Guest Former NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio; Listener Phone Calls

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This hour of programming on seven to ten doubr He's
sponsored by Toyota City and Mamaranac and Nissan City of
port Chester, proud members of the Integrity Automotive Group. Now
former Westchester County Executive Rob Astarrito on seven ten.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Alrighty, yeah, we're in the weekend right now. It is.
When I came in this morning on the train, it
was loaded with wanna be drunks and pretend Irish because
this is the weekend. It's a long weekend because Saint
Patrick's Day is Monday, but why not get a three

(00:45):
day head start so they're all coming into the city today.
I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun
and I want no part of that. In fact, you know,
when I was County executive, I had to march for
eight years in probably twelve Saint Patrick's Day parades every season,
and I finally got the damn bagpipes out of my head.

(01:05):
It took a long time because it's kind of like
the same song that they play, like one song and
you're marching listening to that same song for the hour.
But it is fun. And my wife's family is from Ireland.
My wife and I got married in Ireland, So I
do love the Irish and I do love Saint Patrick's Day.
Actually I would go every because of my relationship with

(01:27):
Cardinal Dolan. I would go to Saint Patrick's to the Mass,
and I would go to the parade and marching it
with somebody or some organization from Westchester. So it's always great.
But I don't miss it. I really don't miss it.
So we've got a lot going on right now. Yeah,
I mean, I've been talking about the mayor's race here
in New York City and Eric Adams fighting for his life.

(01:50):
There's word he may try to run as an independent
if he loses the Democratic primary. Obviously he's got things
heading you know, over his head right now, which isn't fun.
He's got Cuomo, he's got the far left, so it's
a mess politically, it's going to be very difficult for him.
And of course the you know, the big elephant or

(02:11):
the big donkey in the room would be Andrew Cuomo.
So there's a lot of dynamics playing out here. And
I thought, you know what, who better would know about
what is happening here? Both in the progressive wing of
the party, which likely could win and Andrew Cuomo. Somebody
who worked with him probably didn't like him as much

(02:33):
as I did. I mean, we were both on the
hit list, but I figured why not. I asked Bill
de Blasio because we've known each other a long time
and we got along very well, even though we one
hundred and eighty degrees different politically. But I thought he
would have a really good perspective on what's going on
right now. So let me bring him in. He's the
he was the one hundred ninth mayor of New York City.

(02:53):
Of course, build a Blasio Mayor. How are you?

Speaker 3 (02:57):
I'm doing great, rob and I'm you know, I'll tell
you I always honored to be on the same hit
list with you.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
And let me tell you, you know, it depended on
the day, because certainly when I ran against him, I
was totally on the hit list. And then I stayed
on the hit list when he was trying to build
the Cuomo Bridge, which will always be the tapan Z Bridge,
and I screwed it with his head there because he
needed my vote. But you, you certainly got under his skin.
He hated you too. So that was the common that

(03:26):
was the common theme whenever we would see each other.
We would kind of wink, like who does he hate
more this week?

Speaker 3 (03:32):
You know, it was a healthy competition, you know.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
So let me start off with this. So obviously you
and I disagree politically, There's no question about that.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
You know.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I'm a more conservative Republican, You're a liberal Democrat. I
disagree policy wise on the things you did in New
York City. I think a lot of it, certainly with
the crime and the the no cash bail and you know,
kind of handcuffing the police. We could argue about. But
I wanted to get your perspective on this because you know,
after eight years in office, I kind of reflected back

(04:06):
on what I would want a mulligan on, or what
I think I did wrong or what I did right.
Going back over your eight years, what do you think
you would do differently if you could, what would you
take the mulligan on?

Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, I will answer that, but I'm going to challenge you,
my old friend, on the first part, because up before
the pandemic, we had pushed crying down to the lowest
levels literally since the nineteen fifties. And look at the
police commissioners. I had Bill Bratton, Jimmy O'Neil, Dermott Schet
extraordinary leaders, and we were really making a lot of promise.
The pandemic set us back. The thing that also hurt

(04:41):
that you referred to is the bail reform, which I
was done in Albany, by the way, on Andrew Clomo's watch,
who was there, who signed the bill, etc. And I
felt and I at the time tried behind the scenes
to fix that bill to make sure that judges would
have discretion to determine if some one was dangerous. It's

(05:02):
something that never that bill never should have gone through
in my opinion, without that element. So a lot of folks,
even in the law enforcement community, would say it was
fine to get rid of cash bail as long as
you guaranteed judges the ability to determine if there was
dangerousness and if someone had to be held in as
a result. And that was my position. So I just

(05:23):
want to remind you with deepest respect, that that decision
was made in Albany, and I think it was a mistake.
The real problem with crime, of course, was everything that
happened to with COVID, and that happened all over the country.
And I happy to say in New York City is
substantially back in terms of lowering crime again, and there's
more to do, but I have faith it's going to continue.

