance center of the world And
it said New York.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
City, which made me feel good as someone who loves
New York City.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
Is that a moniker that you're proud of and one
that you want to continue for this city?

Speaker 2 (09:23):
We should be proud of it. And I will also
say that that's one thing you have in common with
Andrew Cuomo, because he also uses the chat GPT to
answer many questions, including how to actually resolve the housing
crisis in the city. And it's time that we are
not only proud of us being the financial capital, the
cultural capital, but also we should make it a capital
of where working people can afford to live in this
city because right now what we're seeing is that one

(09:44):
in four New Yorkers are being priced out of the
wealthiest city and the wealthiest country in the history.

Speaker 4 (09:48):
Of the world. That's absolutely true.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, that's an A plus answer, by the way, And
I like politically, me and Zora Mamdani are not going
to see I die in anything like I mean, honestly,
any conservative and somebody who identifies as a democratic socialist
is you're not gonna see hot eye. But that is
an excellent answer because he buries his opponent by saying

(10:12):
he chat GPTs how to fix problems in New York City,
which is hilarious. Look, I like using artificial intelligence too.
You know what i'd use artificial intelligence for. You know
what I did the other night. I was asking trying
to figure out why California Dreaming by the Mamas and
the Papas was such a great song, right, because I like,
it's so lasting and so enduring, but it's super predictable

(10:33):
and there's nothing super duper special about the song itself.
It's catchy, I like it, but I just don't understand
why it's so lasting with all the great songs from
the sixties. And I had a good conversation with Tess
about that the other night. See, that's what I'm doing.
I'm not googling. Okay, So if I'm the mayor of
New York City, like, how am I solving a housing crisis?

(10:54):
Look in good for Zoran here also to say people
are being priced out, and Martha even says it it's
absolutely true. We talk about it here sitting in Omaha,
and how lucky we are to live in a part
of the country where you're not getting priced out of
just being able to live. It's still more expensive than
it was before. It's not perfect, but it certainly isn't

(11:15):
the type of financial situation that places like New York
City or Los Angeles or Chicago find themselves in when
you're trying to get started in life and living there.
And it's so easy for us from the cheap seats
over here to say, we'll just move out of New
York City. Yeah, well, if it was only that simple
for so many people, especially based on the fact that
there are so many jobs that people are trying to

(11:35):
get here, they just can't find a way to stay living.
I don't know if that's a thing that he has
to take up with Kathy Hochel, who's the governor, or
is that something that he can change in the city itself.
But I thought that was an excellent answer how he
was able to kind of get at his political opponent,
Andrew Cuomo for this mayoral race in the same kind

(11:57):
of way he answered that question. Next thing here kind
of addressing Donald Trump and whether or not he would
work with Donald Trump to make New York City the
burgeoning an excellent place that it should be. You know,
Donald Trump has a great history with New York City,
but of course he has said a lot of bad
things about Zoramam Donnie Well. He addresses that here.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
And I want to talk about your qualifications. You know,
some say you have never run a business in your life,
so I'm curious, and President Trump said that you never
worked a day in your life. You worked as an assemblyman,
and you've had other positions in the government.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
But what qualifies you from.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Your life experience to run the largest city in the country.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
You know. I want to take this moment because you
spoke about President Trump and he may be watching right now,
and I just want to speak directly to the President,
which is that I will not be a mayor like
Mayor Adams, who will call you to figure out how
to stay out of jail. I won't be a disgraced
governor like Andrew Cuomo who will call you to ask
how to win this election. I can do those things
on my own. I will, however, be a mayor who's
ready to speak at any time to lower the cost

(13:04):
of living. That's the way that I'm going to lead
this city. That's the partnership I want to build, not
only with Washington, DC, but anyone across this country. I
think it's important because too often the focus on the
needs of working class Americans, working class New Yorkers are
put to the side as we talk more and more
about the very kinds of corrupt politicians like Andrew Cuomo
that delivered us into this kind of crisis.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Again, it's the right answer for him right now because
as it relates to the bigger picture for what Zoron
Mamdani is attempting to do and attempting to settle here,
Donald Trump is going to be a mortal enemy of his,

(13:45):
not just because he's a democratic socialist, but also because
he represents everything Trump is it. He's young, he is
very liberal. He is wanting to move not just his
city in New York City when he becomes the mayor,
but also his area of the country, the entire country.

