Zohran Mamdani on Freezing Rent, Making NYC Affordable Again & Who’s Really Stopping Him

Summary

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Flagrant Podcast: Zohran Mamdani on Freezing Rent, Making NYC Affordable Again & Who’s Really Stopping Him

Date: October 22, 2025
Hosts: Andrew Schulz, Akaash Singh, AlexxMedia, Mark Gagnon
Guest: Zohran Mamdani (NYC Assembly Member, Mayoral Candidate)

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Overview:

This episode features a lively and often hilarious conversation with New York State Assembly Member and NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. The hosts, alongside Mamdani, dissect the city’s affordability crisis, dive into housing policy (especially rent control and the rent freeze), confront the entrenched interests and political obstacles stymying change, and get candid about race, faith, and the realities of progressive politics in New York. The tone balances policy depth, political inside baseball, and Flagrant’s trademark humor and irreverence.

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Episode Breakdown

1. Introduction & Setting the Stage

Theme: The Need for Genuine Political Change

• The hosts joke about the “next mayor of NYC” (00:57), praising Mamdani’s campaign for focusing on substantive issues, not just opposition:

  “If you talk about the issues people care about and say that you're going to do something about it, they will support you. What a fucking crazy idea.”
  — David (02:10)

• Discussion quickly focuses on why mainstream Democrats have lost connection with everyday New Yorkers, and how Mamdani channels hope and change, reminiscent of past transformative campaigns.

  “There's been a lot of lecturing and not much listening.”
  — Zohran (02:30)

2. Understanding NYC’s Housing Crisis

Theme: Cost of Living & Rent Explosion

• The hosts highlight the surge in rent (90% increase for a two-bedroom in six years — 04:42) and its effect on every aspect of NYC life.

• Mamdani underscores how this crisis cuts across class and communities, motivating unlikely Trump voters in immigrant neighborhoods:

  “The swing was actually in the heart of immigrant New York... it just came back to cost of living. Cost of living. Cost of living.”
  — Zohran (02:53)

• Real stories: Nurses and workers commuting hours from outside the city (05:21).

3. Policy Constraints: Albany vs. NYC

Theme: The Levers of Power Are Upstate

• Mamdani explains NYC is fundamentally subject to the state’s will. Any ambition on rent or revenue (e.g., taxing the rich) goes through Albany.

  “New York City continues to be a creature of the state... if you have an ambition... you have to have an Albany agenda.”
  — Zohran (06:45)

• He details the importance of alliances with the governor and legislative leaders—essential for funding and enacting transformative proposals like universal childcare and public transit. (07:27-09:10)

4. Political Obstacles: Special Interests and Status Quo

Theme: Who’s Really Stopping Change?

• Hosts grill Mamdani on confronting powerful special interests and the entrenched patronage system in NYC government:

  “You have to be ready to take on these fights. You cannot be naive.”
  — Zohran (11:26)

• Example: Department of Education spends $10B on contracts/consultants out of a $40B budget—many protecting their own contracts.

• Consultants siphoning funds with projects like the Second Avenue subway (more spent on consultants than construction!) (13:16):

  “McKinsey's not gonna be happy when I say we don't need you to design that anymore.”
  — Zohran (12:30)

5. Efficiency Isn’t a Left/Right Issue

Theme: Reclaiming Efficient Government as Progressive

• Mamdani pushes back on the idea that “efficiency fraud” is a right-wing concept:

  “It is sad that we've let someone like Elon Musk take the words ‘efficiency, fraud’ as if they are right wing concerns. These should be at the heart of progressive politics.”
  — Zohran (16:14)

6. The Rent Freeze & Affordability — Details and Limits

Theme: How Much Relief Can Be Delivered?

• The “rent freeze" is effective but reaches only about 50% of apartments (18:38).

• Breakdown of rent stabilization vs. rent control; responsibility of the mayoral-appointed Rent Guidelines Board (19:16).

• Notable Quote:

  “About two and a half million New Yorkers live in these kinds of apartments.”
  — Zohran (18:41)

• The other 50% live in market rate units—still working class, not wealthy.

• There's a pressing need for both rent relief AND constructing 200,000 truly affordable homes, which means recalibrating “affordable” based on real NYC incomes, not inflated AMIs. (20:17)

7. Regulatory Reform and Private Sector Role

Theme: Balancing Public Good, Regulation & Market Incentives

• Mamdani supports regulatory streamlining:

  "If I can't give you the reason for the regulation, then it has no reason to exist."
  — Zohran (20:51)

• Examples: Pointless fines (e.g. $25 annually for selling frozen dessert), endless bureaucratic hurdles for simple businesses (barbershops — 21:00).

• However, points out regulations still have important roles, e.g. for safe and appropriate renovations (21:35).

8. Tackling Insurance and Property Taxes for Landlords

Theme: Making “Freeze” Sustainable

• Rising insurance and the punitive property tax system are major structural forces pushing rents up — not just landlord greed.
• Mamdani proposes risk-pooling measures, city investment, and property tax reforms as crucial relief for both tenants AND “good” landlords (22:42–24:00).

9. Housing Incentives — The Complexity of Programs (24:14–26:01)

• The convoluted landscape of policy acronyms (421a, 485x, HSTPA) is confusing even to politicians—much less the public!
• “City of Yes” seeks to streamline zoning and allow, perhaps, 90,000 units—but it’s not enough.

10. Zombie/Empty Apartments: Policy Unintended Consequences

Theme: Protecting Renters vs. Perversions

• The 2019 HSTPA aimed to end tenant harassment and the “vacancy bonus” system but may have contributed to landlords letting apartments sit vacant (“zombie apts”) rather than rent below market.

  “Sometimes protecting real issues can cause other ones that are unintended.”
  — David (30:14)

• Proposed: rigorous study and accountability for major landlords, especially those leaving units empty (30:35–31:35).

11. Housing as Human Right vs. Asset

Theme: Conflicting Visions (philosophical core of the episode)

• The hosts push on the tension between real estate as investment for families vs. as a basic right.
• Mamdani stresses universality — not enemies of property owners, but protecting everyone’s stake in the city (41:12):

  “How do we create a city where we understand housing as a human right and also ensure that our affordability agenda is universal — tenants, homeowners, landlords?”

12. Big Ambitions, Albany Realities, and Political Will

Theme: Will Albany Actually Let NYC Transform?

• Raising NYC’s debt cap to issue bonds for affordable construction is legally necessary—requires state cooperation.

  “Politicians don't get to decide the scale of the crisis—they get to decide how they respond.”
  — Zohran (42:58)

• Past inaction is seen as a lack of political will, not public appetite:

  “It's not going to be easy, but my point is we haven't even tried.”
  — Zohran (43:31)

13. The Democratic Party’s Inner Civil War

Theme: Establishment vs. Progressive Challenge

• The party elite hasn't united behind Mamdani; questions raised about Schumer/Jeffries endorsements.

• Parallels drawn to “Bernie being undermined.”

  “It's a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party... Two very different visions. And things we like to say are exclusively Republican problems, we saw a lot of them in the Democratic primary.”
  — Zohran (66:29)

• Notable stories of being targeted with racially charged mailers and underhanded tactics from Democrats.

14. Race, Faith, and Being a Muslim Mayoral Candidate

Theme: Prejudice and Dog Whistles in NYC Politics

• Akaash and Zohran candidly acknowledge the added scrutiny and bigotry he faces as a Muslim candidate outspoken about Palestinian rights.

  “There are a number of things (Cuomo) has said and done he would not have done if I weren't a Muslim candidate... There are so many Jewish New Yorkers who are able to see through that.”
  — Zohran (68:03)

15. The Pressure, the Experiment, and Genuine Hope

Theme: The Stakes of Transformation

• Mamdani acknowledges the immense pressure — that if his ambitious policies don’t succeed, it could set the national tone against bold progressive governance:

  “You are a test for all of America. You are a case study... and if you promise all these things and deliver 40%... people will look at you nationwide, maybe worldwide, and say, you know what, that didn’t work.”
  — Akash (49:45)

• But sees it as an unparalleled opportunity to restore public imagination and faith in government:

  “There's also an immense opportunity in fulfilling this agenda. You make it clear that politics can be more than just choosing between now and worse than now.”
  — Zohran (58:24)

16. Delivering Fresh Wins: Why Small Victories Are Big

Theme: Building Political Imagination

• Tells story of the first day of free buses, with a nurse dancing when realizing she didn’t have to pay (59:56):

  “For the first time in a long time, government actually looked out for her... That’s what I see—every time we succeed, it builds the coalition even more for the next.”
  — Zohran

17. Open Endings and Last Thoughts

Theme: Can Progressive Government Earn Back Trust?

• Mamdani: “It's ambitious, but I’m confident.” Belief that progress is possible, that New Yorkers and Americans can once again trust in government if results are delivered (61:31–62:28).

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Why People Are Swinging to Trump:
  “If I had spent that time lecturing them as to why they were wrong as opposed to listening to them as to how we could get right, then we would run a very different campaign.”
  — Zohran (03:22)

• On Affordability for Everyday Workers:
  “I spoke to a nurse who after her shift drives for an hour and a half, leaving the state of New York, to get where she can afford a place.”
  — Zohran (05:21)

• On Political Resistance:
  “You have to be ready to take on these fights. You cannot be naive.”
  — Zohran (11:26)

• On Reclaiming Government Efficiency:
  “Efficiency should be at the heart of progressive politics... I want those same New Yorkers to look at that increased revenue and say every single one of these dollars is spent efficiently.”
  — Zohran (16:27)

• On Limits of the Rent Freeze:
  “About two and a half million New Yorkers live in these kinds of apartments.”
  — Zohran (18:41)

• On Regulations and Building:
  "If I can't give you the reason for the regulation, then it has no reason to exist."
  — Zohran (20:51)

• On Political Imagination and Hope:
  “Every time we succeed, it builds the coalition even more for the next.”
  — Zohran (59:56)

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Memorable Moments & Humor

• The hosts riffing about “white people forced to live in the outer boroughs” and subway expansion (“Why are you trying to build more white people subways, man?” – 13:57).
• Frequent, self-aware jokes about socialism, communism, and “status quo” defenders having their own armies (“Let’s take a break from this communist trash…” – 32:17).
• Mamdani’s origin story—family expelled from Uganda and then returning after Idi Amin, with the hosts poking fun at how “shitty” London must have been to drive them back (52:12–53:19).
• Ongoing banter about political ambition vs. authenticity:

  “I actually trust you more because you’re not born in America... You cannot be president. So I trust your incentives more. – Akash (50:19)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Cost of Living Drives Trump Voters: 02:53–05:41
• Albany vs. NYC Power Structure: 06:32–09:10
• Special Interests and Consulting Waste: 11:26–12:53
• Rent Freeze Policy – Who’s Affected?: 18:38–20:31
• Streamlining Regulations Explained: 20:51–21:35
• “Zombie apartments” & Uncollected Fines: 29:26–31:21
• Raise Debt Ceiling – Albany’s Role: 42:47–43:31
• Democratic Party Tensions & Race Issues: 66:29–68:03
• Pressure, Faith in Government, and Policy as a Test Case: 58:16–62:28

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Final Takeaways

• Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy is a referendum on whether bold progressive governance can overcome New York’s affordability crisis—or if the system and status quo will prevail.
• He’s both self-assured and humble about the obstacles, pledging to course-correct if new policies don’t deliver.
• The episode leaves listeners with a clear sense of the stakes—not just for NYC, but for progressive politics nationwide—and peppers deep policy with continual humor and a “great hang” energy.