(05:44):
But the mulligan, if I could take it, is you know,
at the time, Rob, I tried to work behind the
scenes on that issue, and you know, working with the
legislative leaders in Albany, and I was trying to be
respectful of them. As you know from being account executive,
we depend on all of me, so sometimes you choose
your battles about how public to be. But in retrospect,

(06:05):
I wish I had been more vocal about it, because again,
a lot of bail reform made sense. That piece about
not giving judges discreestion did not make sense, and that's
something where I wish I had found a way to
put more pressure on that situation.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Former mayor build a Blasio with me on seven to
ten WR. So you wrote an op ed with Eric
Adams and doctor Mitchell Katz. I think Yesterday's Daily News
and it was about COVID. I can't believe it's five years.
Yesterday was the five year anniversary. I remember that day
so well, just getting on the train coming home from Manhattan,

(06:40):
and it was dead silence on the train. Everyone was
on their iPhones looking for the latest. Everyone was nervous.
Nobody knew what the hell was going on, and you
know what, you probably didn't either. I mean, it was
all new, right, So how do you react to something
like this? But how much of COVID and the response
in New York City was you and your emergency operations,

(07:03):
your health department, you setting guidelines versus Andrew Como.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
You know, that's this one so interesting because I think
you could relate to this. I felt very strongly, and
I know mayors around the state, did county executives around
the state, Democrat and Republican, upstate, downstate, we all felt
that the state need to give us more right and
more space to do what we had to do because
a lot of the rules coming from the state made

(07:30):
no sense. Yeah, so you could argue who had what
power to do what at any point. But here's what
I remember vividly, and you'll remember, for example, remember the
time when the state under the governor would not allow
vaccination of law enforcement personnel and first responders because it
was only going to allow hospital personnel. Our healthcare leaders

(07:52):
New York City were like, that's insane. The people who
needed the vaccination most were seniors, the most vulnerable seniors,
folks with pre existing condition, and a lot of our
law enforcement personnel and first responders were absolutely in danger
of exposure. And a lot of healthcare workers didn't want
the vaccine. If some did, but plenty didn't. So like,

(08:13):
give us the right they get the vaccine to the
people who need it most as we see fit as
a state kept interfering, and I think there was a
huge mistake, and I think we lost time on that.
We lost time when it was time to do shelter
in place and I called for it, and you'll remember
colorfully the governor at the time said that would be
imprisoning New Yorkers quote unquote, and then four days later

(08:33):
he did the same exact thing and called it something else.
So I think the big story here is that a
lot of your Republican colleagues would agree with me. Around
the state, we needed the right to take care of
our people our way, and the state government Albaney often
stood in the way of us doing the best we
could do for our people.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, no, I think that's I think that's absolutely on
the mark. And I remember flying down to Florida at
one point, and when I was at Westchester County Airport,
you know, the National Guard was there. And I get
down to Florida and it's like, now we can you
can argue what was right and wrong public policy. You
had to wear a mask, you didn't have to wear
a mask. And I came down on the other side.

(09:14):
And you know, my social media goes back to when
it happened. I was very out in front of it.
I was starting to run for governor again, and you
know that schools needed to be opened. These masks were
ridiculous because of the science saying it wasn't working and
the shot should be up to you. But I get
to Florida and it's like a total different world, and

(09:35):
you know, again you can argue back and forth, what
was what worked, what didn't work. I think I think
Florida had it pretty white right, But in New York
it was it was severe lockdowns, severe penalties if you
didn't go along, and that as you're saying, that top
down approach doesn't always work, and I think it built

(09:55):
in a lot of resentment. And I still remember, what
are your thoughts on this? I still remember, you know,
the look Trump. Trump was Trump, okay, and that was
somewhat problematic in some of his press conferences, arguing we
didn't need that necessarily then, But Cuomo coming across as
the you know, the hero, and meanwhile he's making really bad,

(10:19):
deadly decisions.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Look, as you're talking, Rob, I feel like I'm going
back and feeling what it's like in those times. And
it's kind of amazing the five years. I think a
lot of us have tried to put that time out
of our mind for obvious reasons of human beings, because
it was so difficult and so painful. But yeah, I mean, look,
we now know, ironically, first thing about President Trump, he

(10:47):
was he was the author, to his credit, of the
record time creation of the vaccine. And it's interesting because
I actually have praised him for that. I have no
problem praising Trump when I think he did something right.
That was something he did right. I often felt he
kind of ran away from his own achievement, which didn't
make a ton of sense to me. But we got

(11:07):
the vaccine in an amazingly quick time frame, saved a
huge number of lives. I think what happened with Pomo is,
you know, it became very political. I remember, you know,
it was quite clear he had taken a very strong
lesson from nine to eleven, and he talked about He

(11:29):
certainly talked about privately. I think he even talked about
it publicly that you know, he thought the Taki looked
weak and Giuliani looked strong. And I think there was
even a quote like Pataki's holding Giuliani's coat and his
whole thing, his whole the thing he received from nine
to eleven was not the heroism of the first responders,

(11:51):
not the sacrifices of New Yorkers, or the pain of
the families. He received a political and optical lesson that
he wanted to make sure he would be dominant in
the next crisis, whenever that crisis came. And he always
saw a crisis as an opportunity for political gain. So
along comes COVID, and I think for a few weeks

(12:11):
there he thought he was going to be riding high,
being this national hero, and he was doing the book.
But then it turns out, you know, Rob, you shouldn't
be putting your time into writing a book about a
crisis for your own gain and your own political fame
when the crisis is still going on and people need you,
and you know he didn't own the decision around the

