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Donald Trump
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Zoran Mamdani
Is absolutely humiliating himself at the G7 in Alberta, Canada, where he's taken his attacks against Democratic cities before the international audience. He's just been ranting and raving like a lunatic at the G7 against Democratic cities. Now he's saying he's going to go to New York and he's going to Chicago and he needs to escalate things. There's. And he looks just so addled as well when he's being asked the question, like he didn't realize that last night that he posted that he wants to escalate things in what he calls Democratic power centers because he says that Democrats are turning everybody trans, transgender for everybody. And that's why he wants ICE to escalate their action. I don't even know what this guy's. This is the most dangerous, absurdist, ridiculous authoritarian regime I've seen. But this is what he's saying at the G7. Let's play this clip.
Interviewer
Why are you ordering ICE to target democratic inner cities? What's behind that?
Andrew Cuomo
I don't know what you're saying.
Interviewer
You did a post last night where you said you want ICE to really target Democrats.
Andrew Cuomo
I want them to focus on the cities because the cities are where you really have what's called sanctuary cities, and that's where the people are. I look at New York, I look at Chicago. I mean, you got a really bad governor in Chicago and a bad mayor, but the governor is probably the worst in the country. Pritzker. But I look at how that city has been overrun by criminals and you know, New York and la. Look at la. La. Those people weren't from la. They weren't from California. Most of those People, Many.
Zoran Mamdani
So Prime Minister Carney, who was by his side, had to literally shut down that press conference because it was such an embarrassment to the other G7 nations as well. And look, we can't be business as usual confronting this Trump authoritarian regime. We need new leadership. So when I think about the New York Democratic mayoral primaries that are taking place on June 24, I'm looking for new leadership. And I saw that on display at the recent debate that took place. Everybody remember this moment right here.
Interviewer
Let's play it to Mr. Cuomo. I have never had to resign in disgrace. I have never cut Medicaid. I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA. I have never hounded the 13 women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment. I have never sued for their gynecological records. And I have never done those things because I am not you, Mr. Cuoma. And furthermore, the name is Mamdani. M A M D A N I. You should learn how to say it, because we got to get it right.
Zoran Mamdani
I'm joined by New York State assembly member Zoran Mamdani right now. Zoran, I want to get your response to what Donald Trump's been saying about his attacks on New York. And then I want to talk about the mayoral race as well, with the primaries coming up June 24th.
Interviewer
Well, thank you, first of all, for having me. It's such a pleasure to be here. And I think what we're seeing in Donald Trump's remarks is yet another example of the authoritarian administration that he is leading in Washington, D.C. one that is hell bent on attacking not just immigrants across this country, but the very fabric of. Of our country. And to trample on the Constitution in the process of doing so. And, you know, even just this military parade the other day, it's an example of all that is wrong with the MAGA movement. A focus on pomp and circumstance over actually addressing the needs of working and middle class Americans. There are so many New Yorkers across these five boroughs in this state who thought that in voting for Donald Trump, they were voting for cheaper groceries for a more affordable life. And yet all they have gotten is the political persecution of his perceived enemies. And that's all Donald Trump has to offer.
Zoran Mamdani
One of the things that you did was right after the disastrous November 2024 election, you spoke to people in your district and in your areas in Queens and Astoria and elsewhere in New York, and you were asking them, why'd you vote for? Why'd you vote for Trump? I wanted to show everybody, because to Me. This was really part of your journey to understanding how Donald Trump was defrauding your own constituents and the people of New York and how to kind of calibrate against this authoritarian regime. Let's just play this. I want people to see this. This was November 4th, November 15th, 2024. You posted this. Let's play it.
Interviewer
Did you get a chance to vote on Tuesday? I didn't vote. And why did you not vote?
Andrew Cuomo
Because I don't believe in the system anymore.
Interviewer
Did you get a chance to vote on Tuesday?
Zoran Mamdani
Yes.
Interviewer
And who did you vote for? Trump.
Zoran Mamdani
Ah, the middle million dollar question. Trump.
Interviewer
Trump.
Zoran Mamdani
Donald Trump.
