Human Events Daily - Jack Posobiec - THOUGHTCRIME Ep. 101 — The New York City Communist Debate? MAGA vs. Mamdani? Medal of Freedom Reactions

Oct. 18, 2025 - Human Events Daily - Jack Posobiec

03:32:31

THOUGHTCRIME Ep. 101 — The New York City Communist Debate? MAGA vs. Mamdani? Medal of Freedom Reactions

Andrew Kolvet, Jack Posobiec, Mikey McCoy, Tyler Bowyer, and Cliff Maloney reflect on the Charlie Kirk Medal of Freedom ceremony and react to the New York City Mayoral debate. Support the show

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Time	Text
	From the age of big problem.
	If they want to get you, they'll get you.
	D NSA specifically.
	they're collecting your communications.
	The End
	Hey everybody, we got Jack Pasobic and Andrew Colvin.
	And we are here live in studio for once for Thought Crime Thursday.
	What's up, Andrew?
	Not much.
	Actually, a lot.
	A little bit.
	But I feel like that's what you say.
	It is what you say.
	But I love I actually love Thought Crime because now that I have to sort of play uh play driver for the Charlie Kirk show, it's nice because you you do this.
	Because I have to do it, yeah, exactly.
	No, but well, today tonight there's gonna be a ton of thought crimes because what we're gonna be doing tonight is the Mamdani debate is coming up, and we all know how much Charlie was a huge fan of Mandami nomics and Mandamism, and he just was was so you know so enthralled with the idea that this uh race communist cultural Marxist was about to take over the city of New York.
	And obviously we're joking, but you know, tonight is the big debate, and we've got a three-way debate.
	So, what we're gonna do, no, Andrew's got a flight, so we wanted to come on a little bit, have a chat with him, preview the debate, then at some point he's gonna bounce.
	We're gonna stream the debate, so don't turn off this stream.
	We will carry the debate in full.
	And yes, I will make sure that Blake does not come on and interrupt.
	Unfortunately, we actually don't have Blake because Blake is on Blake is on assignments.
	Well, hold on.
	Actually, Blake's assignment is pretty cool.
	He has a family member getting taking the vows.
	Uh she's gonna become a nun.
	She's gonna become a nun.
	Which is um like so cool.
	And Blake, so this was like Blake months ago, was like, hey, you know, I gotta go to Italy for because you know, family members taking the vows, and I was like, Okay, so we're just full doxing him.
	All right.
	I was like, I was I was like, just go for it, bro.
	Just go for it.
	Just go.
	And then everything happened, and he was like, And it was still, you know, pre schedule.
	Yeah, yeah, I still want to go.
	And I was like, I still want you to go.
	So please go.
	And then, you know So there's a chance that Blake might be joining a nunnery.
	We're not entirely sure.
	Yeah, because this audience is completely failed to get him married up.
	So we've tried Freedom at Charlie Kirk.com.
	Please send your uh your dating uh there's been some false starts.
	Also, please send your Super Bowl halftime requests, freedom at Charlie Kirk.com.
	I know a lot of people have been sending in emails all throughout the week, and we've seen some very very interesting requests, but again, we are we're accepting those requests with arms wide open, and all I can say is hold me now because the news is coming, and you know, I just heard the news today, as a matter of fact.
	So, you know, we're really gonna be we're really excited, we're really looking forward to the event.
	Jack has zero opinions on the zero opinions whatsoever.
	Who should be just you know cultural relevance and uh and uh you know incredibly popular acts with with you know international renown, but you know, whatever, whatever.
	We can pick whoever.
	It's no it's no big deal.
	And and look, like all I'm saying is if you want the event to be taken higher, if you want this event.
	Okay, all right.
	All right.
	How deep is how deep down the uh the hit list are we gonna go here with all the way uh the is this the this is the greatest hits?
	Jack uh we could go we could go six feet from the edge if you want, just not that far down.
	Oh my goodness, Jack.
	I'm gonna I'm gonna get you a playlist with some other acts on it.
	Just just so you could branch out a little bit.
	But no, so we're so we're gonna do that.
	We're gonna show it.
	Um, but and then Tyler's gonna join us.