(12:32):
nursing homes and the lives that were lost, and obviously
went to a lot of trouble as did his team
to try and minimize it if you want to be
gentle or cover it up, if you want to be sharper.
You know, history doesn't smile on that. A lot of
people got hurt, a lot of families, remember, So I
think the big takeaway from there is, you know, it
should have been seen as a crisis about human beings

(12:55):
and were public servants that were supposed to take care
of people, not take care of our own politics. But
that's not what happened.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Build a Lasia with me, rob Astrono here on seven
to ten. Woor. So let's get into the mayor's race
for a moment. Adams. You know, if you look at
the public polling, he's in deep doo doo, he's in
second place.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
But you know we see the political science term there, Well.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
That's total political science. I learned that afford him. So
Cuomo with the name I D clearly is in the
lead at like thirty percent. Where where do you see
this race going? Because there's still a lot of clock left,
and a lot can happen, and you weren't out in
front either at that time. At that time, if I remember, well.

Speaker 3 (13:36):
You sir, have a good memory. No, if you so,
it's about three months and a week or so until
the Democrat primary this year. Three months and a week
before the Democratic primary in twenty thirteen, I was in
fourth place, I think maybe fifth place, and no one

(13:56):
saw it coming, no one believed I could. I mean,
I had people who are dear for friends and they're like,
you know, pat me on the shoulder, like sorry, it's
not going to work out, and things change.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, Dante, you had Dante.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
I had Dante. Well Dante and his hair. Those are
two different, you know, two different concepts. But you know,
the beautiful thing is that we have elections for a
reason and people get a lot more information and they
think about it. So I think, you know, you'll remember
back then in twenty thirteen, with all the respect, you know,
Chris Quinn was Christine Quinn was considered like basically a shoeing. Yeah,

(14:33):
but here's what happens. People look at the record, people
listen to the debates, People start to get more information,
and with Clomo a lot's going to be now brought
back to people's attention. What happened to the families those
we lost in the nursing homes. The thirteen women who
have alleged harassment. You know, that's a that's a pretty

(14:54):
big number right there. Obviously, we just talked about the
all reform. A lot, a lot of things are going
to come out and be looked at, and I think
the electorate in New York City Democrat primary is going
to think about that. But at the same time, I
think what's going to happen is someone's going to emerge
from this pack of rivals. I'm not going to be
surprised that some people drop out of this race. I'm

(15:16):
not going to be surprised if a particular challenger emerges
as the strong alternatives. That would be very consistent with
what we've seen in a lot of other elections. And
there's time for that to happen. So stay tuned. This
is far from over.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Do you think Adams can win?

Speaker 3 (15:33):
It's tough, you know. I think he had a golden
moment after the federal government pulled back the charges. Now,
I think the way they did it hurt it bluntly.
I think I don't understand it for the life of me.
I've said very publicly, Rob, I think the charges against
him a week from day one.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, I agree, And.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
I think there's plenty of prosecutorial overreach in this world
and prosecutors who are doing things for ambitious reasons, et cetera.
If the Justice Department just said, you know what, we
looked at these charges, or a new administration, we think
that week are going to drop them, he would have
had a much cleaner situation. But he got that weird
you know, we're holding it back, but we're not getting

(16:11):
rid of the charges. And then I think he made
it worse by seeming to immediately embrace the Trump administration
in gratitude. I think he had an opportunity there to
make more separation and to show more balance and the show.
You know, if Trump was right, he'd agree with them.
If Trump was wrong, you'd take him on. He still

(16:31):
can't do that against Three months is a long time,
so don't count him out. But if he was asking
my advice, I'd say, you better turn the super tank
or quick so people can see you're about the needs
of New York City and not just something more narrow.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
So Cuomo as I know him because when I ran
in O nine and one, which was a big shocker
and democratic Westchester.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
He then, yeah, but Rob, you had good looks and
charm on your side.

Speaker 5 (16:57):
Let's be clear.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Thank you for saying. I didn't want to say that
about my self, but thank you.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah, I got you.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
So Cuomo all of a sudden became a chameleon and
really changed the following year when he was running, all
of a sudden, the suburbs are very important, taxes were important.
He sounded like a moderate or a Republican. He gets
elected and then he's all over the place. I mean,
I don't honestly, I don't think he's got a principle
in his body. But and I've said that publicly many

(17:24):
many times. But let's just pretend that you and I
puke on the primary night and he wins. Okay, Andrew
Cuomo wins, he becomes the mayor. What's the dynamic going
to be like with he and Latitia James, He and
Kathy Hokel, who, by the way, is so weak, but anyway,
she's going to have much more control. I don't know

(17:44):
if she'll know how to use it. But this guy
knows how to sharpen knives and stab you either looking
at you or in the back.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yeah, he does. But I've been in that job as
mayor to the job. It's an incredible privilege. It's also
a job where you're very much under the thumb of
the state government and the federal government.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, he's going to find that out.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
I think, Oh, there's no two ways about it. I mean,
he's a very very smart guy. I'll never take that
away from him, and very politically adept. But it is
just a different animal. And if he thinks that he
can be mayor of the way he was governor, he's
got another thing coming. By the way, the city council alone,
the city council is much less pliant, uh than the legislature,

(18:30):
And the legislature in recent years has been a lot
tougher on governors than it used to be. But the
city council, unquestionably, you've seen it with Mayor Adams. They
will push back hard and I don't think he's used
to that. So it's a whole other world he'll have
to deal with the council, with the legislature, the governor,
the attorney general, that's you know, and he loves control.