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For the full flavor, energy, and wild tangents, check out the episode in full—just skip the ad breaks!

Transcript

[Eric Adams]

You should come through. We're at Maharaja Suites in Jackson Heights. Hey, dude, getting up your tie.

[Akash Singh]

I would love to.

[Zoran]

All right, next time I'll let you know.

[Akash Singh]

I'm gonna get your number because Tom's team ducks me, so I'm gonna get your number.

[Eric Adams]

Take it.

[Zoran]

Thank you. Beautiful.

[Akash Singh]

I'm gonna get it after this episode.

[Eric Adams]

I'll duck you right now, bro, because.

[Zoran]

They'Ll probably yank me. We gotta start this immediately. Zara runs a tight shift.

[Akash Singh]

Yeah, dude, she don't around.

[Eric Adams]

She does not feel free. You can share with everybody here.

[Zoran]

Okay?

[David]

Beautiful. Socialism. I'm so social.

[Zoran]

You guys did the New York City Olympics?

[David]

Because I hit that guy up. I was watching Subway Takes and I. And I'm forgetting the guy's name right now. My bad. But he goes, we should have, like, a New York City Olympics where the Burroughs compete. And I DM'd. I didn't DM Kareem. I DM'd the guy. I go, let's make this happen. Like, I am down. And he goes, how would we do that? And I go, we'll find a way. And then I see you a few weeks later, like, we're doing it.

[Zoran]

Everybody come out. Were you Paul Rockaway or something? No, Cody Allen. It was Cody Allen.

[David]

Cody Allen.

[Zoran]

Anyway, guys, we're here with the next mayor of New York City.

[David]

93% on Kalsi right now. Chances of victory, 93%.

[Zoran]

So barring this doesn't go horribly, I think this is how we bring the numbers down. We got to get some parity here. We got to get almost people to understand this election's not over. So I'm going to tank this interview. It's not an 85 by the end of this interview. We're going to work on it.

[David]

Dude, you've done, like. I want to give you, like, a few compliments here, but they're also, like, very validating because I think, you know, every week I'm talking to Charlamagne and we're talking with the boys here on the pods. And it's like we keep on saying, hey, Democrats, can you please just run for something and not against somebody? It is a very simple solution, but I think people at their core want to feel like their issues are addressed, you know, and their concerns are met. Not simply that guy bad.

[Eric Adams]

Yeah.

[David]

And then you guys have done it massively. Obviously, you're a great talent, and your team is phenomenal. Zara, I know you're listening. You're great, you're great, you're great. Give us A little more time, you're great.

[Miles]

But.

[David]

But it was like, it was really validating to see that.

[Zoran]

Yeah.

[David]

You know, it's like, wow, if you talk about the issues people care about and say that you're going to do something about it, they will support you. What a fucking crazy idea.

[Akash Singh]

You know, it's also crazy, the things that I would say. You inspire change and hope. The last great Democrat. Those were kind of his mantras, or however you'd say it. Change and hope. And that's what you inspire.

[David]

Hillary Clinton.

[Akash Singh]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Zoran]

Yeah.

[Akash Singh]

And I think that's been lost a little bit.

[Eric Adams]

I mean, I appreciate you guys. I think it's just. There's been a lot of lecturing and not much listening. And, you know, we saw a swing towards Trump here in New York City in the last general election, whose responsibility was death.

[Zoran]

Who the hell made that? What the fuck are we even talking about? Those guys, the monsters. Can't believe they did this. Bunch of Frat boys, dude.

[Eric Adams]

But, you know, it was. There are a lot of caricatures of who Trump voters are. And in New York City, we saw the swing was actually in the heart of immigrant New York. And I went to Hillside Avenue in Queens, I went to Fordham Road in the Bronx, and I asked New Yorkers, who did you vote for and why? And I met the vast majority of them were Trump voters. And I asked them why, and it just came back to cost of living. Cost of living. Cost of living. And if I had spent that time lecturing them as to why they were wrong as opposed to listening to them.

[Akash Singh]

Absolutely.

[Eric Adams]

As to how we could get right.

[Akash Singh]

Yes.

[Eric Adams]

Then we would run a very different campaign.

[Akash Singh]

And this is one thing I said I wanted to talk about. I feel like the establishment Democrats don't understand a pretty simple thing. We want to vote for someone who might make things better, even if the risk is it will make things worse. A lot of people voted for Trump because he might make things better. And the other person is saying, I wouldn't change anything. Things are not good in New York. Things are not good right now. It's the same.

[David]

And you're saying it could get better. It's a privilege to maintain the status quo. You know what I mean?

[Zoran]

Like, if, like, we are privileged, like.

[David]

It'S very nice to know that we're.

[Eric Adams]

Going to be okay.

[Zoran]

I have to hit the joint DSA link. No, you know, we can't afford more the same. So, so, so here's the thing.

[David]

Like, I. It's. It's so funny because I saw that, I saw. It was like Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk and they were talking about you. I don't know if you remember this.

[Eric Adams]

I didn't see this.

[David]

But they were speaking and it was almost like the shoehorn theory. Have you ever seen that? Like politically, what happened? Oh, sorry, sorry.

[Eric Adams]

Horseshoe.

[David]

Yeah. So it's like. And I think that they were basically saying that you were meeting the moment in terms of what people are concerned with.

[Zoran]

Right.

[David]

And it's obviously cost of living. And it's like, I think it's so specific. I think it's like it's rent and I think everything is derivative of rent.

[Eric Adams]

Yeah. And it's the number one issue in the city.

[David]

The number, bro. I started looking up numbers because like I, I think a 2 bedroom 6 years ago was the average 2 bedroom compared to right now. I think has gone up 90%.

[Eric Adams]

I mean, it's untenable. Right. Like, and I think this is the.

[David]

Thing that 90% almost doubled in six years.

[Joey]

That's great.

[Eric Adams]

How are people supposed to keep up with this? And I think what's so kind of to what you guys were saying? If the politics on offer is right now is as good as it's ever gonna get. That's not good enough for the vast majority of people.

[Akash Singh]

And I think it speaks to how out of touch a lot of them are.

[Eric Adams]

Yeah. And I think it's just you have, you know, I spoke to a nurse who after she finishes her shift, she drives for an hour and a half, leaving the state of New York to get to where she can afford a place. Wow. That's what you're putting working people through. People are living in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Jersey, city, commuting it.

[David]

Dude, white people have to live in the outer borough.

[Zoran]

You need to fix this. What the hell is going on here?

[Akash Singh]

This is what happens when you call him a socialist. He got over.

[Eric Adams]

Going after a story.

[Zoran]

Going after, said the Greeks are not.

[David]

White enough, but continue, please. Yeah. It is absurd that in order to afford her life and there are obviously certain circumstances that have created this situation. What I want to talk about more is because I looked at your plan to go fix it and I would really like this to be able to happen. A lot of people are making this impending war about you and Trump. I think it's going to be you in Albany, bro. Can you speak a little bit more on that? Like what you need Albany to essentially allow you to do.

[Zoran]

Yeah.

[David]

There are restrictions in government. Like there are systems in place that don't allow you to do what you want, even if you think it's in the best interest of people and even if that's what the people want. So how are you going to convince Hokul, how are you going to convince these people to allow you to enact these policies?

[Eric Adams]

So New York City continues to be a creature of the state. New York City, if you have an ambition for the city that matches the scale of the crisis, you have to have an Albany agenda. So when de Blasio wanted to deliver universal pre K, he knew he would have to go to Albany to get that money. He actually overcame the objections of then Governor Andrew Cuomo to get that money to make this a reality. Now it is one of the best examples of government actually meeting the needs of working people. And so when we talk about raising revenue, you know, raising taxes on the top 1% by 2%, the top corporate tax to match that of New Jersey, that's something we will do in alb. And that's partially why the endorsements of Governor of Hochul.

[David]

You almost said it. You almost said it.

[Zoran]

I'll never be taking that one. You almost said it. Governor Hochul, he's posting that on Instagram immediately.

[Eric Adams]

You see the trauma is coming back having to deal with that man so much. Governor Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl street, you know, Majority Leader of the State Senate Andrea Stewart Cousins. These are endorsements not just of me, but of the agenda. Because in Albany it's often spoken about as three men in a room. Now it's two women and a man who are in that room. And to have the endorsements of all of them, huge. It's huge. And it paves the way.

[David]

I also think for this agenda, your political momentum. Right, thank you. No, no, no.

[Eric Adams]

And I mean that.

[David]

I don't even mean it as a compliment. I mean.

[Zoran]

No, I take that back.

[David]

It's like a guy once told me America doesn't have allies that has interests. And I think that politicians are often that way. I can't speak about you, but like Hochul needs reelection and she's going to next year. Right. I imagine she is thinking, okay, if I raise taxes like you would want, I might lose some of my constituents. But she's also probably thinking, if this guy is such a tsunami and I rebu, if I rebuke him, I could also lose people. So is your strategy to have so much support in a Trump esque version? He's the only other example I can see that has found a way to completely transform his party. Is your strategy get so much support that Hochul's political future is dependent on her connectivity to you.

[Eric Adams]

My strategy is to build the political will such that Governor Hochul has a partner in delivering universal child care.

[David]

He's a good man. He's a politician.

[Zoran]

Politician. Look, Governor Hochul has spoken the knee.

[Eric Adams]

Governor Hochul has said she wants to deliver universal childcare. What she's had in the mayor we have right now is someone more focused on getting out of jail than actually funding these kinds of programs or partying.

[David]

We're gonna bring 11 to New York. That is a fire idea. You shouldn't even know what that is.

[Zoran]

I didn't know what it was until you posted the clip. And then I was like, let him run again. That's all he tell me. You can still bring it, though. It's still on the table. Okay, you were saying?

[David]

You were saying.