(14:06):
He is going to be a leader to keep an
eye on moving forward. He thinks, are on, Mom, Donnie's
gonna stop it being the mayor of New York City. Well,
if that goes well and he's able to achieve what
he wants to achieve while still being in the public
eye and being this kind of beacon of hope for
the gen Z and Jin alphas of the world who
really grow up and you can say it's in doctrination,

(14:29):
but they are just exposed to a lot of democratic thoughts. Anyway.
Half of that's because their parents are probably conservative and
they want to be up against the man. They are
told at a very young age that you should dislike
Donald Trump. Many people dislike Donald Trump while he was
a television star. I mean, this is not a guy
that we can relate to. That's what they're saying. Trump

(14:49):
is an older guy who has riled people up everything
that he does, from the way he handles immigration, the
way that he handles the foreign relations, the way that
he handles the military, the way that he talks on
social media. It is pretty much the opposite of what's
going to attract these young people. And Zoramm Donnie understands

(15:12):
that he's gonna need to work with Trump. He's willing
to work with Trump to make sure that people who
are maybe in the middle or even somewhat conservative can
be like, you know, this guy doesn't really sound that crazy,
But at the same time, we know politically he needs
to stand as far on the opposite side of the
field as he possibly can from Trump, because that's where

(15:33):
his future and his voter base for the future not
just in New York City, but around the country. If
he goes for bigger office like I anticipate him doing,
assuming that this goes well for him in New York City.
That's He's just got to make sure that he is
in no way, shape or form at all attributed to
working with Donald Trump. Unless Trump comes to him with

(15:55):
a very very good deal, I don't know what that
will look like. I think Trump is going to compliment
him at all, and I would be very surprised, especially
early in his mayorship, if you will would be actively
working with Donald Trump about anything. And I don't think
Trump will call him, and I don't think he'll say
anything about Trump. He's just going to mind his own

(16:17):
business and try to turn New York City into whatever
utopia he thinks he's a democratic socialist in twenty twenty
five can do, and something we'll just have to monitor.
He was actually on a conservative talk show. He was
on Martha McCallum's show on Fox News, and she was
interviewing him. This is the first time I've actually heard

(16:37):
him do a full kind of sit down interview with
a conservative person who is going to actually challenge him
on a lot of the stuff that he said in
the past, or the things that you know he's done
in the past. Young guy, but the way he talks
it makes a lot of people, especially Republicans, uncomfortable that
this would be the direction the Democrat Party is going.

(16:58):
And you might be saying, well, if this completely fails,
this is going to completely uproot whatever he stands for sure,
do you know what's going to fail? David Dinkins was
a Democratic socialist in the nineties. He was the mayor
of New York. It failed spectacularly. That led to the
Rudy Giuliani here that took place right after that in
New York City, and we know what happened just generally

(17:18):
in the country after that. It was a big setback
for the Democrats to have somebody that they thought was
a very progressive person taking over and then couldn't win
a second election. There's no doubt that Zorn Mandani is
trying to be very radical in what he is attempting
to do in New York. But I do think it's
important for us to pay attention to because he could
be not just a candidate here and become the mayor

(17:41):
of New York. He's not even old enough to be
president of the United States yet, but there's certainly going
to be an element of him wanting to be the
President of the United States, I think down the line
if this goes well, and I think that's why it's
important for us to pay attention, because he could be
of that leader that ushers in the next generation of

(18:03):
really staunch, very liberal, super left, somewhat radical Democrats who
will start to pop up in other metropolitan areas around
the country. Zoran, We're going to pick up where we
left off here. He is going to have to talk
about what his true background is and what would qualify
for him to be the next mayor of New York

(18:26):
City and do a job that is an incredibly difficult
job for people of any age to do, let alone
a guy with minimal experience running anything.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
So the question I asked you was what specifically in
your background.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
Gives you the.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
Confidence that you can run one hundred and fifteen billion
dollar budget and run this city specifically from your personal
experience in.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Your background, I've been a state assembly member here in
New York City. I've represented one hundred and thirty thousand
people in Queens and in the time that I've done. So,
I've not only delivered more than one hundred million dollars
in increased bus and subway service, I've also secured half
a billion dollars in debt relief for working class taxi drivers.
President Trump knows this. New Yorkers know this. Across the
Five boroughs. Taxis as we're looking at them right here,

(19:10):
are such a part of what we love about this city.
And yet those same drivers were sold a lot about
a ticket to the middle class if they bought a medallion.
I stood with those drivers, I organized with those drivers.
I went on a fifteen day hunger strike with those drivers,
and we secured half a billion dollars in debt relief
that allows those drivers to do more than just think
about struggle.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
How many employees would you be overseeing in the New
York City government.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
More than three hundred thousand, hundred thousand.