(18:54):
And one of the things you learn when you're mayor
in New York City is don't have the illusion you
can control things. You have to. You have to roll
with the punch. You have to be flexible and creative.
But you did not get to control the way the
world is. Well. Be care My message to him would
be careful what to ask for.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
It could be fun to watch, though, I have to
say before I let.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
I'm disappointed to hear that statistic to your voice.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yeah, yeah, oh, I can't wait. It could be. It
could be a very interesting thing that happens. Although you know,
like if I were here, I would I would vote
for Adams if I were in New York City. I'm
not because I think the other ones on the left
I think are crazy, and Cuomo I don't think deserves
to be And by the way, I've asked, I've asked
Andrew Cuomo to come on this show. He has not.

(19:38):
I wish he would because I think he should not
play the Rose Garden strategy. I think he should be
pushed a little bit. I would be respectful, but I
think he should come on. Maybe he will, I don't
know who knows, But let me ask you about Joe
Biden for a second. So what did you think of
Joe Biden's presidency? And is it about time that those
on the left admit, some have now that we were

(20:02):
kind of being hoodwinked for four years, that he was
not sharp enough probably to be president of the United States.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Well, that's so two very different questions. The presidency itself,
from my point of view, and I have a huge
political criticism, I did not support Joe Biden in the
Democratic primaries. Obviously I tried to run myself. That didn't
work out, rob but I did not support him. But
then I thought he did a lot of good as president,

(20:29):
and I give him a lot of credit to that.
You couldn't have a you know, philosophical ideological view, but
I'm just talking about from my point of view. You know,
the economy came back strong, clearly, there was an inflation problem,
plenty of reasons for that, not just his policies. Thats
acenaria where I wish he had done better. But the
economy did come back strong. The work he did on

(20:51):
climate in my view, was right on the money. The
infrastructure built something we've been waiting for for decades, and plus,
especially in a city in state like New York, we
needed more federal money for infrastructure that was a big deal.
The Chips Act that make us independent from the People's
Republic of China, and technology. He did a lot of
really important things. So I think his presidency will be

(21:12):
seen as actually quite successful in many ways. But the
political side, I want to plead guilty right up front, Rob,
I don't want to play games. I was one of
those people engaging in magical thinking, wanting to believe that
he was in good enough shape to win the White
House again. I think a lot of people assumed he
wouldn't play out the whole four years of a second term,

(21:34):
but he was at least in good enough shape to
win start a new term. But you could see there
was so much evidence that we were kind of hoping
against hope, And I think what we should have done
was been brave enough to say, even though he's been
a very good president, even though he beat Donald Trump
last time, you know, we're going to be better served
by an open primary, were going to be better served
by new leadership. And very few people did that, and

(21:57):
I wish I had, But you know, the fact is, yes,
I think a lot of Americans who would have potentially
voted for US did feel somewhat betrayed. But even with that,
we could have won, even when he stepped aside. If
we had had an open mini primary, that could have worked.
If our nominee, Kamala Harris, I think had shown more
empathy for what people were going through and talked more

(22:18):
about inflation and how to addresses things like that. I
still think we might have won right there. But no,
I don't want to criticize other people and act like
I didn't.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Make the same mistake when you were schlepping through Iowa
running for president, At what point did you say, what
the frig am I doing here?

Speaker 3 (22:37):
You know, I'll tell you it's funny, Rob's I mean honestly.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
And I say that because there have been times when
I've been in upstate New York, in you know, the
most remote area, and I thought to myself, what the
frig am I doing here? Am I not home?

Speaker 3 (22:53):
I looked back and I realized I thought I had
a real rational for running, but it was a very
poorly constructed idea. You know, I let my ego and
my emotions get ahead of me. I shouldn't have done it.
But I will tell you, while I was out there
experiencing different parts of this country, it was very inspiring. Honestly,
I'm not spinning you here. This is an amazing country.

(23:14):
Most Americans, by the way, want to get along with
each other and want to work together. You get away
from you know, Washington, you get away from super political people.
Most people are just actually want to find a way
to work things out. And I had great experiences around
the country, so I got out of that race quickly
when I realized I had no business in it. But
I will say in a funny way, it was a

(23:35):
very life ulfilming experience.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
You're full of ble. I'm full of ble because your
may eighth on May third, who were both tourists.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
Yeah, thoas is a symbol of strengths, leadership vision. I
think you got to reinterpret that.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
So everyone always asked me because I would always say, no,
I actually like build a Blasio and I but I
would always say I don't agree with them, you know, politically,
but I always liked them, and I hope and I
think people will hear that. In the last twenty minutes
that you've been on with me, and I text you
the other day because I saw you, well I've seen