[Eric Adams]

So I think it's. What are you using your political capital for? Because the same people who will say, oh, we can't afford free buses. We can't afford $700 million a year in making the slowest buses in America fast and free.

[David]

I don't agree with that. I think you can. No, no, no, no. Here's the thing.

[Zoran]

Like, can I put that on the website?

[Eric Adams]

You can put whatever.

[David]

I also think this idea that, like, New Yorkers are gonna flee because of a 2% increase. It's like, I've been everywhere else. You're not going anywhere.

[Eric Adams]

Come on.

[Zoran]

Ackman's not going nowhere.

[David]

He's gonna be in the Hamptons all fucking.

[Zoran]

There's only one place to write those tweets.

[David]

That's it.

[Zoran]

New York City. Exactly. Every character you want. Casey goes out in July in Miami. He's sweating writing tweets. There's no way he's spending more money.

[Eric Adams]

Against me than I would even tax him.

[David]

Every day.

[Zoran]

It's like a million dollars.

[David]

Like a million dollars.

[Eric Adams]

I'm like, how do you.

[Zoran]

I don't even want that. Happy. You're going above and beyond.

[David]

So I don't think anybody's moving. And I honestly feel that way. And, like, I'm in the tax bracket where you're going to tax. More like, dude, if you're going to deliver all this shit for 2%, give it. I'm 100% supportive. It makes life easier for New Yorkers. This. My one identity in my entire life is a New Yorker. It's the thing I care the most about. But what I will say is that I think that there are going to be people in government that are going to try to restrict you from doing that. And I know that you're aware of that. So I'm like, how. And there are people that might disagree on economic policy. We can have, like, a philosophical discussion about, like, what economic policy works. I don't even know if. I think that's, like, a waste of time. What the fuck do you do when special interest groups are going to be lobbying like crazy? They're going to say, I want to build 200,000 units. And then the second you try, they're going to be like, well, not in my neighborhood, I don't.

[Eric Adams]

I mean, you have to.

[David]

How do you do that?

[Eric Adams]

You have to be ready to take on these fights. You cannot be naive.

[Joey]

Right now, special interest groups are.

[Eric Adams]

But, I mean, it's. I appreciate the point. Because there is a reason why we haven't had progress. Right? If you look, for example, at the Department of Education, this is the agency we spend the most amount of money on in any agency in New York city. Of the $40 billion we spend, we spend about 10 billion on contracts and consultants. Yeah, those are a lot of people who are looking forward to the renewal of their contract.

[David]

No, it's to educate you nerds at Bronx Science.

[Zoran]

Some of us dumb kids that went.

[David]

To regular public school.

[Zoran]

We don't need all that money.

[Akash Singh]

Look, where did you go to high school?

[David]

Baruch College Campus.

[Zoran]

What was your mascot? The Blue Devils. All right, yeah, yeah, Actually, the White Devils. Isn't that funny? Who are you? I'm Amini. Let's talk about.

[Eric Adams]

Segue.

[Zoran]

Get us back to Hochul Pivot. But here's my point.

[Eric Adams]

But there are people making money off the status quo. And so there will be a lot of interest in retaining that status quo. Right now, the City of New York will pay McKinsey a few million dollars to design a trash can. McKinsey's not gonna be happy when I say we don't need you to design that anymore. We can actually design that ourselves. The Second Avenue subway, which is the most recent expansion extension of New York City subway list.

[David]

Shut that shit down, bro.

[Zoran]

Okay?

[Eric Adams]

That's not where I'm going.

[Zoran]

Shut down. You need a subway on Second Avenue, why would you include Second Avenue? Because we're from Manhattan. You don't want to get to 125th Street. Never go to Upper east side. I grew up a sub.

[David]

I went to.

[Zoran]

I went to middle school there. I went to elementary school there. You don't go there now.

[David]

I know, but.

[Zoran]

So I don't either. No. The last place to be a Subway is on the Upper east side. They're going to be okay. They're not leaving. We have a subway down to Tribeca or something. You subway. Wherever you are. Wherever you are, connect a Q train to something. That's what I'm trying to do. Subway.

[Akash Singh]

You don't take the subway.

[David]

So what?

[Zoran]

It's not about. You know what I mean? I'm here giving my 2%, but not.

[David]

To the Second Avenue subway.

[Zoran]

I'm not gonna spend another 2% on Second Avenue.

[David]

Tell them walk two more blocks and.

[Zoran]

Then take the sit.

[Eric Adams]

I think we gotta go from 96th street to 120.

[Zoran]

Did you just hear what he says? That's right.

[Akash Singh]

That's eight blocks. Mathematically.

[Zoran]

What I'm saying is, why are you.

[David]

Trying to build more white people subways, man?

[Zoran]

Look at this. Look at this. So you were fine with the Second Avenue subway?

[Eric Adams]

72Nd.

[Zoran]

80 sec.

[Eric Adams]

86, 96. But you don't want to go to 125.

[David]

I never wanted it at any of those stops.

[Zoran]

Here's my point. It's always been against the Second Avenue subway. They want to live over there and make them walk. I dated a girl over there. That shit was horrible. I had to walk. They gotta walk. I was walking to York Avenue in shorts. Fucking December. You know, Everything goes. Put an 11 on the Second Avenue subway. Use the poll.

[Miles]

Here's his point.

[Zoran]

Here's my point, though, is that.

[Eric Adams]

Is that people in Harlem were promised a subway to 125th street on the Second Avenue decades ago. Yeah. It's taken us so long. Crazy to even get to this.

[David]

Why didn't we start with them?

[Eric Adams]

We had to connect it.

[Miles]

What is it?

[David]

But you could connect it the other way, too. We could have started up there, but.

[Zoran]

Where they go.

[Akash Singh]

That'S as long as a 2 Avenue.

[Zoran]

I'm actually here to announce that the head of design at the MTA is about to be.

[David]

Thank you. I would have done that, too.

[Zoran]

Now you're making some good decisions. Yeah. All right.

[David]

I'm taking back my 2% if I'm.

[Eric Adams]

Gonna work for it.

[Zoran]

No, no, I hear what you're saying.

[David]

You gotta connect it to the 51st Street.

[Eric Adams]

I think the larger point here is, though, that, like when you. When they did the first phase of construction for the Second Avenue subway, the MTA spent more money on consultants than construction.

[David]

Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

So this is part of the issue is that you're right, that we're gonna have to transform the inner workings of government. And that means ending a patronage politics. There are A lot of people who have jobs more to do with who they know than what they do.

[David]

Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

And that's not specific to Eric Adams.

[Zoran]

And you're sounds like you want to.

[Akash Singh]

Create a department of government efficiency. Kind of sounds like.

[Zoran]

Kind of sounds like I said I was in favor of it. This liberal cuck when it was a.

[Akash Singh]

Republican idea, hated it.

[Zoran]

And now I'm his favorite.

[Akash Singh]

Now look at him not.

[Zoran]

We are not gonna judge people who.

[David]

Like to watch others have sex with their wives. That is their.

[Zoran]

Bring it back to efficiency. Okay, sorry. Bring it back to waste. Some people say that efficient.

[David]

And we.

[Zoran]

Can. You can, you can wait for Andrew Cuomo to have these.

[Eric Adams]

But here's my point is that it is sad that we've let someone like Elon Musk take the words efficiency fraud as if they are right wing concerns.

[Akash Singh]

I agree.

[Eric Adams]

These are actually the concerns that should be at the heart of a progressive politics.

[Akash Singh]

Yes.

[Eric Adams]

Because I want to increase taxes on the top 1% by 2% and I also want those same New Yorkers to be able to look at that increased revenue and say every single one of these dollars is spent efficiently. It can't be in and of itself the reason why you do it. It has to be what you deliver with that.

[David]

And I think like Doge was universally supported before it became what it was. But the idea.

[Eric Adams]

Yeah. It was never actually intended to fulfill the intentions.

[David]

Got it.

[Eric Adams]

But the intentions.

[David]

The intentions are right. That's great. Let's eliminate it.

[Akash Singh]

And I love that. Guys. Generational Triumph tour. First of all, San Jose, all the.

[Eric Adams]

Shows are sold out.

[Akash Singh]

We just added one Sunday, Australia. We had an Australia run in February. Most of those shows are sold out. We're going to add some more. And in Chicago theater, the pre Sal went live. It went amazingly. Keep buying tickets. Akash Singh.com for all of the shows. We're coming to a city near you, I promise. I love you guys. God bless.

[Miles]

Hey, what's up guys? Miles, can we add music behind this as well? Thank you. Nashville, Tennessee, Denver, Colorado, Hoboken, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Fort Wayne and Detroit, Michigan. I'm coming to all these lovely cities. Some of the greatest cities in this beautiful nation we call America. Can't wait to see you guys there. It's going to be one singular hour of stand up comedy. No more, no less. I can't wait. Come out and shake my hand.

[Eric Adams]

See you there.

[Zoran]

Limu Emu. And Doug, here we have the Limu emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds With Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[David]

Uh, Limu.

[Akash Singh]

Is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

[Zoran]

Cut the camera. They see us.

[David]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. Savings vary underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company affiliates.

[Eric Adams]

Excludes Massachusetts.

[David]

So if rent is the most important issue, which I think we all agree it's like absurd. The, the rent freeze was like incredibly effective communication. Right. This idea, because everybody else is talking about, we're going to build all these units. When you're drowning, you're not worried about like someone building you a boat. You need a life vest. I get that 100%. I think that makes sense. You correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that you can do that to like, about 50% of the units in New York.

[Zoran]

Yeah.

[David]

Because those are apartments.

[Eric Adams]

Pretty much.

[David]

They're like the rent stabilizer, rent controlled units.

[Eric Adams]

About two and a half million New Yorkers live in these kinds of apartments.

[David]

Got it. How do you offer relief to the other 50%? And let me just clarify, the people listening, like those other 50% aren't necessarily people who are wealthy.

[Eric Adams]

They're just living in market rate units.

[David]

People that work here, and they just didn't have the ability to get one of these rate control units.

[Eric Adams]

And so I'd first say there's rent control, which is a very small minority. The vast majority of what we're talking about is rent stabilization. Rent stabilization means the. There's a limit on how much your rent can increase every year. It's not what your rent is, it's what the increase will be. And it's all determined by a board called the Rent Guidelines Board, composed of nine people that the mayor appoints.

[David]

You can appoint them.

[Eric Adams]

Yes.

[David]

But I think the appointing process might even take a little bit. Right. It's not like day one you're doing.

[Eric Adams]

It's each of these terms are on kind of a rotating basis, and there are a number of these terms that are open right now.

[David]

Got it. So you can point some, and there might be some people that are empathetic to your philosophies already.

