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The Majority Report with Sam Seder
3613 - Mamdani 6 Days Out; Suing Trump Over SNAP w/ Zohran Mamdani, Andrea Joy Campbell
01:09:01
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- [00:00]
A
You are listening to a free version of Majority Report with Sam Steater. To support the show and get another 15 minutes of daily program, go to Majority FM please. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Wednesday, October 29, 2025. My name is Sam Seder. This is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, Andrea Joy Campbell, Attorney General, the state of Massachusetts on the lawsuit to force the Trump administration to continue to fund snap. Then maybe we will hear from a New York City mayoral candidate. Also on the program today, Israel unilaterally breaks ceasefire to kill 100 Palestinians, then decides to resume the ceasefire. Hurricane Melissa leaves Jamaica devastated, now moving towards Cuba as a lesser storm. Federal judge admonishes Border Patrol head Bovino in Chicago says they're breaking the law and that he needs to report to the court daily and wear a vest. Video camera. He's in trouble. I'm gonna go somewhere else. He's got an appointment every day at 6pm day 29 of the government shutdown as rumors abound about Scalise possibly retiring. HHS fires its top anti vaxxer who claims he was a victim of an anti RFK coup at the hhs. This sort of like a hat on a hat quality of the conspiracy with the conspiracy. UAW strike authorization vote starts for VW plant. And Chattanooga Federal Reserve likely to cut rates but is flying blind on unemployment amid reports of mass layoffs. Senate approves bipartisan resolution to end Brazil tariffs. And the UN Secretary General says humanity has missed the 1.5 Celsius climate target and must change course to avoid a climate catastrophe. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks so much for joining us. Emma is out today. She may be bummed to miss our second guest. Well, I mean, also our first guest, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. It is day 29 of the government shutdown. And as you know, many government functions, you know, sometimes it takes a while for people to feel the pain of these government shutdowns. For federal workers, of course, are already feeling this. Hundreds of thousands of them furloughed without pay. The largest federal workers union yesterday called on an end of the shutdown. Democrats seem to be holding steady in their demands, however, for not only an extension of the ACA subsidies and we are now very much in the territory where people are starting to realize just how much their health insurance rates are going up, whether they're on the ACA or not. But in particularly if you're on the ACA exchanges, Democrats are holding steady not only for that demand, but. But for the incredibly obvious demand of any deal we make, including passing a continuing resolution on the budget, must be adhered to by the administration. Because the problem is, up until this point, over the past 10 11, essentially 10 months, the Trump administration, starting with Doge and then followed up with Russell votes, efforts, have been deciding essentially based upon their own desires as to what will actually get funded and what won't. And that's not the way it works. Pocket rescissions, impoundment, much of which is illegal to the extent that the Supreme Court has stopped some of it. Even if they don't, what's the point of voting for a budget that is in name only? And if the Republicans really want to pass this and really want to own these decisions, they can get rid of the new the filibuster in the Senate. They've done it three other times already this year. But one of the things that the Trump administration is attempting to do, and we mentioned this yesterday, is to pretend that there is no contingency funding for SNAP benefits. 40, almost 42 million people across the country, the majority of whom are either children or senior citizens. The overwhelming majority of the people who are not children or senior citizens are working. And the Trump administration is pretending like they don't have the funds. They do. They found them in 2019. The USDA assured Congress over a month ago that they had the funds. And here's a report from MSNBC on the implications of SNAP recipients potentially losing their basic food aid. How long is this sustainable?
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B
Wow. It's not. It won't be from the first day. For every meal that a food bank provides, the SNAP program provides nine. There's no way we can meet that gap. There's no way we can replace every single one of those meals. It is not sustainable for food banks to fill this gap. We were not built to do this. We will stand out there and we will do our very best.
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C
We have more.
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A
Is there more on this? Oh, that was a longer clip that I had seen because they go to another charity person, I think it was in Iowa, and she said the same thing. We're just not built for this. Charity cannot replace the capacity of government to provide for people in this instance. This has been a long running argument, frankly, that Republicans have been trying to make for as long as I've been doing this over the past 20 years. That being that we could just have charity do this. We could just have churches do it. And the reason why SNAP exists, the reason why the entire welfare state, frankly, to the extent that it still exists, does exist, is because charities were failing at doing this before because you had 20,000 homeless men living on the Bowery 100 years ago in New York City. And I mean living on the street. And the Trump administration, while it found this money in 2019 during the shutdown, has decided they don't care about the 40 million people who might be without food aid. And they're hoping that Democrats will feel that pressure more than Republicans. Any luck on the rest of that clip or no?
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B
No.
- [09:33]
A
Okay, let's just watch the rest of this because this is important point, both in the context of snap, but more broadly speaking. And just a reminder, the amount of money that we're talking about in terms of what people get on any given day from a SNAP is, or I should say any given like week is in the tens, almost hundreds of dollars. This is not a huge amount of money. It is just enough to make sure that people don't go exceedingly hungry families. We've been seeing a lot of people. Right now is a scary time for many families.
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B
We've been seeing a lot of people.
- [10:23]
A
Visiting the food bank for the very first time. For nearly 7 million people in the.
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C
U.S. the WIC program is a vital.
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A
Resource for keeping families fed and healthy. It provides money to buy healthy food for low income pregnant women, new moms and children under five.
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B
It would be difficult. All the food that we get from WIC pretty much goes to him and his growing.