Andrew Cuomo
Well, actually, the early voted. I voted for Trump. Honestly, I didn't vote.
Interviewer
She voted for Trump.
Zoran Mamdani
I voted for Trump.
Andrew Cuomo
I vote for Trump. Me too. Before I vote Democrats. At this moment, I voted Donald Trump.
Interviewer
Hillside Avenue in Queens and Fordham Road in the Bronx are two areas that saw the biggest shift towards Trump in last week's election. Even more residents didn't vote at all.
Andrew Cuomo
They like Trump because they don't want the Palestinian, the brothers the killed, the war in Ukraine, the Democrats giving all the money and the war. This is no good.
Interviewer
The swing is because people want lower prices. They probably believe that Trump will give them that market energy, gas, la comida.
Zoran Mamdani
Most of these people are working families, they're working one to two, three jobs. And rent is expensive, foods are going.
Interviewer
Up, utility bills are up. And that's your hope to see a little bit more of an affordable life?
Zoran Mamdani
Absolutely. So now, as you watch that today, what goes through your mind?
Interviewer
It's sad to see how Donald Trump exploited the very real despair that New Yorkers were feeling in living in the most expensive city in the United States, only to deliver them even more of that lack of affordability, only to deliver them even more of a focus on war, despite all of the promises that were made over the course of that election.
Zoran Mamdani
Let's talk about your fight for the people of New York as part of this mayoral race. How are you not just going to fight back against the authoritarian regime, but deliver results for those people who are suffering, who have issues, who want them to be addressed? Donald Trump preyed on it and I think Democrats didn't speak to it. So you had the con artists speaking to it, but lying to manipulate and then another party kind of not really understanding, I think, so much what the people were going through.
Interviewer
Yeah, I think you're exactly right that if we as Democrats do not address this despair, then it does not matter that Donald Trump is insincere. It does not matter that he's ridiculous. It does not matter that he's horrific. He, in exploiting it, will be seen as the only one who's addressing it. And in that same video at the end of those conversations, I asked those Democrats, what would it take for you to come back to the party? And they set a relentless focus on an economic agenda. And I asked them, what would you say to, to a campaign that is fighting to freeze the rent for more than 2 million rent stabilized tenants, to make the slowest buses in the country fast and free to deliver universal childcare? And they said they would vote for that candidate. And then I introduced myself as a candidate running on those very campaign promises to be the next mayor of the city. And I think that's so critically important in this moment that we as politicians, we listen more than we lecture so that we can finally bring more people back into our democracy, because it's not just under attack from the outside, it's also under attack from its fading relevancy to people's lives. That's how people perceive it. And the fewer New Yorkers participate in this democracy, the less representative it becomes of the city as a whole.
Zoran Mamdani
I think one of the things we've seen with your campaign is this isn't a test, okay? Our Constitution is being slaughtered right now by the Trump regime. Each and every day they're disappearing our brothers and sisters off the streets. They're sending them to concentration camps in foreign countries and they're lying to judges. They're not following court orders. We're seeing ICE raids in factories and Home Depot parking lots, ripping people apart in our communities. And you use that language like you're not out there saying, well, you know, I think there's escalating rhetoric. You're like, no, this is authoritarianism. And you've confronted the border czar, Tom Homan. Let me just remind everybody of this moment as well, back in March. Here, play this clip.
Interviewer
How many more New Yorkers. How many more New Yorkers will you detain? How many more New Yorkers we have to.
Andrew Cuomo
Do you believe in the First Amendment?
Interviewer
Do you believe in the First Amendment?
Andrew Cuomo
Tom Holman.
Interviewer
When we asked Tom Holman, all he had to answer for that cruelty was a smirk. Because there is no answer for taking a man from his pregnant wife who is due to deliver their newborn child in a month from their Columbia University apartment. A day after that, same man, Mahmoud Khalil, wrote to Columbia University and said he feared for his life. The cowardice that is on display across our city and our State is unacceptable. New Yorkers are looking to us. They are looking to their leaders for courage and for conviction. And what they are finding instead is collaboration. And that is just simply unacceptable.
Zoran Mamdani
So talk to us about you using the language to meet the moment and just how you feel about this current moment.