[Eric Adams]

So because they actually did a study, that same board under Eric Adams did a study, it found that landlord profits had increased 12% of those units in the same year that the median household income of tenants of those units was $60,000. And with that information, they decided, let's hike the rent again. So it actually doesn't have to do with the data.

[David]

Got it.

[Eric Adams]

But the point that you're Making is right, which is that we have to have a housing policy for all eight and a half million people. And that's why you couple a rent freeze with construction of 200,000 truly affordable homes. The reason I say truly is because, like, I represent Steinway in Astoria, right? I'll call a constituent, I'll say, there's a new affordable housing development coming up. Do you want to apply? They'll say, how much do I have to make? I say, $140,000 to hang up the phone.

[David]

Yeah, affordable housing.

[Eric Adams]

Because how are they going to afford that? Right? And so my point is thinking about affordability more with the median household income in New York city, which is $70,000 for a family of four.

[David]

I love it.

[Eric Adams]

So you have to increase that and you have to make it easier for the private sector to also build.

[David]

I agree with you 100%. Like, I think Ezra Klein put out a great book that I think that he's been unfairly maligned by a lot of people on the left. But, like, where he's just going, hey, I appreciate Democratic policies, I want to implement them. I think they're better for people. But there are certain things that we need to remove so that we can be competitive in an open market.

[Eric Adams]

And I think that there's a truth to that. Where? Look, I'm somebody who believes in the public sector. I believe in regulation. I also believe that if I can't give you the reason for the regulation, then it has no reason to exist. I cannot justify a restaurant giving the city every year $25 for the right to sell a frozen dessert. That doesn't make sense to me. That is something that should be eliminated. I cannot justify someone who wants to open a barbershop, filling out 24 forms, going to seven agencies, and then attending 12 in person events. That does not make sense to me. So I think that there is a truth to. Some of the regulations we've created have made it far more difficult to build housing. And even the justifications we used back then are not the ones that have been borne out today. So we need to change those.

[David]

So how do we. First of all, I completely agree. And as like someone who has someone renovating above me, please believe I like the fact that there is regulation. Do you know what I mean? Like, I have a kid who's 21 months old. It's like they want to sleep. And if somebody's just doing it. 21, 21. This guy's a rabbit.

[Eric Adams]

21 months old.

[David]

Yes, so. And she'll never listen to 21,000 apologies. No, no. And so, so I guess my question is like, how do we, how do we get those 200,000 units out? Because the real only thing that's going to solve this crisis, and it's a legitimate crisis, like is more units. You can freeze trend. You can do all these things, you.

[Eric Adams]

Have to do it with more.

[David]

And some people, and I'm sure you would probably acknowledge this, that like even freezing rent within the controllable units that you have could cause like a surplus pressure in the non controlled units and those might go up. So while we prot, the other people who are making the same amount of money as them because of those market pressures could have increased rent, corporations are.

[Akash Singh]

Going to make their money.

[Eric Adams]

But that's why you have to take this as an opportunity to also tackle the costs that landlords are facing. Because when I speak to landlords, talk.

[David]

To me about that, I hear that.

[Eric Adams]

The insurance of affordable housing units has doubled in the last few years. Right. And that cost is one that is driving so much of the pressure.

[David]

That's interesting.

[Eric Adams]

And there's a number of those landlords that came together to create a different risk pool through something called Milford Street Captive and they've managed to depress that cost. What if the city invested in that kind of a mechanism to help those landlords address that? The other thing here is that are.

[David]

They gouging the affordable housing units because they know that they're government backed?

[Eric Adams]

No, they're gouging them because there's money.

[David]

To be made in the same way that like universities can charge whatever they want for an education because they know the government will back the loans.

[Eric Adams]

Like, is that to me what this gouging war looks like is there are many providers who are now paying the cost of a number of bad landlords who have made insurance such a high partner of doing business. Right. And so you have better providers who are pooling their risk together.

[David]

Got it, Got it.

[Eric Adams]

And so my point here is if you invested a significant amount of capital, you could assist that kind of an intervention.

[David]

Got it.

[Eric Adams]

The second thing is you have a property tax system that's broken in New York City, one that effectively penalizes rental apartments and the owners of those rental apartments. And if you had a system that incentivized the construction of rental apartments, you could have a very different landscape of housing. So to me, it's frees the rent, rent and take on the cost of insurance and fix a broken property tax system and streamline development and have the city produce 200,000 homes. And often when I've talked about 200,000 homes, that's just what I think the city should do. I think the private sector should be doing an immense amount of additional construction.

[David]

But they're going to need incentive structures as well. Right. Like there was that program. Forgetting what it was.

[Eric Adams]

Was it 421A then 485A?

[David]

I think that you're talking about the HTPSA that just sunset recently.

[Eric Adams]

You're speaking about the.

[David]

That's the extension of 421A.

[Eric Adams]

No, these are separate things.

[David]

Oh, okay.

[Eric Adams]

You're talking about 2019 rent laws.

[David]

Yes, but that's not what I was referencing.

[Eric Adams]

Then there's the tax incentive. 421A. Now 485X or 45W.

[David]

I'm talking about the one that basically allowed developers over a 35 year period. So essentially the idea is there was like a tax abatement for 35 years. For the first 25 years they didn't pay the last 10. They started increasing 10% every year. And at the end of the 35, all the units were now free market. But I think it a certain point in time, 30% of them were like rent controlled.

[Eric Adams]

There's stabilization and there's a set aside for affordability.

[David]

And again, I don't know what metrics work and I'm not an economist and I'm not a developer, but to me, just from talking to some people in development, they said that since this, I think. What was it? The httpsa. Since that or if it was this program, was this affordable New York?

[Eric Adams]

HSTP is the Housing Stabilization Tenant Protection Act.

[David]

That was the de Blasio thing. That's not this thing that I'm talking about.

[Eric Adams]

Yeah, basically. Well, I'll kind of step back for a second, please.

[David]

Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

You'll hear from developers that the HHSTPA passed in 2019 made it more difficult for them to maintain a lot of housing units because it put limitations on what they could do with regards to profit and how they could push many tenants out of those same tenant buildings at the same time. There's the incentive through 421A that has since been renewed to become something called 485, which is a tax incentive for the construction of new housing.

[David]

Is that the New York yes or whatever.

[Eric Adams]

Or is that affordable New York? Then there's City of. Yes.

[David]

City of yes.

[Eric Adams]

These are three different things.

[David]

Oh my God.

[Zoran]

Okay, okay, so we can.

[Eric Adams]

But I think here's the thing is that most New Yorkers don't have time to Know every single set of numbers and letters. Every single one. Right. But that's representative of more New Yorkers than those who know. And that's our job to break this down. Right. What City of Yes does is it makes it easier to construct more housing across New York City. It changes zoning regulations. It's estimated to allow for the additional construction of a little less than 90,000 new units. We have to build on top of that. It has to be even more than that. My point here is that when I speak to developers, we'll have disagreements about labor, we'll have disagreements about maybe materials and the cost of it. One place we have a real agreement about is the cost of waiting. Many of these developers will tell me one of the most expensive things they have to deal with is the wait. They'll put in an application, they'll put forward a bid, and then they'll have to wait and wait and wait. And we know time is to going money because you're not just waiting, you're also paying other people who are waiting with you. And there is an environmental law at the state level called cecra. CECRA requires you, when you're putting forward an application, to estimate the Traffic flows of 10 to 15 years from now. So when they did the Williamsburg rezoning, they were asking people to estimate these traffic flows before Lyft and Uber existed in New York City. And so now, obviously, their presence in New York City makes a mockery of any estimate that was made prior to that. And yet that estimate is still one you could be held liable for in court saying, you said it would be this, and now it's this. And so, to me, these are examples of what you were bringing up earlier, of how do we bring these regulations more in line with reality, and how do we ensure that we are able to build the immense amount of housing we need so that we can actually have New Yorkers stay here. Yeah, that's the goal. Because we're building four homes per thousand people. Jersey City's at seven, Tokyo's at nearly ten.

[David]

What is Houston? That.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

Tell me.

[David]

They're doing an unbelievable amount, like, because there's just no regulation now. There's different circumstances. You're not building on top of each other, and there's a lot more land. I understand. And I. I don't like those comparisons generally, because New York is such a specific city. We're living on top of each other and next to each other, and there's different considerations that we have to make.

[Eric Adams]

Okay. That the.

[David]

The HTPSA hstpa hs. Yes.

[Eric Adams]

My boy about to say hsbc, bro.

[Zoran]

I World Local bank.

[David]

Yes.

[Zoran]

Yeah, I feel like I'm on the airport just walking through the, you know, ads.

[David]

So like some people would say, and I think you just mentioned it, that like this was a progressive policy that had a really good idea. It's like, how do we protect these people that are in these rent stabilized units from being pushed out? And then obviously what landlords would say is you've created a situation because you can, once something is rent stabilized, it can no longer be brought to a free market rent that it doesn't incentivize them to renovate the spaces. And now they have these like zombie apartments or ghost apartments. And I saw that one of your policies was to like impose punitive damages on like these, these, you know, big conglomerates like BlackRock that own all these, you know, that could be anything from brownstones to buildings that have these vacant units. Right. And I have different theories on that. But do you think that that policy did lend itself to making these zombie apartments from a perspective of it's not worth it as a landlord to reinvest in this unit because I can't extract the rent that would justify that.

[Eric Adams]

So I think the HSCPA was a good thing. I think it was a good thing because what you had prior to it was many landlords taking units out of rent stabilization and using a vacancy bonus that they could receive when you pushed out a tenant as the reason they would continue to harass.

[David]

Yeah, things like 20% bonus that you could get. Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

And obviously you can imagine how many tenants were having to face that kind of harassment.

[David]

To put it in perspective, like my friend Carlos growing up like his, he was in a rent control building and they literally just stopped accepting his family's rent and he had to put the rent in escrow during like a multiple year process where they were just trying to get him out of the building because they were obviously trying to flip the building.

[Eric Adams]

So I say that to say that.

[David]

Like I 100% empathize with that. And that is a real issue.

[Eric Adams]

Yes.

[David]

But sometimes protecting real issues can cause other ones that are unintended.

[Eric Adams]

And that's where I think that, you know, the policies I put forward that you're referring to, there's two separate things. One is ensuring that we're actually holding bad landlords accountable. This is about violations of housing code. Because right now the city of New York is owed $800 million by landlords who have violated housing codes that the city has not collected a dollar on. It's just sitting there.

[David]

Why is that? Yeah, why?

[Eric Adams]

A lack of political will?

[David]

Is it lobbying? Is it like, is it blackrock going, I'm going to get this.