- [10:44]
A
But as the federal government enters day 10 of a shutdown, money for WIC as well as SNAP benefits. This is a different one. Sorry. All right, all right. We got to take a break. And when we come back, we're going to be talking to Andrea Joy Campbell, Attorney General of Massachusetts. She is one of 25 Attorney Generals and or Governors from 25 states and I should say the District of Columbia who have filed a lawsuit suing the USDA to release $6 billion of in contingency funds to pay for SNAP benefits. We take quick break. Oh, no, we don't need to take a quick break yet because I'm going to read some sponsor stuff.
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B
Sorry.
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A
And then in a minute we'll be talking to Andrea Joy Campbell. Actually, you know, did I read this yesterday too, or two days ago because a buddy of mine reached out and said, have you had luck with this? I want to try it. And I said, yes, I have. I've been using it now for over a year and I'm talking about neutral fall. If you're dealing with hair issues like thinning or shedding, which I was get out of the shower, I look into the towel and I'd be like, oh, I don't got many things going for me. I need my hair. But if you're stuck on what to try next, I get it. There are many products out there to hard to know which ones are actually going to do anything. I gave Neutrophil a try because they had sent us some years ago. At the time I wasn't that worried about it. I ended up trying it. It worked. Then I ended up actually meeting like the the owner of the company. Like completely, completely, totally coincidentally. And I know people who have actually like used the product and met the owner. That's a long story. But the bottom line is I've had a lot of success with it. Neutrophil is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand. It is trusted by over one and a half million people. He didn't even know he was, he obviously didn't know I was advertising for it. It's a big company, it was a little awkward but you could feel great about what you're putting into your body. Since Neutrophil, hair growth supplements are backed by peer reviewed studies and NSF Content certified which is the gold standard in third party certification for supplements. And here's the thing, many supplements will test the ingredients or I should say like note the efficacy of individual ingredients. Nutrafol clinically tests the final formulations to ensure their efficacy. They use a variety of hair measurement tools to make that assessment. Hair counts pull tests. They assess growth, quality, shedding and texture. Adding Neutral into your daily routine is super simple. You will see thicker, stronger, faster growing hair with less shedding in just three to six months with Nutrafol for limited time, neutral offering you 10 bucks off your first month subscription free shipping. When you go to neutral.com enter the promo code TMR10. Find out why Neutral is the best selling hair growth supplement brand@nutrafol.com spelled n u t r a f o l.com promo code tmr10 that's nutrafol.com promo code tmr10. We'll put the link in the podcast and YouTube description. Also sponsoring the program today, a great whole like line of products which I use daily both in our office and in my home. And that is Blue Land. Why? Because I want to get rid of plastics. Two types of Plastics one the huge jugs that I used to have to carry home of plastic, of cleaning fluid, of dishwashing, you know, squeeze stuff, what do you call that gel, liquid or liquid. But the one for the automatic dishwasher always comes in like these massive things. And then of course laundry detergent comes in this other massive thing. And I want to get rid of those plastic things because I just didn't have the room in my apartment for it, whether when they were empty or not empty. And then microplastics which are all over like your dishes when you put in those like plastic covered pods or whatever they call them. That's why I made the switch to Blueland. Across all of the cleaning products, the products meet the highest standard of clean. They're effective but they are gentle on the family and the planet. Blueland was also named an EPA Safer Choice partner of the year. They got cleaning sprays, three different types. The all purpose, the windows and the bathroom, they come in different colored bottles. You buy the bottle, the bottles come once. Then you use tablets in each of them so you can have months of cleaning supplies and it takes up a tiny space in your thing and you're not buying more and more plastic. And that's the same thing. We got the in the office we use the dishwashing non like machine dishwashing liquid. It's it comes in a powder and they give you a container. You just refill those. I've got the tablets for my laundry, I got the tablets for my dishwasher at home. I got the sort of toilet bombs that you drop in there, all of it. It's great stuff. It cleans really well and I save money and also I save space. The dishwasher tablets proven to perform on baked on burnt on stains. Laundry tablets lift the toughest stains from grass stains to food stains. They also even have some oxy powder. You can get toilet tablets work on a range of stains. Rust, mineral deposits, limescale, hard water. Brian Blueland has has a special offer for listeners right now. Get 15 off. Your first order going to blueland.com Majority you won't want to miss this. Blueland.com Majority 15 off that's blueland.com Majority get 15 off. We'll put the link in the podcast in the YouTube description. Quick break we come back. We'll be talking to Andrea Joy Campbell.
- [17:49]
B
It's.
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A
We are back. Sam Cedar on the majority report. Emma Viglin is out today. Joining us by phone Andrea Joy Campbell. She is the Attorney General of Massachusetts. Andrea, thanks so much. For joining us.
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B
Thank you for having me.
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A
You are one of 26, is it 26 or 25 attorney generals that are suing along with, I guess, some governors, the usda. Walk us through what the grounds are of this suit and what you're seeking.
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B
So first of all, thank you for having me. Yes, I'm proud to lead a coalition of it's 25 other states, so 22 other AGs and three governors. And the three governors attach themselves to our lawsuit to get relief for their constituents because they have Republican AGs that unfortunately are not joining any of our lawsuits when it comes to federal accountability or Trump accountability. So we filed this lawsuit yesterday here in Massachusetts. We have a hearing actually scheduled for tomorrow. And the goal is to get the court to push the administration and to require the Trump administration to not suspend SNAP benefits to our respective states on November 1 and to ensure that SNAP benefits continue to flow to our residents. We're talking about 42 million Americans across the country, mostly children, elders or people with disabilities. And here in Massachusetts, more than 1 million people defend, I should say, depend on these food benefits. And so we're fighting the fight with the hopes that the court agrees with our legal arguments to turn this funding or to ensure the funding continues to flow on November 1st and past November 1st.