(24:13):
you at CNN, you come on news Max, and you
were on the other day on Fox. And I admire
and I truly mean this because I was the Trump
Republican on CNN when Trump was in office the first time.
So imagine how much fun I had with Chris Cuomo
and you know, Don Lemon, And I mean it was
it was horrible. But I always admire people who will

(24:36):
go to the enemy camp, if you will, or to
the opposition, or to an uncomfortable situation sometimes and state
their views. And you've done that, and I appreciate you
doing it, and you've done a good job. And I
text you that privately and I said that publicly.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
Well, I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (24:53):
Man.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
And listen, I mean, we all need to talk to
each other. Yeah, you know, it's like, we all need
to talk to each other. I don't There's people then
have a different view on who should be president. Doesn't
mean we're good or bad people. We might actually agree
on more things than we realize. Also, a lot of
times we change our minds as we learn more, you know,
along the way. So I'm like, no, I'm very comfortable

(25:15):
going on a show where the host or the network
has a different view, because I think the worst of
all worlds would be it we only listen to the
people who always agree with us.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
That's true. Build A Blasio, the one hundred ninth mayor
of New York City. Look before I go, you want
to run for something again? You got it in you still?
Because it is like it's like shingles. It's in you.
You just want to keep it down.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
That's a That's a powerful analogy. Then, Rob, I think.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
I've been political free for seven years now, but you
never know when it bursts out.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, I don't want shingles. Let me make that clear.
But no, I say this. I want to return to
public service. But I think the realistic way is to
someday hopefully would be appointed to a meaningful role. But
I think that means my party has to go win first.
So we got a lot of work.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
Bill de Blasio, Hey, I appreciate you coming on. Have
a great weekend, and joyce Saint Patrick's.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Day too, Happy Sank Patrick Day.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Take out there and wait, Happy Saint Joseph's Day on Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
Ah, look at you. Good for you.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
I'll talk to you soon. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
Take care man, all right.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Build a Blasio. See when we had Mayor Adams here
and we just had build a Blasio on I try
to give you an opportunity to listen to somebody who
ordinarily would turn off right, But it's always good to
hear a different side, and it's always good to see
them in a different way. And as I said it
right up front, one hundred and eighty degree difference I

(26:46):
have with him on politics. I don't know if I
ever agreed with build a Blasio on anything publicly as
far as policy goes. When I was county executive and
he was mayor, we worked together and we got to meet,
you know, whether in the city his office or we'd
meet up in Albany. And as I said publicly and
as I just told you, we got along, well, we

(27:08):
always got along. We were always on friendly terms, and
we could agree to disagree publicly, but we had some
commonalities we could work on. And of course we had
the commonality of not liking Andrew Cuomo as governor. All right,
Oh my god, it's a G. Williams time. I cannot
believe that. Can you believe that?

Speaker 6 (27:28):
Williams pain page, Williams Painting the people to do the
job right.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
Oh yeah, third generation family owned and operated since nineteen
oh six. It's a long time residential and commercial painting.
They are really good at what they do, so use them,
use them as painters. Their craftsman comes in for repairs,
you know, to get that rotted wood out, or maybe
build a mantle around your fireplace. Whatever. Don't go with

(28:01):
the cheap o's because it's gonna cost you more in
the long run. You'll end up calling ag Williams anyway.
So their license insured certified. They truly are as the
woman sings, and she'll sing it again in a second.
They are the people you trust to do the job right.
So I would want somebody in the Hall of fame,
and they are ag Williams Painting. They're in the Westchester

(28:22):
Business Hall of Fame, for God's sakes. Agwilliams Painting dot Com.
Give them a call, your fingers on the button, bruse
you ready, one two, two and a half great.

Speaker 6 (28:36):
Ag Williams Painting. Ag Williams Painting, the people you would
trust to do the job right.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
One in one hundred three to two one zero seven
ten one hundred and three to two one zero seven ten.
Maybe I'll sneak in a couple calls the rob Astorino
Show here on seven ten WR ruling right along. Hey,
don't forget. Of course, course you can listen to that
whole interview again, or if you like caught it halfway,
you just have to go onto my podcast, which is

(29:07):
right on seven ten wor dot com. It's the rob
Astorino Show, or you get the iHeart app. If you
don't already what is going on with you get it
on your phone, and of course you can listen on
your phone to this show live or any of our
shows here on WR. And of course you can listen
to the rob Astorino Show podcast to that whole interview

(29:28):
if you want again, and make sure you follow me
on x and Instagram all social media at rob Astorno.
How does he spell it? Rob astor Reno A S
T O R I n O one one hundred and
three two one zero seven ten. Let's hear from New
York City voters who had to live in this city

(29:50):
when Deblasio is the mayor. I'd love to hear from
you too, all right, Toyota City, by the way, every
time I see a Toyota on the road. I look
at those license plates to see, you know, the frame
around it. Did it come from Toyota City. And if
it didn't, I'm like, why did you go to that dealership?
Why aren't you going to Toyota City in Mamaronik. They've
got the inventory, they've got the great people, the great salespeople,

(30:13):
the finance people. The general manager comes out and says hello.
I mean, they're really good. So if you're going to
get a car, which is a very big investment, you
might as well do it the right way and don't
get screwed. And honestly, I mean there are some dealerships
who would happily screw you. So go to Toyota City
and make sure you get treated the right way. They

(30:38):
are really I'm part of their family because I got
my vehicle from Integrity Automotive Group, which is what Toyota
City is part of. So head over there check out
your cars, or you just go online Toyota cityeny dot com,
Toyota cityeny dot com and you could look up, you know,
all the vehicles in stock and whether it's pre owned

(30:58):
or new, whatever you're looking for. If it's a Toyota,
they got it. And if they don't got it, they'll
get it. So make sure you stop by Toyota City
in Mamarnick or go to Toyota City, NY dot com. Okay,
let's see. I guess we should go to the phones
one one hundred and three two one zero seven ten.