[Eric Adams]

The same landlords who are saying we can't afford a rent freeze dropped $2 million against me in the primary. So my point being is that there is money. And I think you're right that we have to take all of these concerns seriously. And what I've actually proposed with vacant units is, is having an actual study being done on the number of them and the reason for why they are currently being held off the market and finding what is the cost of bringing them back online. Cause there's a lot of discourse, a lot of anecdote. We want to get to the facts.

[David]

Of it because there's like a circumstance where you look at. And I'm sure it happens in New York City as well, but like Vancouver, for example, where there's a lot of foreign investment in apartment buildings out there, and then the people of Vancouver just couldn't afford to buy into their own city that they lived their whole life. And I get that.

[Eric Adams]

When I was. I was a foreclosure prevention housing counselor before I was an assembly member, and when I was running for assembly, at that point, one third of all homes purchased in Queens were being purchased by unnamed LLCs. Hmm. One third.

[David]

And what would that mean? Is that somebody trying to be sneaky on taxes or is that somebody that is an outside.

[Eric Adams]

There's a lot of hollowing out of neighborhoods where you're purchasing it, oftentimes for the intent of flipping it. Where you're purchasing it.

[David]

Yep.

[Zoran]

And.

[Eric Adams]

And this is. This is part of the issue where so much of what has been the foundation of stability for so many New Yorkers has become seen as an opportunity for something like private equity.

[Zoran]

All right, guys, let's take a break.

[David]

From this communist trash.

[Eric Adams]

Yeah.

[Zoran]

For one second. We need to talk about unbridled capitalism.

[Miles]

While we still have some money.

[Zoran]

While we still have a couple bucks. While you guys still have a couple bucks before this guy convinces us to get. Give it all away. But no, I'm not Zoron. Yeah, I don't know if you can. Holy.

[Akash Singh]

I'm not running for anything.

[David]

Thank you.

[Zoran]

Because I thought it was here.

[David]

That was disrespectful, what Mark just said.

[Zoran]

What? No, what you said. No, what you said. You said it looks like he ate Zo. That was up.

[David]

I said that? Did I really?

[Zoran]

I didn't even remember saying that from the top. Come on, can we do this from the top?

[David]

Did I really say. Yeah, you said that.

[Zoran]

You said that.

[David]

Akash, you're racist, bro.

[Akash Singh]

You're right, I apologize.

[David]

I meant to say. Alex.

[Zoran]

Alex, you're racist. All right, but for real.

[David]

Today's episode of Flagger is brought to you by Kraken, the app you actually want when you're trading crypto or stocks. We've been on Kraken for a while now, and here's why. When the market goes nuts, Kraken doesn't. It's fast and secure and it's trusted by millions of people. Okay, listen, the boys we've been having a little competition with. With our money, while we still have it.

[Miles]

Don't say competition.

[Zoran]

Now we're winning.

[Miles]

Now you're winning. It's a competition.

[David]

Yo, you were on fire.

[Zoran]

Yeah, it wasn't a competition then.

[Miles]

It was like, oh, world training.

[Zoran]

What happened to you?

[Joey]

Yeah, I'm still up.

[Zoran]

I'm still up.

[Akash Singh]

I've been down.

[Zoran]

Stay down. I'm up, dude, 10 times.

[Akash Singh]

How was you up?

[Miles]

1100.

[David]

Oh, shit.

[Zoran]

Yeah, look at me.

[Miles]

And I got paid $64 in dividends for my ETF.

[David]

The price of Bitcoin is $113,000.

[Akash Singh]

Yeah, see, I think it's a 111 at this moment, but yeah.

[David]

When did that happen?

[Zoran]

I thought, I thought that. I thought crypto like dropped well the.

[David]

Other day with the tariffs.

[Akash Singh]

Here's how much I know how to pick him is this time. I put all my money in bitcoin and I was at 116.

[Miles]

We need like that Pelosi stock tracker for you.

[Zoran]

It's the opposite for both of us. Both of us is trash at this somehow.

[David]

I'm up.

[Eric Adams]

I'm up.

[Zoran]

You're not running it.

[David]

You got to be smart enough to know this. Now you're. You're ball game, you know what I mean? You have to be smart enough to.

[Miles]

Know you got the JBC on.

[Zoran]

I got the jbc.

[David]

Jbc. Did you know what the JBC is, Al? You know the Jewish Business Collective? I got the Jewish Business Collective, yeah.

[Eric Adams]

Smart.

[David]

Okay, so they got me up, you know, Al, what are you up?

[Joey]

$69.

[Akash Singh]

I'd rather go down.

[Zoran]

Six, six, seven, bro. That is not 67. That is not 67.

[Eric Adams]

Truthful.

[Zoran]

Yeah, you.

[David]

You had a sad.

[Miles]

You got a dinner, bro. They gave you all this money for a dinner?

[David]

That's crazy. Damn, bro. And they gave you the money.

[Eric Adams]

They gave.

[Zoran]

You don't even do a.

[Akash Singh]

Shut up.

[Zoran]

Why don't you get a Jewish business collector. Duh. Wait, what are you. We couldn't get the loan. I think I was. We still Redlin.

[David]

I think I. I think I was up three grand. Oh, think I'm up three grand right there. Up three K. Is bitcoin taxable? Say again?

[Miles]

How does that happen with taxes if we put all our money here?

[Zoran]

We don't know.

[David]

The Jewish business collective charges 120%, so I'm actually down.

[Zoran]

Oh, God. Actually got you. Anyway, listen up.

[David]

For October only, Kraken's running something while a deposit match only in Kraken consumer app. Okay. This is literally Kraken putting extra on top of what you put in. Here's how it goes. You opt in, make your deposit. You get an automatic 1% match, no questions asked. As more people join in, the community match grows up to 2%. And if you're smart, you're share with your friends through your referral code, let them in on it, and stack your network while you're at it. Kraken, it's literally giving you a boost for. For just being in the game this month. So don't fumble the bag. Head to kraken.comflagrant to put your money somewhere it works as hard as you do. Kraken. It's simple, it's secure. It's where real moves get made. Now let's get it. Here's a disclaimer. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to US customers to selling Washington, New York and Maine through PayWord Interactive, Inc. Let's just take a break for a second. Okay? It's me and Zoron here, and we are.

[Zoran]

Oh, gosh.

[Akash Singh]

Did you notice when the thigh was so fat?

[Zoran]

Was that. You realize it?

[Miles]

Zoron took a blue shoe.

[Zoran]

This is crazy. Did you just keep popping? I know.

[Akash Singh]

Wild.

[David]

My lord. I feel like the joke will get worse throughout the ads, but then eventually, maybe we'll get better. So we could keep on doing it.

[Akash Singh]

Yeah, we're not.

[David]

We're not leaving.

[Zoran]

Yeah.

[David]

So, guys, Blue Chew, man, it's just. It's just the greatest, bro. It's just the greatest, guys. You deserve. You deserve to have the hardest dick you've ever had in your life. You deserve that. Okay? You deserve that. The human.

[Miles]

Human right.

[David]

It's a human right. Housing might be a human right. Getting that dick house in a wet.

[Zoran]

Might also be.

[Miles]

We can do that for homelessness, bro. We could just pitch tents and let him hide in there.

[David]

That's a great idea.

[Zoran]

That's great.

[Miles]

Give him something.

[Akash Singh]

Yeah, I love it.

[David]

Y' all are really disrespectful to our guest. You're disrespectful anymore. He's not. No, it's gonna bring that up the second we got back from commercial. I was gonna. What do you think we should do about. Okay, in all seriousness, Blue Chew though, man. I mean, it's the best dick you've ever given anyone in your entire life. And you're gonna get it for free. It's $5 shipping. Like, I just don't notice. This is such a no brainer. Okay. Such a no brainer. You're just gonna have the biggest, strongest.

[Zoran]

I can just imagine all of Zora's friends that are watching this. What happened? Like, this is really interesting. These guys are getting somewhere. It's just like you to want.

[David]

Want a huge.

[Zoran]

This is what capitalism is all about.

[Miles]

Yeah, dude. That probably feels fire if you're, you know, it feels good if you're getting it. Probably right.

[David]

No, say what David said. Say what he said for her. Or if you're gay, say what he said for her.

[Miles]

If you're getting it for as a woman, it feels good.

[David]

David said, just want to let you guys know. David said, I don't know if it was today or another day, but at.

[Eric Adams]

One point in time he said to.

[David]

Mark in private, he goes, yo, dick must be feel so good for a woman. Woman. What the hell you doing, bro?

[Zoran]

What the hell are you doing, David? How do you even agree? I didn't know.

[Miles]

I didn't even know what just happened. He hit me with it.

[David]

Listen, we're getting back to this. Blue Chew is. Is delivering that dick David's talking about. That thing you just want to bounce all on.

[Zoran]

Dave was like, you know how they bouncing on it? I need some of that. I mean, they must love that. They must love it, bro.

[Miles]

That was fire.

[Zoran]

Right now you're get your blue shoe.

[David]

You just go to bluetooth.com flagrant all right. You know, David already got it.

[Zoran]

For her. For her, though. For her.

[David]

Anyway.

[Zoran]

Bluetooth.com Flagrant use the promo code.

[David]

Flagrant. Let's get back to the show.

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[David]

This is where we get into, like, the philosophy of, like, what is housing? Like is housing? No, like. And this is where it's like, I have empathy for both sides. Like, I have empathy for the Puerto Rican family that worked their entire life and they were able to. To like, buy this brownstone and they were told that, like, real estate is the only thing. Like, my parents are financially illiterate. They got lucky. They bought an artisan residence loft in a neighborhood that was too fucking dangerous for us to live in. That ended up getting flipped around by nyu. It's like pure luck, you know, so it's like. So I have empathy for these people that put everything in it. Right. And then at the same time, I also see there are people that are kind of holding hostage and assets class that we maybe should look more at as, like, I don't want to say a utility, but, like, there can be a little bit more restriction when it comes to, like a roof over your head. So. So, So I have empathy for your communist position.

[Zoran]

My mother was getting nervous about his own thoughts. I gotta get out of this. I don't know how I got here.

[Eric Adams]

No, but I hear you. This is.

[David]

You could probably articulate what I'm saying.

[Eric Adams]

No, it's that you have something which is a necessity for people to buy. And it's tricky.

[David]

So it's like, what if somebody invests in water?

[Eric Adams]

It's been treated and it's been treated as a means by which to make profit.