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A
So what is the nature of the relief that you're seeking? Is it to enjoin, is it to force the Trump administration to use these contingency funds? Is it to enjoin them from not, not using them? How does that, what exactly is the specific ask? And then we'll go into the sort of statutory basis of this.
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B
So the ask is to get the court to mandate and require USDA and the Trump administration to to continue SNAP benefits in our states past November 1. Right now, the USDA has said during this government shutdown they are going to suspend SNAP benefits for all of these Americans across the country starting November 1st. So we sent a letter even before filing this lawsuit asking them for further clarification and why they are doing this. We got no response. But we filed this lawsuit to demand not only a response, but that they continue these SNAP benefits on November 1st and past the 1st.
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A
So the statutory basis of this is, as far as I can tell, a function of either the Administrative Procedure act or the Food and Nutrition act of 2008. And I guess there's also, I would say, I mean, it seems also that there's evidence that this is sort of capricious insofar as the USDA had a notice up on their website, as of, like, three days ago, that they had prepared for this and had the contingency funds.
- [22:12]
B
That's exactly right. So in our lawsuit, we make several claims, but one in particular is that suspending these SNAP benefits is not only contrary to law, but it is arbitrary and capricious under this Administrative Procedure act, and that we got no clarification to our states as to why they were suspending these benefits. And what's further, just horrible to say the least, is that this has never happened in the history of our country, even during government shutdowns. Administrations previous to this one have always used reserve funds to fund SNAP benefits. And here right now, the Trump administration is sitting on $6 billion in a snap reserve fund for emergency situations just like this. And then, of course, Congress has authorized these funds to exist and to be available, and they only have the power to take it away. So they're violating also the congressional authority here, as you mentioned.
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A
Give us a sense of the implications of SNAP funds being cut off in Massachusetts. But this is. This will be replicated across the country.
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B
Absolutely. So we're Talking about over 42 million Americans across the country that would be left without assistance to buy food. And specifically here in Massachusetts, it's more than 1 million people, and nearly 60% of that 1 million are children and seniors, and over 30% are people with disabilities. So we've been stressing that hunger is not a political issue. It's a human crisis. Frankly. Organizations have been looking to deal with food insecurity for decades and so absolutely need the federal government to be a part of the solution in addressing food insecurity. And I would just add here in Massachusetts, we've been stressing it's not harm just to SNAP recipients. It also would affect our economy. Here in Massachusetts, we're talking about millions of dollars, close to $240 million per. Per month that we receive from the federal government to provide these resources for our families. This is hundreds of thousands, or maybe even thousands, actually, of grocers and merchants that accept SNAP payments for food purchases, that rely on these payments to keep their businesses going. These are local governments, of course, and food pantries that would be absolutely strained if we don't get these SNAP benefits continued for schools. That would also be in a very terrible position if we don't get this money turned on past November 1, because, of course, they will then be responsible for trying to feed children that are hungry. So it's a ripple effect that affects so many stakeholders in our state, our residents, and our economy.
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A
And this may be a little bit outside of your portfolio, but my understanding is that for every dollar spent in SNAP benefits, it creates about $1.50 in economic activ. You know, the SNAP beneficiary pays the grocer. The grocer then goes and buys other stuff or pays their employees. And we should also say, my understanding is that it is inflationary to cut back on SNAP payments in that grocery stores are a volume business. And so if they lose volume, they've got to make up their overhead, stays exactly the same, but they've got to make up that difference by increasing their prices.
- [25:47]
B
That's exactly right. I couldn't have said it any better, Sam. And we've been stressing it's not just an individual or a family that would lose here and create just horrific conditions, especially before the holidays for our families, the economic impact would be severe. And we already know we're in an affordability crisis. Everything in the country, including in Massachusetts, is too expensive. Groceries are too expensive, childcare, housing, you name it. And so we've been doing everything we can, including in my office at the ago, of addressing issues of affordability and consumer protection, doing our best to reduce prices. We want a federal government that is a part of the solution here. And unfortunately, they continue to create more problems for us and more angst and anxiety for our families.
- [26:35]
A
It seems easy, I mean, it's easy to forget the direct implications of this. Have you got, you know, when we start getting into the conversation about the legal principles at issue here and the economic principles. But is your office or. I would imagine there are other agencies in Massachusetts. And again, I imagine this is happening in states across the country where you're beginning to hear from advocates of low income folks, of people who work in the food bank, you know, in food banks and NGOs, like, how sort of, how much sort of like just human misery is going to be? Is this lack of SNAP benefits going to create?
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B
It will be devastating, to say the least. And we as a state cannot close this gap. We don't have enough resources to cover the shortfall that would exist on November 1st and millions of dollars to feed our people here in Massachusetts. And so we saw an incredible coalition that stood with me yesterday in filing this lawsuit. And that coalition made up not only the food pantries all across Massachusetts that were already strained, seeking to, of course, get relief here for their families and their constituents and clients. We saw folks from our church community also show up because many churches, of course, provide food services and food for our residents in addition to that we saw folks from the healthcare space, pediatricians, doctors, nurses, absolutely concerned about food insecurity because they know if folks don't have enough food to eat, it leads to ridiculous and horrifying health outcomes, especially for our children and our elders, which then of course would put a strain on our public health system, on our healthcare institutions and providers. We saw school leaders also show up. And every elected official, I think, in this state is showing up. And we've been saying this lawsuit in this federal accountability work we are doing is not about politics. This is about real people that would suffer. And when we do this work of filing lawsuits against this administration, it's not personal. We are delivering resources in relief to folks regardless of what letters by their name. We don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, independent. We see human beings, human beings that would go without food, especially our seniors, especially our children, our most vulnerable. So we'll keep holding the administration accountable to deliver for them and do it in partnership with all of these stakeholders who also are very afraid of what would happen to their respective ecosystems, including public health, public infrastructure, of our economic businesses, as you described. All of that could go under if we don't get this result.