Interviewer
I think it behooves all of us to describe things as they are, not how we wish them to be. And when we're looking at a Trump administration that is sending in the National Guard, sending in Marines, that is asking ICE agents to arrest New Yorkers, be they in their apartment building lobbies, or be they a New York City public high school student by the name of Dylan called going for their regular check in at Federal Plaza. These are instructions from the Trump administration that are attacking the very fabric of the city. And often it is tempting to think that this repression is solely coming from Washington, but it's being echoed right here in New York City. I mean, I'm running for mayor against Andrew Cuomo, who is funded by the same Republican billionaires that put Donald Trump back in that White House. And when we're talking about this military parade, when we're talking about this attempt to build the single largest deportation force in American history, we know that these are the very actions described by someone like Bill Ackman as being historic. And it's the same Bill Ackman who just gave Andrew Cuomo super PAC another $250,000 check. This battle for our democracy, this battle to not only name authoritarianism for what it is, but also to ensure that we have a mayor who can look it in the eye without seeing a reflection of themselves. It's a battle that's going to be on the ballot on June 24th.
Zoran Mamdani
You know, I was out there in my local Pasadena no Kings protests. I saw the protests, though, across the country. Huge protests in New York, in New York City, in the cities and towns throughout New York and throughout the country. Blue states, red states, purple states. And the constant theme I've heard is that people are looking in hungry for new leadership that's actually listening to their concerns. Some of the biggest issues people are not talking about on the media, and they're saying, I just want people who are listening to what we're going through, housing and health care and education and quality of life and trying to navigate through these difficult times. Listen to what we're saying. So for all of the New Yorkers who may be listening to this, and just for everybody who's being introduced to you, Zoran Mamdani for the first Time here on the Midas Touch Network as we're in the home Stretch election is June 24th. What's your kind of message to everybody right now?
Interviewer
My message is that it's time to make the most expensive city in the United States, one that's affordable for the working and middle class New Yorkers who built it. And it's a message that I know is putting us on the precipice of toppling a political dynasty. We started this race at about 1% in the polls. Andrew Cuomo had a 40% lead just a few months ago. We, we have cut that down to just two points now with about a week left in this election. And ultimately, it's an opportunity for us here in this city to turn the page on the politics of the past, to finally bring an end to the era of failed leadership in this city and this state, and to vote for a new generation of leadership, one that understands the most pressing crisis in the city, gives it the urgency it requires, and will actually deliver a plan to keep those same New Yorkers in the city that they love.
Zoran Mamdani
We know that Donald Trump watches the Midas Touch Network and has his team watch it. So if they're watching it Right now in D.C. or in Canada, what would be your message to them right now?
Interviewer
I would say that I'm sorry, because I know that they're rooting for Andrew Cuomo because he's backed by the same Republican billionaires that are paying their salaries. And ultimately, what New Yorkers deserve is a mayor who can actually stand up and fight back against Donald Trump, not one whose record looks eerily similar to that of Donald Trump himself. I mean, we're talking about a mayoral candidate candidate in Andrew Cuomo who also cut Medicaid, who also stole hundreds of millions of dollars from the mta, who also hounded the many women who courageously stepped forward to credibly accuse him of sexual harassment, who has done so many betrayals of New Yorkers across the five boroughs in this state that it is ridiculous for us to consider allowing him to come back into leadership, especially when he has shown himself unable to even acknowledge or apologize for those same betrayals.
Zoran Mamdani
Zoran Mamdani, thanks for joining us on the Midas Touch Network.
Interviewer
Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
Zoran Mamdani
Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers this week. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth over lies collection@store.midas touch.com all 100% USA union made.
Podcast Summary: "Zohran Mamdani Reacts to Trump Attack on NY"
Podcast Information:
Introduction In this compelling episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, hosts Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas engage with New York State Assembly Member Zoran Mamdani to discuss former President Donald Trump's recent attacks on New York City. The episode delves deep into the implications of Trump's rhetoric on democracy, the ongoing mayoral race, and the broader socio-political landscape affecting New Yorkers.