[David]

Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

And so I know that there are many who bought into this system with the promise of unrestricted profit. That's what it was before the hstpa. And one of the issues you're hearing from a lot of landlords is they entered into loans with banks that could only be paid back if they evicted. Evicted a majority of the tenants who were paying the rent at the time they purchased the building. And that's also why I have empathy when we're hearing about insurance costs and water bills and Con Ed and property taxes, because those are also costs that are skyrocketing. And so for me, it's how do we create a city where we understand housing as a human right and also ensure that our affordability agenda is universal. Tenants, homeowners, land, landlords.

[David]

I think in order to do it. I think in order to do it like it's. In order to do it with rent stabilization or rent control, it's going to be. Need to be government funded. Because I don't think any private developers are going to see the incentive structure that they need to put that kind of capital in. And if you're going to do it, you're going to have to raise money. And I saw on one of your things was you were considering, you know, selling Muni bonds.

[Zoran]

Right.

[David]

And I think you want to raise like $100 billion over 10 years. Right. So we're looking at like, I think 70% of that was coming from the muni bonds. So it's like we're looking at, let's.

[Eric Adams]

Say, on average, we're saying we're at 30 million. We've got to get. Yeah, 30 billion.

[David]

But like, yeah. And like, it's, it's an ambitious endeavor. You know, there are some limitations, as I'm sure you looked at. And this is where we go back to Albany. It's like I looked into this. It's like you got to raise the debt ceiling in order to be able to do that. Like, you got to ask Kathy to do that. Or if Kathy loses, you got to ask, what is it? Stefanik.

[Eric Adams]

We're not even talking about Stefanik.

[David]

No, but like, then that's not going to happen. They're, they're going to fight you tooth and nail.

[Eric Adams]

We're not going to have to worry about that, that hypothetical.

[David]

Okay.

[Eric Adams]

With Stefanik.

[David]

Okay.

[Zoran]

But like, but you look, so what.

[David]

Do you, what do you do in that scenario?

[Eric Adams]

Because, and I think this is, you know, we're talking about, right. The current law is 10% of the five year valuation of real estate in New York City. Right. And having to change that. And I think this is where politicians don't get to decide the scale of the crisis they're facing. They get to decide how they want to respond. Respond to it, facts. And so this is an ambitious agenda, no question about it. But this is a time where if we don't match that crisis with that ambition, we're going to lose people.

[Akash Singh]

But you are held hostage by their will to match.

[David]

That's what I'm saying.

[Eric Adams]

And what I would argue is that I've been in Albany, I've seen legislators and legislative leaders who've had a vision of a city where you tax the wealthiest a little bit more to provide for everyone and they haven't had a partner and a mayor. It's not to say it's going to be easy, but my point is that we haven't even tried.

[David]

Oh, this is interesting.

[Eric Adams]

So Andrew Cuomo.

[David]

Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

Is an example of not trying. He had 10 years of running his.

[Akash Singh]

Deaths to cover up. Poor guy, you know what I mean?

[David]

Killing grannies and grabbing fannies.

[Eric Adams]

Sliwa had some bars.

[David]

He did.

[Zoran]

You love his hat.

[David]

You want that shit.

[Eric Adams]

I can't believe.

[Zoran]

I can't believe.

[Eric Adams]

I can't believe that I'm being called a communist.

[Zoran]

And the Republican nominees wearing the lingering.

[David]

I keep calling him Emily in Paris.

[Zoran]

Shout out, Curry.

[David]

But yes.

[Zoran]

So what you're saying is you're like.

[Eric Adams]

Shouting out a sponsor of the show.

[Zoran]

The Netflix show, but shout out, kelsey, you're at 80%. It's going well.

[David]

So what you're saying is that there might be people in Albany that are more sympathetic, but because they've been up against a mayor in New York that has maybe no sympathy, because they've been put in power by people who do not want this change that they're not willing to. That's an interesting perspective, that they do not have the political capital, the coalition.

[Eric Adams]

And I think this is the other thing, is that we, from the beginning of this race, wanted to break out of the bubble of New York City politics and get into the world of New York City.

[David]

I thought you just didn't want to go to Israel.

[Zoran]

I thought that's what.

[Eric Adams]

God.

[Zoran]

One of the best moments ever. One of the best.

[David]

It was that moment and then the.

[Zoran]

One in the debate recently where fucking.

[David]

Cuomo couldn't say whether he was gonna go to the Mets game or the Knicks game.

[Zoran]

He said he wanted to go to both, bro. And like, you'll have moments where. Just pick one. Exactly.

[Eric Adams]

Just pick it.

[Zoran]

Exactly. You'll have moments where, like, you cut.

[David]

Through, like, political fraudulence and he's just like, I would do half and half. And you go, this guy.

[Zoran]

When they asked the question, when they asked the question, in my mind, I.

[Eric Adams]

Was like, there's no wrong answer here. And then he created the wrong answer.

[Zoran]

And it's like it is a five year old answer. I do both of them.

[Eric Adams]

Come on.

[Zoran]

You're so poised, you're so articulate. And he said it, and you're just like this. Like I said, you broke your hands up. You created that. Anyway, I mean, it's, it's.

[Eric Adams]

But look, I, I, I grew up in the city and I've often seen the city that our politics cares about and then the rest of the city, and there's that divide. And, and when I actually spoke to Trump voters, voters, you know, in Queens and in the Bronx, it felt like here was a campaign that was bridging that divide that was getting beyond that bubble. And we have to. If we want to actually have people believe in democracy, we have to show that democracy can deliver on their needs. Like, I can't go and knock on somebody's door and say, help me fight for the ideal or the value of democracy. I have to go to that door and say, this is how this democracy's going to make it easier for you to afford your apartment?

[David]

Yes.

[Eric Adams]

This is how this democracy is going to make it easier for you to afford your groceries. I mean, Fiorello LaGuardia said you, you can't preach liberty to a starving land. And that's what we've been doing for so many years.

[David]

So what do you do? And this is like, my. My concern. What do you do if you get strung up by the bureaucracy in the system? Because after talking to you, and even before talking to you, I genuinely think you believe this stuff. I don't think you're somebody who's, like, selling a dream that you don't believe in. And I don't think. Think it's possible to communicate in the way that you've communicated and, like, touch people without authenticity. Without the authenticity. But, like, I'm worried about entrenched politics, and I'm worried about the people that fund them, because they're the same people that have been fundraising against you. Okay. And I'm worried about them bending to their whim. And what scares me a little bit is there are going to be people that are incentivized for you to fail. And then if that pendulum swings all the way the other way, how many more people get hurt? And I guess my question is, like, do you ever worry about that? Or do you have to be so blinders on that you're going to win? I love this city more than anything. And it is something I consider, like, what if we get the complete opposite of you that has no care about the tenants, no care about what people are paying rent? Some guy who comes in and just goes, hey, this is a free market. Welcome to New York capitalism.

[Eric Adams]

Talking about Andrew Cuomo.

[David]

Can be crazier than that.

[Eric Adams]

No, And I think my point here is that there is going to be immense opposition. There are incredible incentives to fight our agenda. What gives me hope is that the billionaires spending millions against me right now, they're not doing so because they're afraid my plans won't work work. They're doing so because they're afraid that they will.

[David]

And how would that not incentivize them in some way? If people in the city have more money they have more money to spend on whatever business.

[Eric Adams]

If you look at the actual studies of free buses, it costs 700 million. It generates more than double that in economic benefit.

[David]

Put a bus on second Avenue, you're.

[Zoran]

A one issue voter.

[Eric Adams]

I was asking myself, who is Curtis Lewitt talking to if I'm not extending.

[Zoran]

The second Avenue subway and it's this guy, Curtis Lewis. Yes. I love you, baby. I love you, comrade. It's Mr. Housing is a human right. But I don't want trains to 125th Street. Well, here's what I do feel like.

[David]

It's a human right. Housing.

[Zoran]

I, I, I knew. No, no, I knew. I knew. To my left. To my left. Not, Not a human right.

[David]

Inter.

[Zoran]

Well, yeah. Not. Yeah. I don't think anybody should just house.

[David]

I do feel that way.

[Zoran]

You got the mission accomplished manner. Yes.

[Akash Singh]

I don't think, I think anybody who knows him would know this is, he's, he's been fairly liberal most of his life. These are things he would believe. I think what we worry about is that it won't work. And then my larger worry, if you, you are a kind of like a, you are a test for all of America. You are a case study. Whether you realize this or not. And if you promise all these things and you deliver 40% of it, 40% is a. New York will be better off, but people will look at you nationwide, maybe worldwide, and say, you know what? That didn't work. Look at all the things he accomplished and look at what he couldn't get done. And yeah, they're spending millions. Billionaires are spending millions to stop you.

[David]

Now.

[Akash Singh]

My fear, they're spending millions. So just so they don't have to spend tens of millions later.

[David]

Oh, that's a great.

[Akash Singh]

I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna block everything he wants to get done. I just want to save a little money. Just have him lose so I don't spend more later. That's my fear. And I root for you because it feels authentic. I actually trust you more because you're not born in America.

[Eric Adams]

America.

[Akash Singh]

And I mean that. No, no, no, hold on. Let me say it. Because he cannot be president.

[Zoran]

That's the part I dislike.

[Akash Singh]

Because you cannot be president. So many politicians, what do they aspire to? You're a star. I would look at that guy and go, he could be president one day. With you, that's not even an option. So I trust your incentives more. I just care about the city. What do I want to be? Governor of the state?

[David]

Who gives a you're you're starting mayor's above governor, right?

[Zoran]

Yeah.

[David]

It is, though, right?

[Zoran]

I look forward to working with the governor.

[David]

Be honest.

[Zoran]

Growing up in New York, I'm looking forward to work with the governor.

[David]

I just found out we had a female governor. I had no clue.

[Zoran]

A blind guy. I thought it was the blind guy.

[David]

He's right.

[Zoran]

In terms of. He was a great.

[David]

He was a great governor. It was the governor, Patterson. Patterson was fantastic.

[Zoran]

He was like a filling. They put him on the first base. They put him on first base at the Yankee game. The poor guy. The photo op.

[Akash Singh]

In terms of star power, he's right. We've had. Bloomberg was a celebrity that became mayor of New York. He didn't try to be fucking governor of New York. Nobody cares. Star power rise. This is. This is the people.

[David]

Second most powerful position in the world.

[Akash Singh]

And you can't be president. So that makes me trust you more. I just.

[Eric Adams]

Please, can you tell every uncle that you can find that I can't be president?

[Zoran]

Every time.

[Eric Adams]

Every time an uncle takes a photo with me, they whisper in my president next. I'm like, it's illegal. It's illegal.

[Akash Singh]

Tell them to vote for fake.

[Eric Adams]

So.

[Zoran]

Efficiency. I'm going to connect to him.

[Akash Singh]

And y' all have more in common than you realize. That's my guy. I like. I.

[Zoran]

What?