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A
And so is this, which court is this sitting in the hearing that you're going to be having, and I assume the idea is to get some type of sort of like injunctive relief, right? That would go into effect immediately because we're at October 30th as of tomorrow.
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B
That's exactly right. We filed a complaint as well as a temporary restraining order. The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow. It's in the district of Massachusetts here in Massachusetts federal court. And we will bring that urgency in argument as we have in our papers and in the complaint to the judge. And we hope that the judge will not only hear our arguments, but rule immediately to push the administration to continue SNAP resources for our SNAP recipients here in Massachusetts and across this country.
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A
And so the hearing that's going to be in this Massachusetts federal court will pertain across the country. It's almost like a multi district litigation type of situation.
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B
That's exactly right. Multi state. But I have to be crystal clear, the only ags that are stepping up in this moment in time is Democratic ags. There's not one Republican AG that has signed on to our SNAP lawsuit. They're terrified, have three governors.
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A
They're terrified because this is, this is clearly a Trump intimidation ploy and they're terrified of going against him.
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B
Him.
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A
Just one or two more questions because I know You've obviously got a lot on your plate. One of the things that we're seeing, you know, in Illinois, California, in New York State, to a certain extent, I know there's been a lot of ICE activity in Massachusetts, California, Illinois and New York have set up at least some version of an accountability portal where people are sending in videos and filing complaints against ice. We've seen Bovino, who's head of actually or a Customs and Border official, but a lot of those people are now replacing the ICE people getting completely dressed down in a court in, in Chicago and has to report there every day at 6pm I guess with his video camera to make sure that he's not, you know, using tear gas on kids who are doing Halloween trick or treating. Is Massachusetts. Is there any talk in Massachusetts of setting up a similar type of repository of data, video testimonies that could ultimately be used to hold ICE law breaking accountable?
- [32:33]
B
In many ways, yes. We have formal apparatuses where folks can file complaints with our office on anything for that matter. We're trying to ensure that folks are getting this information in real time, even on social media. So I encourage folks to follow us at Massago or AJCampbellMA and folks can send us all types of information through our website on social media, call our office. We have real people that pick up the phone. And so we are being as accessible as we can, including through some of our community based organizations where we recognize that folks may not want to send anything to government right now. So working closely with community based organizations through our Immigrant Advisory Council and continuing to get that information out there. And I will just say I am in personal contact and have been since the outset with ags across the country when it comes to this Trump administration and federal accountability work, including California, Oregon, Illinois, New York, we're following everything on ice. National Guard, we're prepared here in Massachusetts, of course we hope they don't come here, but we're absolutely prepared to protect our people.
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A
That's good to hear, Andrea. Joy Campbell, Attorney General of Massachusetts, thanks so much for joining us. And I am being told by people who are IM ing me that I said attorney Generals as opposed to attorneys general. And so I apologize for that.
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B
People go back and forth either way. Ags all the things. Sam, you're doing it right. You're getting the information out. That's what.
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A
If you're the AG and you're telling me that that's okay, that I'm within bounds, then I feel like I have.
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B
A go back and forth. God bless. Thank you for Having me and hope to see you in Massachusetts at some point.
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A
Thank you. I will be up there probably in the holidays. I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
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B
Thank you. Bye.
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A
That's. Well, that's good to hear that. It's nice to know that attorney attorneys general across the country are in contact with each other about this ICE stuff. While we're nitpicking, use the metaphor a lot on your plate to her, which I felt was a little insensitive given what's going on. The SNAP benefits. Never mind. Oh, gosh, sorry. I should have said. No pun intended. The thing about the economy, I was going to say at the end of the interview, go, Pats, but I figured they're already going.
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D
Yeah, the thing about the economy is so crazy because I feel like Republicans in the right have conditioned people to think like, oh, well, okay, we're immiserating people, but there's some sort of benefit to the economy before.
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A
I mean, this is the way that it goes, particularly in this era. The lack of. Of shamelessness is astonishing because when the question becomes. The question moves from, like, when everyone realizes that Mike Johnson is lying when he says, we don't have authority to do this. They did it in 2019. The. The website itself announced that it had already reported to Congress that we have the contingency funds. And then they come out and pretend that it's not the case. The next step is them all saying, like, snap is bad anyways, that it people are living high on the hog, that it's creating inflation. All of these things are just lies. All these things are just lies. But it is fascinating to watch them sort of mutate from, we can't do it. We want to do it, but we can't do it to like, well, it's obvious we can do it, but we don't want to because it's bad to do it. It's. It's gross. It's violent.
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D
It really is like using hunger as a political weapon.
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A
All right, we got a couple of minutes before our next guest. We still on track for our next guest? We are anticipating a mayoral candidate joining us.
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D
He brings his cats.
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A
Complimentary berets. Noah from Tampa, can we discuss why the attorney general kept calling it a not political to feed people. It is politics. Clearly, Republican politicians are okay with people starving. That is a political choice. I agree with you. I can understand on some level why the attorney general of a state, as opposed to a governor, chooses to downplay the political aspects of this so that this is not seen as partisan, but rather A matter of law. But for our purposes, of course, it's political. And I think, you know, that came out in the sense that she mentioned. There are no republican attorney generals who are doing this. To the extent that there are governors who are bringing this case, it's because they have Republican attorney generals who refuse to bring this case. And so that is the.
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B
The.