	Tyler is at a thing right now.
	He's gonna come in later, he's on assignments.
	We are making this work.
	We're gonna make it all work.
	We are making this work.
	I gotta catch a flight.
	Tyler's traveling around the world trying to uh uh orchestrate our 2026 uh turning point action plan, so God bless him for that.
	And but we also were gonna talk about uh the Medal of Freedom ceremony.
	We do we really haven't done that together.
	No, but we do also have a special guest joining us.
	I believe we have to do it.
	I believe we have him, believe we have him coming in remote.
	We have Cliff Maloney, guys.
	Do we have Cliff?
	Howdy how So Cliff, you you um you know you were with us on election night.
	You know, you've been with us through thick and thin.
	Uh you've got the hat on of the greatest football team in American history.
	Of course, the Philippines, yes, Super Bowl, Super Bowl champions.
	You know, they we're we're giving some other teams, you know, a chance here.
	Megan Kelly, by the way, was roasting me yesterday for that loss to the Giants, and I was just it was it was very painful.
	It was very painful.
	And then Andrew was roasting us because we what the three three teams in one night.
	Well, it was, yeah, you guys had the the clean sweep and the Dodgers won the series two.
	Andrew Dodgers won the series three to one.
	And now we're up to two to nothing on the Brewers.
	And but by the way, I want everybody to know out of respect for Charlie.
	Had the Cubs overcome the Brewers and faced off with the Dodgers, I would have, I would have, for Charlie, I would have been a Cubs fan for one NLCS.
	See, I might I might actually be rooting for the Dodgers now because my dad used to always say that if you got beat, then you might as well say, Well, we got beaten by the champs.
	That's it.
	Right.
	So we got beaten by the best.
	So I'm uh, but I'm not, I'm not, I'm not sold on that yet.
	But no, you know, and Cliff, you know, you got to see the ceremony, and and let actually do you want to ask Cliff about it?
	Because he was he was watching it from afar.
	Oh, I love that.
	I actually this whole experience, Cliff, the of the last month, and I I was used to seeing Charlie be in the media.
	I would book the interviews, I would, you know, we'd work on how we're gonna approach the interviews and the debates or whatever.
	But it was still hard for me to calibrate because I was still so close to it, like you know, how famous Charlie was, how people were reacting to it.
	It was always hard.
	So I actually really think outside perspective, somebody that's that was watching on TV is truly important.
	So to your to your point, Jack, Cliff, what was it like watching it uh, you know, from afar?
	Yeah, well, obviously, you know, I'm focused on Pennsylvania and New Jersey, uh, and this is the heat of the moment in terms of us uh you know diving in there, and so didn't get a chance to get to DC.
	You know, what was fascinating to me, uh honestly, the the thing that stands out is kind of how Trump interacts with Erica.
	Um, and I mean that, you know, in a very good way.
	I just mean that you know, you you you hear all the time from the media and from a lot of people on the left that Donald Trump is this evil human being and just you know completely just corrupt or whatever they say, all these these buzzwords, and then seeing him interact with Erica, you know, to me kind of brings out the grandfather in him.
	Um just just very delicate and somber and sweet and connects with her.
	And I just I mean, that obviously, you know, I I just love seeing that side of him, right?
	Because a lot of us want him to be a fighter.
	We want him to go against the deep state, we want him to be this America first warrior.
	I mean, the guy took a bullet uh on the ear for us, but to see that side of him, I think just kind of brings out it just makes him kind of a whole person to me.
	Um, and then obviously, you know, with the ceremony, I think Erica's speech.
	I don't want to uh, you know, say it topped the memorial or it topped her speech from the studio.
	Um but I just think that you know it's it's such a great message um of her just talking about you know, where are we going from here?
	And her referencing the turning point chapters.
	I mean, that you know, from afar, that struck me because she's caring about the people that Charlie would have cared about, which are you know, not the people at the top, right?