[Eric Adams]

The more I got.

[Akash Singh]

The more I got to know him, the more.

[David]

You'Re.

[Zoran]

You're a new partition. Beef got his one word. Don't let me get my bro. Direct the camera.

[Eric Adams]

Hit it.

[Zoran]

You're from Uganda.

[Eric Adams]

Yes.

[Zoran]

You're from Uganda. You're barely like a diss. I was like, you're barely even Indian.

[David]

Wow.

[Zoran]

You're barely even Indian. Wait a minute. You ever heard of migration?

[Akash Singh]

Can I be honest? The Indians in Africa are like, they. The Indians in America assimilate a lot more. He's more Indian than most Indians born here.

[David]

But listen. But I was looking up a little. Didn't they actually remove.

[Eric Adams]

We were expelled in 1970. My family was one of Idiomine, Right?

[Zoran]

Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

My family was one of the very few families that went back after the expulsion.

[David]

Went back to Uganda.

[Eric Adams]

Went back to you. That's why I was born there in 91. So my family, in 1972, were expelled. They became refugees in London and lived in a refugee camp. And then after the fall of Amin, they returned to Kampala. And so that's where I was born. 91.

[Akash Singh]

Shit on that boy.

[David]

I'm just saying how. How shitty is London?

[Zoran]

So bad. You know what I Mean, like how the city is London. You stayed in public housing for a few weeks and you're like, we gotta.

[David]

Go back to Africa.

[Zoran]

I can't build it. Whoever built that camp don't hire us to build the 200,000 units in New York.

[David]

That's all I'm saying.

[Zoran]

I was wondering where you were gonna go. Where you were gonna go.

[Eric Adams]

You were like, this is pretty sad.

[Zoran]

I gotta on London. No, but I actually like London.

[Akash Singh]

London's my favorite. But yeah, no, I've been no nuts. No, Brigadier is better. The Shoom Fine gymkhana. It's great for white people. That's the Shoom Fine.

[Zoran]

My man likes and doesn't like the shoom.

[Akash Singh]

You're really gonna love gymkhana.

[Eric Adams]

You're gonna love it.

[David]

I tried gymkhana in London. Oh, it's a food place.

[Zoran]

I want to mine with yoga. One of my closest friends. I got.

[David]

Bungalow.

[Akash Singh]

Fire. Bungalow Fire. They got another one.

[David]

Have you been to Bungalow yet?

[Eric Adams]

I haven't been to Bungalow.

[Zoran]

You haven't? Oh, wow. Let's go. I'll take it.

[Eric Adams]

Let's go to kebab.

[Zoran]

Wow. Kebab King.

[Akash Singh]

I've done many times, but I think it fell off a bit. But we'll go Daisy Galaxy, because all the good Indian food is in New Jersey.

[Eric Adams]

Honestly, Edison.

[Akash Singh]

Yeah, Daisy Galaxy. That's my spot.

[David]

All right, guys, let's take a break for a second. Listen, have you ever noticed how two news outlets can cover the exact same story and. And make it sound like we live in two different realities? Have we ever noticed that?

[Miles]

We've noticed that.

[Zoran]

We talk about that sometimes.

[David]

We do that every podcast.

[Zoran]

But, yes, this happened.

[David]

One headline says the economy is booming under strong leadership. The other economy says Americans can't afford eggs. Who's telling the truth? We don't know anymore. Okay. That's why we've been checking out Straight Arrow News. They actually show how every side covers the same story so can see the bias for yourself. It's news for grownups who don't want to be played. This is a brilliant idea.

[Akash Singh]

Great.

[David]

This is an absolutely brilliant idea. This is going to cut through. People just want to know what the hell happened.

[Akash Singh]

Yeah.

[David]

Okay.

[Zoran]

They cut out all the noise, give.

[David]

You the facts straight down the middle, and you can queue up stories you actually care about, not just whatever's trending on X or TikTok. So if you're tired of being gaslit by the news cycle, go to straightarrow news.com or download the Straight Hour News app. It's the easiest way to get informed without getting manipulated. Go to s a n.com flagrant to check it out. Take advantage of a better way to get the news. Welcome back to trustworthy journalism with straight hour news. All right, guys, let's take a break for a second. Guys, you need to take care of your skin, man. You look old as you got under. Eyes getting darker, get wrinkles. Generally you just look like a. This looks personal. That's why you need caldera labs right here. This is the caldera lab labs. This thing right here has got my skin glistening. They put together skin care for men.

[Zoran]

What's my weakness? Men. Men. Okay now.

[David]

Chilling, chilling.

[Zoran]

Minding my business. Yeah. The brother came around and I couldn't believe this. I swear. I swear. So what the you doing?

[Akash Singh]

He knows every.

[Zoran]

My niece, my windows, the only rappers he knows.

[Akash Singh]

There's not a single rappers he knows for paying.

[Zoran]

The brother had it going. He was something kind of. Oh, wicked. Wicked. Had to kick it.

[Miles]

Yes.

[Zoran]

Go, go, go.

[David]

Keep going.

[Zoran]

Damn.

[David]

That brother had some caldera labs on when I saw him.

[Zoran]

He must have had caldera labs the way that fucking salt and peppers was looking at him. The way the salt and peppers was looking at him. He must have had the caldera labs because it's a four step process that takes care of everything.

[David]

You need to look better. And you looked at that guy and he was something kind of wicked. Listen, he was washing his face, he put on three products and then he was done. His face was less puffy. His under eyes, they look better. And. And his face is not going to wrinkle nearly as quick. I'm telling you, the caldera labs right here. You want to look better, you want to feel better, you want girls to see you and go, shotgun, baby bang.

[Zoran]

What's up with that thing? I want to know how does it hang? You look better, you feel better, you.

[David]

Go to caldera lab.com flagrant and then you use the code flagrant for 20% off your first order. It's. It's crazy the way that female rap groups are going to lust over you in their lips. I mean, it was it. I mean, you saw them. Those girls were just, with all due respect, a lot of humidity in the panic, you know, just saying, let's get back to the show.

[Akash Singh]

If you cannot accomplish all these things you set out to. Are you aware the pressure that's on you? Are you aware the domino effect that potentially comes with that look? I think some fear there.

[Eric Adams]

I know there's. There's definitely a Lot of pressure. There's a lot of responsibility. I think oftentimes, though, the position of mayor, it's spoken about like it's a burden. There's also an immense opportunity in fulfilling this agenda. You make it clear that politics can be more than choose between now and worse than now, as opposed to something that's better. And so to me, when I talk about freezing the rent, when I talk about making buses fast and free, delivering universal childcare, these are not slogans. These are. These are not just slogans. They're commitments. Commitments. And I know there's going to be immense pressure, but I also believe that once you start to succeed in your delivery of these things, the way you will see people's political imagination expand. We made five bus routes free in New York City. I went on them on the first day that program started, and the one in the Bronx was the BX18A. And I got on the bus, I was talking to the driver, he was like, today's been better because all I have to do is get from point A ton to point B. Don't have to talk about the fair. I'm just driving. And then a nurse got on and she reached for a Metro card in her purse. The driver was like, I got you, boo. It's free.

[Zoran]

Look at this guy. My adlibs. You don't think. You think he was trying to flex like he was. What was she wearing? You got the wrong period. I'm clapping for 7pm can't do clapping. Can't do the clapping.

[Eric Adams]

7Pm you know, she's reaching for her Metro card and he's like, it's free. And she's like, what do you mean it's free? And he's like, no, no, no, don't just. They've made this one bus route free. And then she starts dancing down the aisle to her seat. And to me, this is an image of someone going to work at a hospital who has, for the first time in a long time, had government actually look out for her. And people said that we wouldn't be able to deliver that. They said that we wouldn't be able to have more riders, we wouldn't have a decline in assaults on bus drivers, that there would be more homeless people on the buses. None of those things were true. And that's what I see, is that every time we succeed, it builds the coalition even more for the next.

[Akash Singh]

Yeah, I just worry some of the larger things won't happen, and that's where you'll get judged.

[Eric Adams]

Which ones are you worried about?

[Akash Singh]

I think the housing, the rent freeze is going to be tough. I think raising minimum wage to $30 an hour is great in theory. I would love it. But I think we often forget that corporations, just like you, try to tax a billionaire, they find a loophole. You make minimum wage, $30 an hour. Watch how much we automate these jobs. And I'm not saying that's good, but that's my fear. And then if suddenly these two, like, major things don't happen, do we look at even getting free bus rises? Yeah, but that wasn't. That's. Who gives a fuck? It's free bus rides. They already had five free routes.

[Eric Adams]

It still sucked, I think.

[Joey]

I don't think you have much to worry about because Trump ran on building a wall and cleaning the swamp, and look, he's back being president. So it's like, if you don't get everything done, I don't. I don't think it's the end for his.

[Akash Singh]

You know, I don't want to get caught in that.

[Eric Adams]

But I think, you know, both of you are debating a premise that we can't accomplish these things. And my point to you is that it's an ambitious agenda, but it's one that I'm really confident in delivering.

[David]

The history of America's relationship with government is a very antagonistic one. Right. Like, the inception of America is, fuck government. Fuck people telling us what to do. The reason why I hope you can succeed is because I would love us to have more faith in government. If you've spent time abroad, like, you know, you live in Europe, and it's like, yeah, they're annoyed at their government, but at the same time, they're kind of like, that's cool. I get health care. There's a little bit more faith and trust. And then you go to, like, Scandinavia, and they're like, the government can do no wrong. You know what I mean? They could literally just. They could kill, like, 400 people, and the government would be like.

[Zoran]

The people would be like, ah, it.

[David]

Probably did something bad. Like, they're just so trusting of the government. I. I think Americans need to see government working for them.

[Eric Adams]

Yeah.

[David]

And if that actually works, I think it would be a really beautiful thing where we can start believing instead of being skeptical of every single thing. Yeah. And I think.

[Eric Adams]

I think the point here is that there will be many New Yorkers for whom I will have to deliver first to earn their trust. And I understand that.

[David]

White people.

[Zoran]

Nobody get your gray sweater, Ald.

[David]

White people.

[Zoran]

Don'T do it for the white shot. Don't do it for one. SoHo's gone. Just a little bit.

[David]

Just a little bit of the white shit.

[Akash Singh]

We're gonna get my fro cabbage.

[Zoran]

Okay, Zara, we're having fun. Zara. Zara.

[David]

Zara's gonna make so much money, it's unbelievable. I mean, like, I know she's gotta work for with you and, like, build a camp, but when it's done, it's like I told her there's gonna be, like, warlords in the third world that are gonna give her chests of gold to just come run their campaigns.

[Akash Singh]

This is one of the brilliant campaigns.