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A
The long and short of it on. On pay. All right, let's. Well, we don't have time to do this. Let's do Bill ackman. We'll save the other one for later. But what is this? This is at the future investment initiative conference in Riyadh. I follow this conference quite a bit. I actually turned it down as a. Brian was asked to do it. He wouldn't do it. But this is just one that I usually watch in my leisure time. And Bill Ackman is there. Does this dude even, like, even live remotely in New York at all? But he's with David Rubenstein of the chairman of the Carlisle group. They're at the future invest initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the king Abdulaziz.
- [39:12]
D
Conference center, which is a glorious building. We should look up pictures of it.
- [39:16]
A
And of course, they're terrified at. They're in the middle east. And the biggest fear, of course, is that Zoramudani may win the mayoral election. New York's been very good to me and my family. Been New York City residence for over 100 years, and it's the most important financial capital in the world. And I think there are every. You know, having a socialist mayor, I think would be catastrophic for New York. While he's correct, as we saw from the survey, affordability is the number one issue, actually, for many people in New York City.
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D
He's correct on the issue, but he's.
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A
Incorrect on the solution.
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B
All right, so who's going to win the mayor election?
- [39:59]
A
I actually think we have a shot.
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D
Of Cuomo winning the election, but we.
- [40:02]
A
Have to have everyone on this panel tell everyone who works for them to show up on election day or before.
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D
It's a critically important election for New York.
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A
All right, we got to take a break, and we will bring a. Zoran Mamdani will be joining us in just a moment. And Bill Ackman, what she's saying wrong on multiple accounts there. If his family's been in the city for 100 years, they lived under a socialist mayor. But that aside, we'll take a break. Maybe we'll let Zoram Hamdani respond to Bill Ackman as to Andrew Cuomo's chances.
- [41:02]
B
It's.
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A
We are back. Sam Cedar on the Majority Report, Emma Viglin out today, much to her chagrin. Joining me now, the Democratic nominee for New York City, Mayor Zoran Mumdani. We'll see. Mr. Nominee, at this point. Thanks so much for joining us. You've got, I guess, just a couple of days, but voting is happening now. What are you what is the number one thing that you are looking for to close this thing out at this point?
- [42:21]
E
Sand first, I have to say it's great to be back. And the number one thing continues to be getting people out there, not just to vote, but frankly to canvas. The reason that I'm sitting in front of you as the Democratic nominee is because we had 52,000 volunteers in the primary who knocked on more than one and a half million doors. And right now, today, what we have is an opportunity to build on that by delivering 92,000 volunteers out there across the five boroughs knocking on doors. And that's really what we're looking to do in these final six days.
- [42:52]
A
Do you have any sense from the early voting tallies, like, are things going according to the plans or the estimates or what?
- [43:04]
E
You know, I think these are going to be a lot of days of people trying to extrapolate every little thing they can from every figure, every, you know, demographic breakdown, age break down. I think the best way to deal with any anxiety is always to be canvassing. And that's what I've told myself, that's what I've told others across the city. And I think what we're seeing is, frankly, something to be celebrated, which is that more and more New Yorkers are going out to vote. We just have to make sure that we continue to make the case because, you know, a friend of mine, Charlie, he was canvassing yesterday in Hell's Kitchen, and he shared, shared afterwards that there was a guy he knocked on the door of who said that he hasn't actually heard of me. He hadn't heard of this race. He's just starting to tune in. So as much as this has been the lifeblood of so many of us for so long, so much of the last year, there are many New Yorkers for whom these are the next six days where they will start to think about this race. And we really got to be there at their doorsteps and on their phones to let them know.
- [43:51]
A
Yeah, that's the one thing I've learned in, you know, doing this for 20 years is that the people don't. There's a Lot of people out there who just don't pay attention to these things in the way that others do. And if you're not in New York City, you can still phone bank for you, too, because I have a sister in California who's been doing that.
- [44:10]
E
Hi. Thank you very much to your sister. I hope that she's watching. We really appreciate you. And I do have to say to everybody that, you know, in just as much as the 1.6 million door knocks was critical in the primary, we had 2.1 million phone calls, and that was from New Yorkers and that was also from Americans across the country. So please head on over to zahran for nyc.com geotv Sign up for a canvas shift if you're here in the five boroughs or sign up for a phone banking shift, because these are the moments where we can actually make the difference. And funnily enough, there are a lot of voters for whom their persuasion rates are higher if you call them on the phone than if you speak to them at their door. So there's a real utility in you guys being a part of this.
- [44:47]
A
Oh, that's interesting. I hadn't, I hadn't known that. All right, so I wanted to ask you this. Like, you know, we. You're on this program almost 10 months, very close to the day, frankly, and I wonder, you know, as you've gone through this process, what have there been things that you have learned about the city that you think might inform your, your governance of it or challenges that you think exist that you didn't weren't aware of at that time?
- [45:18]
E
You know, what I've, what I've learned is that for many New Yorkers, their experience with politics has just, it's been that of broken promises and an ever diminishing amount of faith in the ability of democracy to be able to deliver on the most basic things in people's day to day lives? And if you want to inspire the sense of possibility that you can take on the biggest crises in this city, some of the ways that you have to start to do that is by honoring the smallest issues that so many politicians have overlooked. And I was at a meeting in Rochdale Village in Southeast Queens and I was speaking about our plan to make buses fast and free. And an older woman in the audience asked me, would I honor the promise that was to build a speed bump on her block that was made years ago. And to me, those things are. They're intermingled. Right. If you can't take on the smallest issue, then how would you take on the biggest crisis. And that's why we have to show New Yorkers that we care about every single step of this. The other thing I've also learned, Sam, is that people have a lot of different words to describe the same thing. I've spoken openly and proudly about the fact that I'm a democratic socialist. And I was at a gathering of faith leaders in Brooklyn and there was a man who got up and said, I didn't quite might understand exactly what your politics were. But then I started to think about where I come from and the figures like Michael Manley and Walter Rodney. He was from the Caribbean diaspora and how he was situating our politics in his own lexicon with his own historical figures. And that's also such a beautiful moment of opportunity to show everyone in the city that this message of dignity is spoken of with different words. It is spoken of by different names, but it is the same message. And we deserve a mayor who will speak that for all New Yorkers.