(31:21):
We will start with let's go Andrew in Stanhope. How
are you Andrew?

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Good?

Speaker 4 (31:29):
But you missed an opportunity with the Blasio. You should
have asked him about the autopen. I thought that's where
you were gonna go.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
H you know that. Yes, I actually wrote myself a
little note to talk about that because I had an
auto pen in Westchester when I was county executive. And
for those of you who don't know what it is,
when I got into office, so like my first day,
they had me sign my name in a sharp bie

(31:56):
and then they made an image of that signature and
then and they put it into what it's an auto pen.
So it literally is a pen connected to some machine
and it signed your name. And so you know, I
mean sometimes there are literally hundreds of documents, whether it's
proclamations or letters whatever, and if you don't want to

(32:17):
sign them, you could have the auto pen and somebody
can do it. I think there was maybe one or
two times, I mean very few times, and there was
only I think two people authorized to use this, by
the way, and almost the thousands and thousands of letters
and proclamations and everything that I had to sign legislation vetos,

(32:41):
I would sign with my own hand because I thought
it was important to do so. But I might have
been out of out of the state or out of
the country and something needed to be signed, so we
allowed the autopen. So the word is now that Joe Biden,
who of course there's an autopen for the president. There's
one Trump too, and you know, you may get a

(33:03):
letter back from the president. It may have been the autopen,
you don't know. But anyway, word is that there were
some in the administration. And this makes sense because Biden
didn't know what day. It was a lot of things
happening around him, and you'd say, what the hell would
he do that for. He may not have even known it,
and they might have used the autopen to sign things

(33:26):
for him, which would be I mean, really that would
be probably illegal and maybe treasonous. But Biden would know.
So that that's what Andrew was talking about. Uh, that
was a I'm glad you brought that up, Andrew.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
Thanks and also two whoppers. Or he's delusional when he's
still promoting the vaccine which chose to do more harm
than good, and myocarditis and other art issues and menstruation
reproduction issues with women, and even today the vaccine shouldn't
be you know, approved, because it should take eight years

(34:03):
to approve a vaccine. Plus this was an experimental type
of vaccine, so it wasn't like a common flu vaccine
or something. And also so just wanted to point and
he said, Biden one. In twenty twenty Trump Pennsylvania, he
was the polls closed, he had a lead of almost
half a million votes, and somehow Biden one and the

(34:24):
fake water main break and the votes, even if there
were not fake ballots, those votes don't count when the
Republican poll watchers are kicked out. From that point out,
when they're thrown out, none of those votes are valid
because they're illegal.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yeah, maybe kicked out, I know, but we can't re
litigate that. And that was a mess in Pennsylvania and
the judges were in on it. So but you're right,
and I look, I had a decision to make I
could have had a cordial conversation with build Ablasia, which
I just did, and I you know, I started, I
wasn't going to be a hypocrite. I wanted to start

(34:59):
the interview by saying, I totally disagree with just about
everything you did. And no, I didn't think he was
a great mayor because I didn't agree with his politics.
And I think the progressive politics, especially coming off of
Bloomberg and Giuliani, I think it, you know, deteriorated this city.
But I wanted to get his perspective and he was.
I think he's been very honest, which is what you

(35:19):
want about Cuomo and and Adams and where we are
right now. So you know, I give him, I give
him credit for that. All right, let us go to
Scott in the Bronx. Hey, Scott Ay, good afternoon.

Speaker 7 (35:36):
Well, regarding some of the ideologies that liberals like de Blasio,
and actually liberal is not the best word, leftists like
Tip Lazio have pushed on America and how destructive they've been,
I just wanted to point your attention to the culture
of critique by doctor Kevin McDonald's. It goes into leftism, communism,
open borders, immigration, or neo conservatism, all these ideologies and

(36:00):
their origins and their effect on destroying American culture. I
really recommend that book. It's The Culture Critique by doctor
Kevin McDonald. But to what I wanted to really call
and talk about is with regard to a potential peace
agreement between Ukraine and Russia.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Hold on, sir, I don't want to talk about that.
It's boring to me. I mean, it's important, but I
just don't. I mean, we're talking about some of the
other stuff like Deblasi in New York, and I don't
want to talk about Ukraine. Maybe next week. All right,
let's go back to Chris and Bethpage Long Island High Chris.

Speaker 8 (36:39):
Hey, Rob, how are you doing good?

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Well?

Speaker 9 (36:42):
The one thing I work in the city I've been
there forever. The one thing that was really disappointing, and
when I really turned on to Blondie was during the
George Floyd riots.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
I really wish you.