[Zoran]

Yeah, you're doing great, Zara.

[David]

We're gonna keep going just for a little longer. Is anything.

[Miles]

You make it seem like Albany's excited to work with us, and there's so much momentum and people are excited. So if things don't get done, I.

[David]

Mean, whose fault will it be?

[Eric Adams]

The status quo is standing in our way. And the reason that I'm excited is I think we have all of the ingredients to change that status quo. But the same people who've spent millions of dollars will still have an immense amount of money that they could use to try and spend an opposition once we're in government as well. And that's why to me, the speed at which we do deliver on a wide variety of things is critically important. That's why it's not just a plan to deliver universal childcare. It's also, how do we take down scaffolding across New York City? Right?

[David]

I love this point, but like, but.

[Eric Adams]

My point is you hit on some.

[David]

Specific shit, you're like, halal cheaper and get the rid of the scaffolding. New Yorkers are like, yo, he's span.

[Eric Adams]

It's like, how could I begrudge someone refusing to believe in the ability for us to deliver universal childcare if their interaction with government is government's inability to deliver? On removing one sidewalk shed, this is what we're talking about. That's like, you have to find every single interaction where government has failed New Yorkers and say, this is an opportunity for me to do better. And, you know, the city has an opportunity to say, not just to building owners, what you should do. We have hundreds of sidewalk sheds at city owned properties that have been up for more than three years. We could take those down ourselves. We don't have to wait on anybody. And my point is let's beat the the example. Let's show that efficiency and waste and actually following through on our commitments is not an elon Musk idea. It's actually, for us.

[Zoran]

It is a.

[David]

Vivek idea, and he wanted to do.

[Zoran]

It the real way. But anyway, go on, go on.

[Joey]

You have the support of Hochul in Albany. How come the other establishment Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer haven't endorsed you?

[David]

Talk that shit, though. Talk that real shit.

[Eric Adams]

Talk that real shit. I've appreciated the conversations I had with them. And the reason I've appreciated it is a lot of the talk in our politics is just about what's in two weeks, the election. But to me, one of the most important dates is not just November 4th. So you should sign up, register to vote by October 25th. You got a little bit of time left. It's January 1st, and I'm going to be working with Congressman Jeffries, with Senator Schumer on delivering the supportability agenda. And that's something that I'm looking forward to.

[David]

Are there specific political answers? Give us that real shit, man. Like the party.

[Zoran]

You got the party energized right now.

[Joey]

You got the party energized right now. You're the Democratic nominee for. For New York. Like, why wouldn't they get.

[David]

Why is the party running against you? That shit is.

[Joey]

Party needs to come together.

[David]

And I think that's another reason why, like many lifelong Democrats like myself, have been disillusioned by the party, because it's like, why aren't you accepting the will of the people? They did it to Bernie. They did to Bernie twice, right? They tried to do it again during this election. It's like, when do we get to take part in the Democratic process? And when we do get to take part in the Democrats, when do you respect that? You might. They might disagree with you, but it's not up to them. This is the will of the people. So if the people want to see this through, why are they spending millions of dollars to stop it? It's very frustrating. I think. It undermines democracy, I think.

[Eric Adams]

I think if you look at Andrew Cuomo and I in the primary, now in the general, it is in many ways a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party. Right. It's two very different visions. And the things that we like to say are exclusively Republican problems. We saw a lot of them in the Democratic primary. It wasn't a Republican that sent a mailer that artificially lengthened my beard. It wasn't a Republican that called me. I appreciate that, man.

[David]

You just, you know, it was my Photoshop guy.

[Eric Adams]

I thought. But my point is that that's from a man that at one point was being spoken about as being the next president of this country.

[David]

Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

Like it's easy to forget now that we watch Andrew Cuomo on stage.

[David]

Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

But not that long ago people were saying he should be the next president of idiot.

[Zoran]

Who you said when I say that early. Early in co before we run the tape. Run the tape before he murdered everybody. Can you make sure get the private.

[Akash Singh]

Conversation I mar got in public.

[Eric Adams]

Talk.

[Zoran]

Every night with him and his brother. It was fun.

[David]

We're waiting for the last dance.

[Akash Singh]

I'm going to ask you a question you might not want to answer this something I see Brown guy to brown guy.

[Zoran]

A lot of people.

[Akash Singh]

A lot of people. Like there's a lot. There's an anti Semitic label. Anti Semitic label.

[Eric Adams]

That happens.

[Akash Singh]

Do you think that happens if you're not Muslim? Because I've looked into what you said. It seems like you denounce anti Semitism.

[Eric Adams]

I do.

[Akash Singh]

You criticize Israel. A lot of times it gets conflated. But the label won't stick unless there's another outside.

[Eric Adams]

I do think that Andrew Cuomo there are a number of things that he has said and done he would not have done if I weren't a Muslim candidate. And it is all too familiar for a lot of Muslim New Yorkers grew up in this city to see the speaking up of for Palestinian human rights to then be labeled as if it is bigotry against the Jewish faith. And what I've appreciated is that for all of the fear mongering that he's done, there are so many Jewish New Yorkers who are able to see through that and that I can look through his fear mongering and still reckon with anti Semitism in this city and talk about the real ways that we'll actually root rooted out. It's not how Andrew Cuomo wants to weaponize it. It's are you going to increase funding for hate crime prevention programs? Are you going to ensure that the NYPD are outside of synagogues and temples on the Jewish high holy days? Are you going to actually have a curriculum like Hidden Voices taught in schools that celebrates the breath and the beauty of Jewish life?

[Akash Singh]

You will do all of these things.

[Eric Adams]

All of these things. And that's what's been so frustrating is that this is a real concern that many Jewish New Yorkers have. And here's a guy who's just using it for political.

[David]

Yeah.

[Akash Singh]

And I think we all laughed at the Israel moment and it was ridiculous to. But I knew the reason everyone was hammering you on it on that stage. I was like, it was pretty obvious.

[David]

There was another thing that I thought was hilarious. Like the picture with you with the imam and the New York Post put in the front page. And I'm like, holy shit, this looks bad. And then I look him up, and Bloomberg campaigned with them and Mayor Adams campaigned. I'm like, wait, okay, so what exactly is going on here? And then I think Cuomo said something where he goes, look at him standing with this guy who's homophobic. Like, he even detached himself from the World Trade center bombing thing because he.

[Eric Adams]

Knew it was a, well, unindicted coke. And spiriter is translation for man who is not found guilty of anything. It's like, I obviously object to a number of things that the imam has said about queer New Yorkers, and I am able to still stand there and speak to him while having a platform to defend those same queer New Yorkers, celebrate and cherish them in the city. And Andrew Cuomo is always looking to distract from the fact that he has no platform.

[David]

I'm not asking you to justify yourself. I'm just showing you that there are these campaigns that are put out there and, you know, people will twist the truth and, like, it doesn't only happen with politicians. It happens, like, anybody famous. You know what I mean? So it's like, and you're getting the brunt of it. And I think you've handled it, like, with a lot of class, to be honest with you. Like, I know what it's like for the Internet to say something about me that is completely false, and then people just believe it. And you are existing in this and you're lucky enough to have a message that resonates with people where they can refute those lies that people say about you. I don't know if that's luck. I think that might be, like, talent, like, you earned it. But it is fortunate that there are people that will be vocal despite the criticism that they might endure. Like, yeah, it's pretty, that's, that's pretty awesome that you're touching people like that. I, I genuinely hope that, like, what you're presenting can be executed. I mean that sincerely. I, I mean that sincerely. I appreciate it. I, I, and I, I know that there's going to be a lot of opposition. You know, that more than anything you've been in government. And, yeah, I just hope you have the political capital to push it through. And I hope that these decisions actually make life better for New Yorkers. And I hope if you find that they Don't. That you won't be caught up in your ego and you will be able.

[Eric Adams]

To pivot for the best in New York. It always has to be for the city.

[David]

Okay. Because that has to be for the city. Sometimes we make decisions and we have the best intentions behind those decisions, and they don't work out. And the politicians or the leaders in general that are willing to go, ah, that wasn't the right thing. We can make that happen.

[Eric Adams]

You can actually grow, dude.

[David]

We'll like you even more for acknowledging it, and we'll feel even safer.

[Eric Adams]

I also think this is. It's a human. It's a part of being human, right to be able to reflect and to be committed more to a mission than it is to yourself.

[David]

Yeah.

[Eric Adams]

And look, like I came on the show, for me, it was bad for New York, right?

[Zoran]

I'm learning that. I'm learning that I'm not going to come back because it was a selfish decision. I can learn that expensive lesson. It's an expensive lesson.

[Eric Adams]

What's the odds at right now?

[Zoran]

51, 51%. 51%.

[Joey]

You have to win because I bet him $1,000 that you would win.

[Eric Adams]

Okay.

[Zoran]

I had he bet against you.

[David]

That's crazy.

[Eric Adams]

I had a guy I hadn't spoken to. The people I had a guy I hadn't spoken to since high school. Text me, like, five days before the election goes, yo, bro, I just put a thousand on you. Like, please don't let me down, okay?

[Zoran]

Zara is trying to get you at it.

[Eric Adams]

Where do you have to go next?

[Akash Singh]

Procurement press conference.

[David]

Okay, what does that mean? What does that mean?

[Akash Singh]

What, are you procuring?

[Eric Adams]

Yeah, we're talking about how to cut down on waste.

[Akash Singh]

I love this. This is my language. I will we on the Potter.

[Zoran]

I gotta preach.

[David]

Your sponsor.

[Zoran]

You're not serious about this efficiency game. No, we're gonna go to Bungalow and.

[Akash Singh]

Then we're gonna talk, and then I'll be there with you.

[David]

Okay.

[Joey]

Before you go, Joey, bring in the bench press, because he has to.

[Zoran]

While you're sitting in the bench.

[Eric Adams]

Every year.

[Zoran]

I'm gonna do £1 more next year. 136. Let's go the year after that. As soon as you got into the bench, I was like, you up? Dude, let me tell you, you shouldn't have done it.

[Eric Adams]

I knew I up when I said that.

[Zoran]

You think I thought. You think I thought I was going to kill it? I knew there was a problem, and this guy was like, you got to do it. I was like, you got to do it. He's like, I really don't.

[Akash Singh]

You should have put the big 10 pound weights on. You know them big 10 pounds.

[Zoran]

I was trying to get out of it.

[Akash Singh]

Now you got it.

[Zoran]

I was trying to get next year.

[Eric Adams]

1:36.

[Zoran]

Okay.

[Eric Adams]

Promises I can keep.

[Zoran]

You didn't keep 1:35. Thank you very much for taking the time. I appreciate it.

[David]

Thank you so much.