- [46:57]
A
Lastly, because I know you got to go, you obviously have a lot of things to do. Where would you recommend Andrew Cuomo settles in Florida? Are there particular cities or towns? Do you think this is like east coast, west coast type of situation for him?
- [47:18]
E
Andrew Cuomo said he was just like, I don't know.
- [47:28]
A
Your, your audio is breaking up there. But I guess you, I'm going to guess you were reminding people that Andrew Cuomo said that if you win, he was going to go to Florida. It doesn't feel like his attachment to New York City is that great that, that he would head down there in that instance, but I guess he would save on his income tax. No, I think we've lost them. Well, good luck, folks. It is time to get out there and vote. If you are a New York City resident, you can vote early right now across the five boroughs and get out there and vote. And if you're not a New York resident, well, and if you're, if you're anywhere in the close proximity of the city, you can knock on doors and if you're not, you can, you can make phone calls on behalf of Zoran Mandani. We will put a link @M majority fm and in this podcast and YouTube description to his site where you can volunteer. Do we have a URL for that right now? Didn't get a chance to ask him my Bill Ackman question.
- [48:51]
D
Zuron4nyc.com there's volunteer help get out the vote and polling site information there.
- [48:59]
A
I wonder if Bill Ackman will. Will leave the city as well, can.
- [49:05]
D
Imagine being Bill Ackman's daughter who like apparently kind of spurred this whole thing on by becoming sort of left leaning after get exposed to ideas in college and seeing your dad spend all your inheritance on attacking a politician that you like.
- [49:19]
A
Well, it's also funny too because on some level, if you project out to how old each one of them will be there, his daughter will be in New York City longer than him. But the idea that you could Trace your roots 100 years in New York City and not be aware of anything that's happened in the city is fascinating. 100 years ago, when his grandparents or great grandparents came to the city, they would have probably been grandparents. They saw a city with literally 20,000 people sleeping on the streets just in the Bowery alone. And many of the best attributes that we have of the city are a function of Fiorella laguardia, who was. I don't know if he was socialist.
- [50:20]
D
In name, very much a statist, new.
- [50:24]
A
Deal, without a doubt. I would say his politics were probably, broadly speaking, at least in terms of the things that Ackman's afraid of, very similar. And again, this is. I think there's also. I think there is a healthy amount of bigotry associated with Bill Ackman because Mamdani has made the point in the past that Ackman has spent more money in trying to keep Mamdani out then it's going to cost Ackman if Mamdani is able to get his 2% tax. But I think there is a. There is, there is such a. An intense irrationality associated with this. There is. There's both bigotry and I think this is a big part of it, Islamophobic bigotry that is associated with this. I also think that there is a healthy dose of fear that things are changing politically for young people and by young people. You know, like obviously there's a tremendous amount of intensity for Mamdani people, you.
- [51:45]
B
Know.
- [51:47]
A
18 to 45, but broadly speaking, I think his numbers are going to be pretty good across all of these age cohorts. But I think there's a certain amount of that as well. But just to give you a sense, should we do this in the fun half or should we do this now? We should. Might as well do this right now. This clip. No. Benji Irby, what is it? This is from Newsmax. The intensity in which the cuomoites. I mean, because look, we know Curtis Lewis is not going to win. Curtis Lewa knows he's not going to win. He's even said at different times, like, look, I owe it to the other Republicans running in the race to stay on the ticket. Because without somebody at the top of the ticket, without somebody out there driving Republicans to the polls, they have less of a chance of winning.
- [52:45]
D
Smart. Instead of like campaigning with Liz Cheney, for instance.
- [52:50]
A
Right? I mean, there's. Yes, sophisticated. Andrew Cuomo is out there. He's been about as lackadaisical as you could be on this. There is a sense that he's trying to justify the money that's been spent on him.
- [53:05]
B
Him.
- [53:06]
A
He could still win, though. Let's be clear. He could still win. And none of this should be taken for granted. But to watch the intensity of the fear of Mamdani get these people to trip themselves up in trying to make an argument that he's gonna be bad for the Jews.
- [53:34]
E
This is.
- [53:36]
A
If this clip. If I could frame this clip and hang it on my wall, this would be like. Like, you know, over the 20 years that been at this, this would be like one of. I don't know. I can't remember what the other ones are, but this one I would love to be able to frame.
- [53:53]
B
This is.
- [53:54]
A
What's his name? Ben. Ben Jerby. It ends in J. Benj.
- [53:59]
D
Benj.
- [53:59]
A
Oh, Benj Irby. Okay. And this is on Generator Newsmax. I don't know who Ben Irby is, but here he is.
- [54:14]
D
Get to know him.
- [54:15]
A
Oh, and we should also just say the Chiron. If you can't hear. Newsmax. Trans female rabbis campaign for Mamdani.
- [54:25]
C
I guess now it's more so, like, you know, chickens for KFC with this whole Mondami. Or like, cows for McDonald's here, look. I mean, I don't know why any person who would be.