Speaker 4 (19:32):
That's a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, And for whatever it's worth, right as the mayor,
he's going to oversee them. He's not going to be
directly managing them.

Speaker 4 (19:42):
But.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
State Assembly guy one hundred and thirty thousand people. He
wants to kind of be the more activist type. He
talked about the hunger strike and everything. Congrats. You know,
taxis that's not really a thing almost anywhere else in America. Now,
I went to Chicago and used the taxi once. I
hated driving downtown Chicago. It's just everybody's driving so fast
and so aggressively, and I don't want to hurt my car,

(20:06):
you know. So it's just like I got to where
I was going, called a cab, No big deal. Pay
you twenty five bucks to take me to Soldier Field.
That's fine. You want to know what else goes down
in cities like that? Now, ubers and lifts. Free market. Now,
that's not to say that taxi drivers shouldn't get what
they want, but you know, New York City operates a

(20:28):
little bit differently. I'm going to need to see some
more legislative backgrounds than securing half a billion dollars for
taxi drivers. I'm not sure how that relates to anything,
all right, And last one here the police ziramm Donnie
has been very, very very outspoken about law enforcement, about

(20:51):
their presence. He's not said that he hates them, but
he has been like very angry. He's gotten in their face.
He is again kind of the activist type, wanting to
really rally people by being demonstrative, and here he is
having to answer for that here on national television with
Martha McCallum, a conservative talk show host. And here's what happened.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
So, police officers that I spoke to, they don't want
a behind closed doors apology. They want a broad public
apology for the things that you suggested about them.

Speaker 4 (21:25):
Will you do that right now?

Speaker 2 (21:26):
Absolutely? I'll apologize to police officers right here, because this
is the apology that I've been sharing with many rank
and file officers. And I apologize because of the fact
that I'm looking to work with these officers, and I
know that these officers, these men and women who serve
in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line
every single day. And I will be a mayor of
the BOS.

Speaker 4 (21:42):
Change your mind about it.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
You know, I moved to the city when I was
seven years old. I grew up here and two of
the things that I thought often about was safety and justice.
And growing up here, learning about the case of the
exonerated five, learning about Sean Bell, learning about Eric Garner,
learning about Michael Brown. And then in twenty twenty, the
year where all of these tweets are referring to it

(22:04):
was the year when George Floyd was killed and it
felt like safety and justice had never been further apart.
And it was actually Eric Adams in twenty twenty one
who said that New Yorkers need not choose between these
two things. And so one of my focuses was how
do we deliver that justice? And now what I know,
having represented one hundred thousand people in Western Queens, is
that to deliver that justice, you have to also deliver

(22:24):
that safety. And that means representing the men and women
in the NYPD. It means representing the black and brown
New Yorkers who've been victims of police brutality. It means
representing the Muslim New Yorkers in my district who were
surveilled on the basis of their faith at sixty eight
percent of.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
So it's interesting he doesn't exactly he apologizes. She kind
of cuts him off there because you know, he was
going to get into whatever political speak he was about
to get into. But I think if there was ever
something you wanted to hear is that he has changed
his mind, has changed his tune. He doesn't think the same,

(22:58):
you know, get the police out of our town. You
can't trust police. Instead, he seems to be wanting and
willing to kind of make the police a part of
what he wants to do to give safety to everyone
across New York, not just the people who you know
might be out there protesting against them. It is a

(23:20):
very interesting dichotomy that he has to kind of play
here because so many of his supporters are going to
be people who during the George Floyd situation especially, would
have been saying, hey, we get I want the police
out of my life. I don't think they need to
be here. We don't need them here. That's just an
absurd take, but it was something that many people, including

(23:40):
leaders in Congress or in locales like New York, were
shouting from the rooftops if they were a super duper
hardcore liberal. And he is at least publicly now acknowledged
he's changed his tune on that as far as safety
is confirmed for New York City. Fascinating. We anticipate him
winning this election the first week of November. We anticipate

(24:01):
this situation kind of developing once he's actually sworn in,
he actually becomes the mayor, I would imagine that you're
going to see him slowly try to implement some of
his ideas, like the kind of public owned free grocery

(24:23):
stores and things like that. I don't exactly know how
that's going to operate, and how long it's going to
take to implement, and how they're going to avoid people
abusing that. But you know what, it's not my city,
not my circus. I suppose it's just going to be
a time we'll tell thing that we're going to have
to observe, and we'll tell you about it when we
find out about it. But it could very well be

(24:44):
a harbinger of what could come as far as the
Democrat Party is concerned, if it is somehow successful in
New York City