The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Episode 3593 - Delgado's Vision for New York; Trump's Assault on Housing

Date: October 1, 2025
Guests: Jesse Coburn (ProPublica), Antonio Delgado (NY Lt. Governor & gubernatorial candidate)

Overview

This episode centers on two major themes:

1. The Trump Administration’s Assault on Public Housing—with investigative insights from Jesse Coburn (ProPublica), focusing on drastic policy changes at HUD, punitive proposals for public housing and Section 8, and their broader societal impact.
2. Antonio Delgado’s Challenge to New York's Status Quo—Lt. Gov. Delgado’s campaign for governor and his policy vision for New York, including housing, wealth inequality, healthcare, and the moral role of state leadership.

Additional discussion addresses the first day of a government shutdown, Republican and Democratic maneuvering, GOP talking points on immigration and healthcare, and live analysis and commentary by Sam Seder, Emma Vigland, and the Majority Report crew.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Government Shutdown: Blame, Lies, and Political Opportunity

(00:12–20:02)

• Democrats accused by GOP of wanting to “give health care to illegal aliens” and for rejecting a “clean” funding resolution.
• Sam & Emma’s critique:
  • The GOP’s shutdown messaging is a distraction, centering on anti-immigrant rhetoric and misinformation about healthcare and Medicaid.
  • “It gives Democrats a unique opportunity to press their point… we are right at the precipice of the economy going into the crapper. Jobs numbers are down, inflation is up.” – Sam Seder (07:22)
• Mike Johnson interview analyzed:
  • He falsely claims Democratic proposals would provide benefits to undocumented immigrants, despite statutory prohibitions.
  • Hosts repeatedly clarify the law: undocumented immigrants cannot get ACA subsidies, Medicaid, or CHIP; some states expand coverage, but that’s not federal policy.
• Undocumented immigrants pay taxes but don’t get benefits.
  • “Undocumented immigrants subsidize our health care because they still pay taxes, but they don’t get the benefit.” – Emma Vigland (17:19)

2. Trump’s Assault on Public Housing—Jesse Coburn Interview

Segment Starts: 27:08

a. Purge at HUD & Rollback of Civil Rights

• Trump’s HUD Sec. Scott Turner instituted massive layoffs and defunding of the Fair Housing Office, stalling discrimination investigations and enforcement across both public and private housing.
  • “HUD started off… rolling back any actions to protect tenants or reverse discrimination, and really steep cuts.” – Jesse Coburn (27:40)

b. Drastic Proposed Rule Changes

• Two rules drafted (but not yet introduced):
  1. Work Requirements:
     • Public housing tenants and Section 8 recipients could be required to work or face eviction (with limited exemptions).
     • “A landlord who’s getting Section 8 vouchers can be in charge of assessing whether you are working or not… one of the most effed up things I’ve ever heard.” – Sam Seder (32:38)
     • “Four million people could lose federal housing assistance… average family is making less than $20k a year.” – Emma Vigland (34:25)
  2. Term Limits:
     • Recipients might be evicted after just two years regardless of circumstances.
• Administrative Chaos:
  • State-level expansions possible; burden on landlords to police tenants’ employment status; anticipated unjust evictions.

c. Targeting Immigrant Households

• “Mixed status” families (some legal, some not) would be completely barred from assistance—even US-citizen children could be forced out.
  • “16,000 of those families are families with kids… everyone gets kicked out. Under this Trump proposal, these kids are essentially made unhoused.” – Sam Seder (41:07)
• New "citizenship documentation" requirement—all applicants would have to present a birth certificate or passport, potentially stripping benefits from eligible citizens lacking paperwork.
  • “It’s going to create this massive bureaucracy and red tape around housing assistance.” – Jesse Coburn (39:38)

d. Context and Broader Aims

• These efforts come on top of decades-old caps on new public housing construction (Faircloth Amendment) and frame an intent to slash and block grant federal assistance, undermining support for the most vulnerable.
  • “Their ambition is to dramatically curtail the federal government’s efforts to help poor people afford housing.” – Jesse Coburn (40:24)

e. Notable Quotes

• “Work requirements in welfare programs… don’t really effectively promote employment, but they are very effective at removing people from benefits.” – Jesse Coburn (36:25)
• “This is really just a way of cutting out this program and using immigrants as a sort of selling tool.” – Sam Seder (42:42)

f. Enforcement, ICE, and Data Sharing

• HUD–DHS data sharing targets these families, but so far, no surge in ICE activity reported at public housing, partly for practical reasons.

3. Antonio Delgado—Vision for New York

Segment Starts: 46:03

a. Why Challenge Governor Hochul?