- [54:34]
A
Pause it for a second. Okay? It just. He was. He was cracking up. The host. Who's the host? I don't. Newsmax is tough. Yeah, it's tough. They're all sort of like. They get like, pumped out of the same machine. Go back to the beginning a little bit so we can hear actually the context for this. Okay.
- [54:52]
B
Gut.
- [54:53]
C
I guess now it's more so like, you know, chickens for KFC with this whole Mondami. Or like cows for McDonald's here, look. I mean, I don't know why any person who would be a Jewish person, who'd be an American person, someone who lived through 9 11, which I did in New York City, being born and raised here, would be ready to vote for someone who has such ties to extremists and there's nothing wrong with like actual American Muslims especially you have like Nation of Islam who are like black American Muslim people like that. But this guy Mandambi, there's so many extreme people that he's been aligned with. And for this to have happened in New York City just 24 years ago.
- [55:27]
A
Pause it for a second. Okay, first off, this guy really like his first day, this really does have like first day vibes.
- [55:41]
C
Standing up for the Nation of Islam.
- [55:43]
A
Exactly. Standing up for the Nation of Islam on Newsmax. And if, and the implication is that Mamdani is some type of like secret, like a foreign type of Muslim, I.
- [55:56]
D
Guess, kind of Muslim.
- [55:57]
A
And the so called radical figures that he's talking about, you should know, Bloomberg, Giuliani, de Blasio, all I think campaigned with this guy as well. Yeah, even like, and I mentioned Giuliani because he's Italian. And as you know, for Cuomo, that is one of the big issues, all the anti Italian bigotry that is being aimed at him over this campaign. But let's just go back a little bit because the part that's going to get me to frame this and put this on my wall is coming up.
- [56:42]
C
And there's nothing wrong with like actual American Muslims especially you have like Nation of Islam who are like black American Muslims, people like that. But this guy Mondambi, there's so many extreme people that he's been aligned with. And for this to have happened in New York City just 24 years ago. And like this is where we are. Like we were the city of like Giuliani and even like Bloomberg. And it's like who met with. What the heck has happened? I mean we only have a few more weeks to go. I mean, go Sliwa, go Cuomo, go. Anybody that's not this guy probably promising all this free stuff because that's what's putting his whole coalition together. The promise of free stuff makes Jews forget that like he's an extremist.
- [57:16]
A
Yeah, I guess. Well, let me say, I mean he's an extremist on one hand, but there's free stuff.
- [57:32]
D
I mean, what's more extreme than free?
- [57:35]
E
Yeah.
- [57:39]
A
There'S nothing like going up there and defending Jews by saying that they are being swayed by the notion of free bus fare to vote for someone who is a threat to them.
- [57:55]
D
And then he throws up this.
- [57:56]
A
Look, wait a second. Is this true? We're getting free things now. Wait a second. I was, was going to write off this so Rod Mamdani, but I didn't. Nobody said Anything about the free things. This Libertarian Farrakhan, just unbelievable. This is. Put up the last image of him. This. There's the Jews always going for the free things. Don't shoot the messenger.
- [58:34]
D
Listen.
- [58:37]
A
Why would I pay retail when I could just vote for Mom Daddy?
- [58:41]
D
For a second there, I thought Jordan had paraphrased what he said because he sort of like puts it in a less sort of egregious way right before. And then he puts the. Put the fine point on.
- [58:51]
A
Let's just play this one more time, just in case you thought that you didn't hear what you heard.
- [58:57]
C
We only have a few more weeks to go. I mean, go Sliwa, go Cuomo, go anybody. That's not this guy promising all this free stuff. Cuz that's what's putting his whole coalition together. The promise of free stuff makes Jews forget that. Like he's an extremist.
- [59:11]
A
Yeah. What are you gonna do? I mean. Well, we should vote for the guy who's gonna charge us for things. That doesn't seem smart.
- [59:29]
D
Benj Irby, more from Benji. Oh, maybe Benji Irby.
- [59:33]
A
Yeah, it's his handle. That's why I fell for it.
- [59:35]
D
Oh, but he does go by Benj.
- [59:37]
E
I see.
- [59:37]
D
He's a libertarian slash conservative.
- [59:39]
A
He's a legit libertarian slash conservative. Well, there you go. And how many weeks ago did he do this on Newsmax?
- [59:50]
B
I don't know.
- [59:51]
D
Does it say in that expo?
- [59:53]
A
It was posted yesterday? I don't know. Because he also may want to know that we don't have weeks to go, but you should continue to tell Newsmax audience about it. I'll go vote for Sleepwood. A couple weeks. Yeah, exactly. That is, that is pretty impressive. I did it like, I wish they, I wish they had the camera on the host at this point going like, hey. And it's at the end of the segment so people like the producers don't have to say, we need to cut now. Cut, cut. Wow, I love this, this libertarian, A guy who's like, we'd have no problem if it was the Nation of Islam. Oh yeah, I'm quite sure. Of course. Yeah. No, but like to single out like.
- [60:51]
D
There'S a lot of great Muslims in New York, especially the Nation of Islam is just a crazy statement. Singling out them is like the good, the good Muslims.
- [61:00]
A
We, we were definitely behind that. Like, we, we're. We wanted Farrakhan to run and. But me, we couldn't, we couldn't get them to run.
- [61:11]
D
Newsmax needs to give Mischief Islam a show.
- [61:14]
A
On exactly. On Newsmax. That is. Wow, folks, that is it for the free half of the program.
- [61:28]
D
That's how we get you.
- [61:30]
A
That's how we got you here. I'll get you still for Christmas. I guess it's time to say goodbye to all the news because as you know. What are you going to do? We're going to head into the gentile part of the program.
- [61:55]
D
Oh, God.
- [61:58]
A
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
- [62:01]
D
Got to do the shrug.
