Episode 407: I should be the mayor. Feat @ZohranforNYC
Summary
A mayoral candidate confronts attack mailers paid for by Michael Bloomberg, DoorDash, and "Trump-supporting billionaire" Bill Ackman. The rider insists he's not defunding the police but creating a department of community safety to handle mental health and homelessness while cops focus on serious crimes. Kareem keeps circling back to what really matters: $9 matcha lattes. "You could win this campaign easily if you lower the cost of matchas," he jokes, though the candidate admits he can't make that promise. The mailers claim the candidate wants to put homeless people in the subway system and supports radical tax hikes, all lies according to him. His campaign raised $8.3 million from 20,000 people, the same amount Bloomberg dropped on a rival's Super PAC. Early voting's open until Sunday.
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? I should be the mayor. I, I don't know, man. I got, I—well, I'm getting all these pieces of mail. Hold on here. They keep sending me mail that says that you shouldn't be the mayor. What are these guys saying? Okay, let me see. This one says, "Support higher taxes and more fees on New Yorkers. I don't want to pay more taxes. Do you make a million dollars or more a year?" 100% disagree. So that your taxes are not going up. The only taxes that we are proposing are on the 1% of New Yorkers who make a million dollars or more a—
What are you going to do about the price of matcha lattes? 100% not sure. I mean, they're $9. I only want to make promises. This is—you can win this campaign easily if you lower the cost of matchas. I, I can only make the promises I can keep. This says NYC can't risk a mayor who supports defunding the police. Well, no matter how many pieces of literature you get sent, I'm not defunding the police. I'm actually working with the police to create public safety by ensuring they can do their jobs, focus on serious crimes and creating a department of community safety that'll focus on mental health, homelessness. So technically the police force will stay the same, but there will be more people doing other stuff. And we're saying that no longer do police officers have to do the jobs of mental health professionals and social workers and instead they can focus on shootings and murders and serious crimes in the city. What the police should do. That makes a lot of sense.
I don't see me doing other jobs on the subway. This is my job. This is all I do. Do the job that you signed up. I'm not driving the damn frame. No, you're not. All right. This says that you have a radical plan to put homeless in the subway system. This is just three for three a lie that you're getting in your literature. Let's look at the little print of who's actually paying for this. This is being paid for by Michael Bloomberg, by DoorDash, and by Bill Aman. Bill Aman is a Trump-supporting billionaire. What the hell is DoorDash doing funding an election? It makes no sense. And finally, Michael Bloomberg dropped $8.3 million on Andrew Kuo Super PAC. That's the same amount of money we raised from more than 20,000 people. That's the kind of mismatch here between ordinary people and billionaires.
You should have used the $8 million to subsidize mantras. I mean, seriously, it's a good idea. People would stay in New York who does end up leaving the city. Working in middle class New Yorkers. It doesn't have to be this way. But these guys would rather lie to you every single day rather than admit the fact that the policies they have pursued for so long have left us with the city that we actually have today.
At least they spelled her name right. Look, if you are a New Yorker who hasn't voted yet, remember you can early vote until Sunday. Election day is on Tuesday. This is an election between billionaires and corporations who want to buy this democracy or the working and middle class New Yorkers who are being priced out of it. Let's try something new.