• “Status quo is broken. It’s not working for people… Every single day, New Yorkers are being left behind.” – Antonio Delgado (46:36)
• Stark statistics:
  • 1 in 4 can’t afford necessities; wealth gap greatest of any state; 1 in 5 kids in poverty—despite NY’s $254B budget and “third largest economy in the country.”

b. Wealth Inequality & Democracy

• “If you’re being priced out of the project of democracy, why even believe in it in the first place? There’s a sense of economic nihilism that sets in.” – Delgado (48:08)
• Corporate power blames: “Corporations are making more than they've ever made and paying less in taxes. Those two things shouldn't go together.” (49:05)

c. Housing Strategy—Direct Public Investment

• Strong critique of privatized “affordable housing” model:
  • “You outsource all the state’s capacity… and you just say, please, private sector… devise for us affordable housing… The driving mechanism for those private actors is profit.”
• Delgado’s plan:
  • Statewide rental assistance program; $250M proposal vs. Governor’s $50M.
  • First-time homeowner grant program—public dollars directly to families.
  • “That’s just a more sophisticated version of trickle-down economics, if you ask me.” (52:36)

d. Universal Healthcare for NY

• Strongly supports the New York Health Act (single-payer):
  • “We’re not paying for health care, we’re paying for insurance… companies extracting as much profit as possible at our expense.” (53:29)
  • “The savings actually start pouring in.”
  • “It’s a moral question too. Who are we as a nation if we’re not prepared to treat healthcare as a genuine human right?”

e. Building a People-Powered Coalition

• Cites success flipping a rural, largely white, Trump-leaning congressional district.
  • “We can build a coalition here that is rooted in a populist message that speaks to the economic pain… Teamster truck driver… young mother working in a factory…”
  • “Governor Hochul is entrenched in corporate power… a real appetite for candidates who can work beyond concentrated corporate power.” (57:02)

f. On NYC and Zoran Mamdani’s Mayoral Victory

• Early endorsement; calls for courage to “raise taxes on billionaires… and big corporations to fund the programs being proposed.”
  • Criticizes Hochul’s late and tepid support, saying priorities are with “the donor class.”

g. New York’s National Role

• “New York has long been the state that has been the beacon of hope for the world over… We are the embodiment of everything Trump is trying to tear down.” (61:59)
• Urges leadership driven by “uninhibited love, compassion, truth… beyond left-right divide.”
• “There’s a massive void [of leadership] on one of the biggest stages in the world.” (64:31)

h. Stance on Gaza & Israel

• “Whether folks want to call it a genocide or not, what’s most important to me is—we cannot fund it… We should not be arming the destruction of Gaza. We need a permanent ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and a moral responsibility not to enable this moral abomination.” (64:58)

i. People-Powered Campaign & Matching

• Emphasizes Public Matching program (6:1 for small donations) to keep his campaign people-powered.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Sam Seder, on Republican shutdown rhetoric:
  “They were always going to lie about something... This is giving Democrats a unique opportunity to press their point.” (07:22)
• Jesse Coburn, ProPublica:
  “Work requirements… don’t really effectively promote employment, but they are very effective at removing people from benefits.” (36:25)
• Antonio Delgado, on democracy’s decline:
  “There is a sense of economic nihilism that sets in… It’s fundamentally undermining our democratic system.” (48:08)
• Delgado, on the state’s role:
  “New York is the embodiment of everything Trump is trying to tear down… it is incumbent upon us to have leadership in this moment that is determined to meet the moment. And that is not a political mindset—it’s a moral mindset.” (62:00)
• Delgado, on healthcare:
  “We’re not paying for health care, we’re paying for insurance… and that is basically the entirety of our system. And the notion we’re going to continue to allow folks to go bankrupt… is insane.” (53:29)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:12–20:02 – Government shutdown, GOP/Democratic politics, healthcare lies
• 27:08 – Jesse Coburn interview: HUD under Trump, attack on public and fair housing, devastating proposals
• 31:56 – Analysis of proposed HUD rules: term limits, work requirements
• 39:38 – Rules targeting mixed-status immigrant households and red tape
• 46:03 – Antonio Delgado interview: running for NY governor, vision, critique of status quo
• 50:56 – Delgado’s housing plan vs. Hochul’s
• 53:29 – Universal healthcare advocacy for NY
• 57:02 – Building a statewide coalition; campaign finance, populism, corporate PAC money
• 59:33 – NYC mayoral politics; Zoran Mamdani & raising taxes on billionaires
• 61:59 – NY’s moral/national leadership & Trump’s antagonism
• 64:58 – Gaza, Israel, NY state divestment; “We should not be arming the destruction of Gaza.”

Final Thoughts & Audience Reactions

• Hosts praise Delgado’s substantive, populist approach and note the changing political landscape in NY—where the primary fight is between “corporate would-be Republican Democrats and Democrats who have a more populist vision."
• Emma: “Looking forward to supporting him in the primary.” (69:11)

For more:

• ProPublica coverage by Jesse Coburn (linked at majority.fm)
• Antonio Delgado for NY: delgado4ny.com

Original tone preserved: candid, irreverent, policy-focused, with in-depth reflection and clear progressive perspective.