- [62:05]
A
We can't make the whole thing free, so.
- [62:07]
D
So.
- [62:20]
A
Go do some phone banking for mom. Donnie. Just a couple hours. Make a big difference. Honestly, I think this is going to be closer than the numbers in the spring would have suggested. These things always close the closer you get. So make it just take an hour. Take a half hour. If you talk to two people, it can be very helpful.
- [62:49]
D
You're going to feel better too. It makes you feel really good. Especially if you're thinking like, how can I contribute? Talk to somebody who you can tell about their polling place.
- [62:57]
A
Yep, very helpful poll. You can sports for free. I can't even check out just coffee co op. Matt, what's happening on Left Reckoning?
- [63:12]
D
Yeah, we had a Michael Burns on a philosophy, a YouTuber on talking about the schisms in the right and yeah, a bunch of great stuff. We talked a little bit more about Graham Platner in The post game patreon.com left reckoning to get access to that.
- [63:25]
A
Oh, you know, I wanted to mention this. I'm a majority report joiner. Hey, I'm our crew. I'm originally from Kingston, Jamaica and viewers may be aware the Category 5 Hurricane Melissa that struck yesterday. Reports are trickling in from the western side of the island now as they get the comms back up. It's been heartbreaking to say the at least entire communities have been destroyed. The Jamaican government has launched a support jamaica.gov. gM for anyone looking for ways to support recovery efforts. We will rebuild, but this has been gutting us. Been gutting for us. Dave from Jamaica, if you're out there, I hope you are safe. You and yours are safe. Again. That's an opportunity. We will put that link in the podcast and YouTube description in lieu of a membership drive for today, go to supportjamaica.gov.jm Is that the one that Julie had suggested for donation? Okay, we have another one too that we will put in the. In the podcast and YouTube description. Understand that this is where stuff like USAID would come in and the idea that Donald Trump is going to help Jamaica to the extent that is going to be needed. I would highly, highly, highly doubt.
- [64:53]
D
We.
- [64:53]
A
Remember Puerto Rico from the first administration.
- [64:56]
D
Some kind of incentive and not really seeing what it is for him.
- [64:59]
A
Right. So check that out. The link will be in the podcast and YouTube description as well as at Majority FM. My heart really goes out to folks there. It looks devastating. Supposedly winds and strength that larger than any that's been recorded in the past. 175 miles per hour. Yeah. All right, quick break and we will head into the. We'll still call it for the fun half for today. Just so people aren't okay. He's doing well, says Tommy from Yakubia. Great.
- [65:44]
D
Oh, great.
- [65:46]
A
All right, we'll see you in the fun half. Three months from now, six months from now, nine months from now. And I don't think it's gonna be the same as it looks like in six months from now. And I don't know if it's necessarily gonna be better six months from now than it is three months from now, but I think around 18 months out, we're gonna look back and go like, wow. What? What is that going on? It's nuts. Wait a second. Hold on. Hold on for a second. Emma. Welcome to the program. Matt. What is up, everyone? No, M. Keen. You did it. Fun hack.
- [66:30]
B
Let's go, Brandon.
- [66:31]
A
Let's go, Brandon. Fun path. Bradley, you want to say hello?
- [66:37]
E
Sorry to disappoint everyone. I'm just a random guy.
- [66:40]
A
It's all the boys today. Fundamentally false.
- [66:42]
B
No. I'm sorry. Women.
- [66:44]
A
Stop talking for a second. Let me finish.
- [66:46]
E
Where is this coming from?
- [66:47]
B
Dude?
- [66:48]
A
But. Dude, you want to smoke this? 7A.
- [66:52]
B
Yes.
- [66:55]
C
Hi, Miggy.
- [66:57]
B
This thing.
- [66:58]
A
Yes. Is this me? Is it me? It is you. If it's me.
- [67:08]
E
Hello, that's me.
- [67:09]
A
I think it is you who is you. Helping us out every single freaking day. What's on your mind? We can discuss free markets and we can discuss capitalism. I'm gonna go snow white. Libertarians. They're so stupid. Though common sense says, of course.
- [67:26]
B
Gobbledygook.
- [67:27]
A
We nailed him. So what's 79 plus 21 challenge? Man, I'm positively quivering. I believe 96. I want to say. 8572-1085-0113-8911. For instance, $3,400. $1900. 5 4. $3 trillion. Sold. It's a zero sum game.
- [67:48]
B
Actually. You're making me think less. But.
- [67:50]
A
But let me say this. You call it satire.
- [67:54]
E
Sam Goes to satire on top of it all.
- [67:57]
B
My favorite part about you is just.
- [67:59]
A
Like, every day, all day, like, everything you do. Without a doubt. Hey, buddy. We see you. All right, folks, folks, folks.
- [68:12]
B
It's just the week being weeded out, obviously. Yeah.
- [68:15]
A
Sun's out, guns out. I. I don't know.
- [68:21]
E
But you should know.
- [68:24]
A
People just don't.
- [68:25]
D
Like to entertain ideas anymore.
- [68:26]
A
I have a question. Who cares?
- [68:30]
D
Our chat is enabled, folks.
- [68:33]
A
I love it. I do love that. Gotta jump. Gotta be quick. I gotta jump.
- [68:39]
E
I'm losing it, bro.
- [68:42]
A
Two o', clock, we're already late, and the guy's being a dick. So screw him. Sent to a gulag.
- [68:49]
B
Outrageous.
- [68:50]
A
Like, what is wrong with you? Love you.
- [68:54]
B
Bye.
- [68:55]
A
Love you.
- [68:57]
E
Bye.
- [68:57]
A
Bye.