Speaker 8 (36:52):
Would ask him about that.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
That was disgusting the way he acted.

Speaker 8 (36:56):
He backed the Black Lives Matter and you know, we
had to wear masks and people that were walking in
the streets and protesting, But George Floyd did not have
to wear masks.

Speaker 9 (37:07):
It was how you feel. And there was so much
hypocrisy going on, and that really.

Speaker 8 (37:13):
Turned me off with the Blasio that whole era.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
I don't know if you remember.

Speaker 9 (37:16):
I really wish you kind of brought that up. He
should have taken a mulligan on that one.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
I totally agree. And you know what, it wasn't I'm
not making excuses. It wasn't just build di Blasio. You know,
so many everyone on the left what nuts, and too
many in the center, and even some on the right.
There were Republicans who were pulling that same crap of
going to these public displays and kneeling down and apologizing

(37:42):
for being white and all this craziness. I would expect
that of de Blasio. He's progressive. I expected that from them. Again,
completely disagree, and I thought it was beyond silly and
it was actually making things worse. But I'm more concerned
about the ones on the right. And there were some

(38:04):
and those quote normal people who were falling for all
that lunacy. Rob Astrino here on seven to ten, wo R.
Let's go Jim here in Manhattan.

Speaker 5 (38:16):
Hi Jim, Hello, how you doing today?

Speaker 2 (38:19):
Good?

Speaker 5 (38:20):
I'm stastno I'm going to say, nobody wants to hear
a president say it's okay to have a recession, and
that's not why people voted for Trump. And I think
a long tariff economics slodaan will help the Democrats and
put them back in power next year, and therefore that
will put the country right back in the toilet. And
I'm concerned about these tariffs.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Well, first of all, thanks for the call. By the way, Jim,
we are if you watch, and of course I'm mesmerized
by it. But my six hundred pound life on TLC
if you've seen it, So let's take that as a show,
because that's how this country is. You've got someone who
is morbidly obese, didn't happen overnight, bad habits, eating twelve

(39:06):
pizzas a day, sixteen whoppers, whatever. They can't get out
of bed unless a crane comes. They're morbidly obese. But
at some point they realize I can't keep going on
like this. This country is morbidly obese. We are so
deep in deficits and in debt each year, and we're

(39:27):
on the tracks that both parties have kept us on,
and we're ready to go off the cliff. And now
finally Trump is coming along and saying, okay, enough enough,
so you got doze. Okay, you could disagree or agree
with tariffs. Tariffs are not going to throw this country
into bedlam. It's not. What's gonna happen is if we

(39:49):
keep spending the way we are and we don't bring
manufacturing back, and they will, this country is gonna go bankrupt.
There is no if for anyone who sits there and says, oh,
it can't happen in America, even though it's happened to
every other country in the history of the world that
gorged and gouged and was morbidly obese and didn't change,

(40:14):
they collapsed. Okay, we're on that path. So it is
going to be different. It will be a little painful.
There will be screaming and yelling, but just like at
the end of that show, they lose hundreds of pounds
and they are healthier. And that's what we've got to
start doing. Right now. We are the enormously fat, obese

(40:37):
person that can't get out of bed, but at least
some of us realize can't keep eating twenty five big
max each day doesn't work that way. One three, two
one zero seven ten. I want to tell you about
it as actually a friend of mine for a long time,
Mark Franzoso So Franzoso Contracting. They are celebrating their forty

(41:02):
fifth year in business, forty five years and it's contracting
and it's roofing. So if you if your house right
now needs a new roof, siding, windows, doors, a new deck,
gutters that are leaking, you know, you want something to

(41:24):
deal with the energy like your you know your windows
are drafted all that kind of so energy solutions, solar
or skylights, if you want to do those kind of things,
you've got to call Franzoso Contracting nine one four two
seven one four five seven two or actually, you know,
it's just easier if you go to Friendzoso dot com
f r A and zo So dot com. Franzoso Contracting

(41:47):
really in the Tristate area, but for the most part Westchester,
in the Lower Hudson Valley. They are really good. Mark
is Mark is a honest as they come. And you
can't be in business for forty five years and not
know what you're doing and not be good at it.
So if you're at the point right now, we're like,
oh my God, how many more times am I going

(42:08):
to put a pan underneath to stop the leaking? Get
a friggin new roof, get yourself an estimate and call
friend Zoso Contracting or go online Franzoso dot com for
a free estimate. How do we spell that fr a
n Zoso friend Zoso? All right, I got like ten

(42:32):
more minutes, and I got more calls one one hundred
and three two one zero seven ten, and I gotta
do this, so don't go away. The rob Astrino Show
on seven ten WR.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Rob Astino on seven ten wor.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
Yeah, this would be a great song to play cranking
up in your new Nissan. So I mean, I gotta
think of some ways to get different on these commercials.
Nissan City and port Chester. They are part of the
Integrity Automotive Group, and of course very easy to get
to right off Too eighty seven on exit eleven or

(43:08):
on ninety five coming from Connecticut or coming up from
the Bronx, you can just get off Exit twenty one
and stop over to Nissan City right in Portchester. They
have like anything you're looking for for a Nissan. So
I've never had a Nissan. I've always had Toyotas. I've
had Hondas, I have an Infinity, which I love, and

(43:31):
I've never had a Nissan, but I've everyone that has
a Nissan that I've talked to, they love them. So
if you have a Nissan and sign for a new one,
or you're looking to get either a pre owned or
a new car, head over to Nissan City. They are
part of the Integrity Automotive Group and they're they're good
at what they do, Okay, So head on over there

(43:52):
nissancityeny dot com, nissancityny dot com, and you'll get transparency,
efficiency and the respect that you deserve. Oh god, I'm
running out of time. There's a scam going on. By
the way. Be careful because and I just got another one.