Trump's Attack on New York at the G7 Summit The episode opens with a critical analysis of Donald Trump's performance at the G7 summit in Alberta, Canada. Zoran Mamdani expresses strong disapproval of Trump's remarks, highlighting the former president's aggressive stance against Democratic cities on an international platform.
Zoran Mamdani [01:00]: "Is absolutely humiliating himself at the G7 in Alberta, Canada, where he's taken his attacks against Democratic cities before the international audience. He's just been ranting and raving like a lunatic at the G7 against Democratic cities."
Mamdani criticizes Trump's calls to escalate actions against cities like New York and Chicago, emphasizing the destabilizing effects of such rhetoric.
Zoran Mamdani's Critique of Trump's Statements The conversation intensifies as Mamdani addresses specific comments made by Trump regarding Democratic cities and immigration enforcement. He references a press conference where Prime Minister Carney had to intervene due to Trump's embarrassing outburst.
Zoran Mamdani [02:30]: "So Prime Minister Carney, who was by his side, had to literally shut down that press conference because it was such an embarrassment to the other G7 nations as well."
The discussion shifts to Trump's alleged intentions to target Democratic strongholds with ICE, which Mamdani describes as part of an "authoritarian regime."
Interaction with Andrew Cuomo A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to dissecting an interview clip featuring Andrew Cuomo responding to Trump's accusations. Mamdani highlights Cuomo's defensive statements and contrasts them with Trump's more aggressive approach.
Zoran Mamdani [03:51]: "I'm joined by New York State assembly member Zoran Mamdani right now. Zoran, I want to get your response to what Donald Trump's been saying about his attacks on New York. And then I want to talk about the mayoral race as well, with the primaries coming up June 24th."
During the clip replay, Cuomo attempts to deflect Trump's accusations, but Mamdani points out inconsistencies and failures in Cuomo's leadership, particularly regarding Medicaid and accusations of sexual harassment.
Discussion on the Mayoral Race and Political Leadership A critical focus of the episode is the upcoming New York Democratic mayoral primaries on June 24th. Mamdani positions himself as a candidate committed to addressing the pressing issues faced by New Yorkers, contrasting his vision with Cuomo's legacy.
Zoran Mamdani [07:16]: "Yeah, I think you're exactly right that if we as Democrats do not address this despair, then it does not matter that Donald Trump is insincere. It does not matter that he's ridiculous. It does not matter that he's horrific."
Mamdani emphasizes the need for new leadership that genuinely listens to and acts upon the concerns of working and middle-class residents, advocating for policies like rent freezes, improved public transportation, and universal childcare.
The Impact on Democracy and Voter Sentiment The hosts and Mamdani discuss the broader implications of Trump's actions on American democracy. They express concern over voter disenchantment and the manipulation of political narratives that undermine democratic participation.
Zoran Mamdani [08:22]: "Each and every day they're disappearing our brothers and sisters off the streets. They're sending them to concentration camps in foreign countries and they're lying to judges. They're not following court orders."
Mamdani underscores the importance of combating authoritarian tendencies and restoring faith in democratic institutions by fostering inclusive and responsive governance.
Conclusion and Call to Action As the episode draws to a close, Mamdani makes a poignant call to action for New Yorkers to vote for transformative leadership in the upcoming mayoral elections.
Zoran Mamdani [12:23]: "My message is that it's time to make the most expensive city in the United States, one that's affordable for the working and middle class New Yorkers who built it."
He also addresses the Trump administration directly, challenging the support it garners and advocating for a mayor who can effectively counteract Trump's policies and restore integrity to New York City's governance.
Zoran Mamdani [13:22]: "What New Yorkers deserve is a mayor who can actually stand up and fight back against Donald Trump, not one whose record looks eerily similar to that of Donald Trump himself."
The episode concludes with Mamdani urging listeners to subscribe to the podcast and support the movement towards truth and accountability in politics.
Notable Quotes:
Key Takeaways:
Conclusion This episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast offers a critical examination of Donald Trump's impact on New York City and U.S. democracy. Through Zoran Mamdani's insightful commentary, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the political dynamics at play and the urgent need for proactive leadership to safeguard democratic values and improve the quality of life for New Yorkers.