(44:16):
And it's easy past reminder. You have an outstanding toll
Your toll account balance is outstanding. If you fail to
pay by March seventeenth, you will face penalties or legal action.
It's a text and if you hit it, you're going
to be scammed, So don't do it. Just be careful.
I say that because I know a lot of people

(44:37):
that have gotten those, So just you know, be careful. Uh,
Mario and Morristown. How are you pretty good?

Speaker 3 (44:48):
Rob? I'm going to it very important points. Please don't interrupt.
The bottom line is.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
Second my show. But go ahead and make it real quick.
Go ahead, I'll make it quick.

Speaker 3 (44:59):
Here we go. The bottom line is the Boasia real
name Quarna Wilhelm was a disgrace. A one billion, two
hundred and fifty million he gave to his wife and
she squandered it. There's no no, no city run retirement
home for American veterans.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
And now I'm interrupting you because it's my show. You
say you can't say that. You can't say that to
the host. You do have to train them sometimes. I'm sorry, Uh,
what did I want to say? There were a couple
of things. Oh, so this whole thing with Holman. You know,
Homan was up in Albany and he had the apple.

(45:36):
He was eating the apple, basically a symbol saying, you know,
I'm going to chew these people up. Of course, he
was up there and the Republicans in the Senate and
the Assembly were standing with him, and his press conference
was basically like, you know, enough is enough. We got
dangerous criminals illegally here, and we're going to get them,
and we cannot have this resistance from the governor and others.

(46:00):
And what's happening is Hokeel is trying to become the
face of the resistance. That's what she's trying to do.
And so it's actually by Holman and others coming to
New York and picking a fight. I know, we love it,
but it's unfortunately it's it's blowing a lot of oxygen

(46:24):
into the lungs of the left. It's allowing them to
get re energized and engaged again. And you know, looking
forward to next year's governor's race, Hokeel's gonna be the
resistance to Trump and all this other nonsense, which will
mask all of her failures. And that's what Cuomo's gonna do.

(46:45):
I guarantee it. Cuomo's gonna play this Rose Garden little
strategy here because he's looking at the numbers right now.
He's kind of comfortably ahead and he's probably got a
third of the vote no matter what, which is maybe
all he'll need in a primary. And he's banking on
you forgetting how bad he was as a governor, how

(47:05):
much to blame he is for our problems right now,
But he's going to try to have it both ways.
He's going to try to go to the left, then
he's going to try to go to the right. But
the whole time he's going to hold this little shiny
little head of Donald Trump up there and try to
be the resistance. So all the little progressives who would
not maybe vote for Cuomo. Ah, oh yeah, I hate

(47:28):
Trump too, Oh my god, I got TDS. And that
that's what he's going to try to do to get
across the finish line. And he's going to look at
Adams and point to him, You're you're working with Donald
Trump and his goons. Blah blah blah. And that's again
made so you forget. So please don't forget, and remind

(47:49):
you your friends who are in New York City. But
you know, if you saw the video of this guy,
he's an assemblyman, Zorron Mamdannie and I mentioned him last week.
I said, this is the guy to watch. He's like
the he's like the male AOC of a few years ago.
He's coming out of nowhere. He's the guy that you know,
tried to scream and yell at home up in Albany.

(48:13):
He kind of pushed some of the state troopers who
had to push him back and he went viral. That's
exactly what he wanted. So the left is going to
get their moment now in resisting Trump, and and Hokal
was going to lead the way. And unfortunately, in a
state like this, so blue, and in a city so blue,

(48:33):
just going up against Donald Trump is kind of all
you need at times, despite the fact that they basically
lit the city on fire. Everyone is burning. But all
you want to hear in that middle of that fire
not help me, not put out the flames. As long
as you're against Donald Trump, I'm okay, all right, that's it.

(48:54):
I hope you have a great Saint Patrick's stay on Monday.
Don't overdrink, don't I kuk in the city, don't make
a moron of yourself. Have a good time. My daughter
right now is in Dublin and she sent us a
photo of her with a pint of guinness. I hope
you have a great time, enjoyed the parades, and have

(49:14):
a great Saint Joseph's Day too. On Wednesday. You think
I was gonna forget that, No, I'm back next Saturday,
of course, one to three on Newsmax. Then I walk
over here four to five every Saturday, right here on
seven ten WAR. Have a great weekend, everybody.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
This hour of programming on seven ten WR is sponsored
by Toyota City and Mamaranac and Nissan City of Portchester,
proud members of the Integrity Automotive Group,