	It's an inverted pyramid.
	That's how I always look at this thing, right?
	We're way at the bottom, and the people that are closest to the voters, the people that are closest to changing hearts and minds are the door knockers or the activists, are the students on campus.
	And for her to reference that, that just really to me uh talks about you know, what is the future for turning point and what do things look like?
	Um so I just thought the whole ceremony was fantastic.
	Um a great tribute to Charlie Kirk, and uh, you know, it just reinforced.
	We gotta do the work and we gotta move forward from here.
	No, that that's great.
	And and Andrew, I know so we were, you know, there in the Rose Garden, and I know there was that moment, it was kind of surreal, and and you turned to me and and you you took this picture that is now gone viral, and you pointed out it's like all of the legends of conservative media, the people that like we watched, and even the people that we watched when we were younger, uh, were all standing together.
	And in even in addition to the entire government being there, but this this photo, it was remind me who it was.
	It was so we had Bill O'Reilly, which he never comes to stuff.
	Do we have that picture?
	I'll grab it.
	He's there and it's and Megan Kelly's there.
	And I don't know if we got all of them in you know one picture together.
	But we did.
	We got most, I think.
	Hannity, uh Jesse Waters.
	And Tucker.
	Tucker, Laura Ingram.
	Laura Ingram.
	Yeah, it was sort of like the past and present of the Fox uh lineup, which was noteworthy in the sense that, you know, I don't think I've ever seen them photographed together.
	I really don't think so.
	Here, I'm gonna I'll put it in the chat here.
	Well, and you think of all like the you know, the ups and downs and the back and forth of uh the schedule and oh and Glenn Beck.
	Glenn Black was there.
	Yeah, I didn't get Glenn in that picture.
	But uh what what happened was that it was basically Jesse, Bill, Tucker, and Laura all standing next to us in the back, because there's you know, assigned seats, and then there's and then there's people standing, and and you you'd be surprised the the caliber of people that were standing, right?
	Right.
	And we're just standing.
	We're standing right next, and then you know, all of a sudden Sean Hannity walks back, uh, I think to give a hug to Laura or something, and uh he turned around, we snapped the picture, and it was quite the moment.
	It really was.
	But there was also, you know, it there Glenn Beck was was uh around, and then we had a picture uh with Blake, you, me, uh Benny Johnson, the crew, and I guess that picture sort of went viral too a little bit.
	But you know, there's something about the conservative media being there, showing up, and it speaks to the role Charlie played in that because Charlie was such a fan of Rush, and Rush had also received the presidential medal of freedom.
	And so there was this this interesting symmetry, this interesting parallel of like the generations of you know, so Rush is the first.
	I I used to think about this with the case.
	Like he was the pioneer of conservative media wouldn't exist without it.
	I used to think about this all the time that what made Charlie uh very exceptional just in the media landscape was that he was a bridge of generations as well.
	Even though he, you know, 31 years old, he had become very close with Rush.
	Rush, you know, was a seven-figure donor to turning point, he believed in Charlie.
	But you know, Charlie was also close with Sean Hannity, and he was also close with Mark Levin, and he was also close with Glenn Beck.
	And these, so these are the people that he grew up listening to, and then he became close with, and they were all sort of excited to hand the baton to him and let him carry on the mission and expand the mission, grow the mission.
	And so Charlie was uniquely positioned that way, and you could see the same thing with Fox.
	Like, who else could bring together these people uh from Fox News that you know had you know interesting exit stories from the network?
	Uh he's being so diplomatic.
	He spends four days in DC and he turns into a politician.
	Well, I'm trying to be diplomatic because anybody that was willing to make the time to go to the Rose Garden and honor Charlie deserves my respect, and I am going to be respectful.
	Well, and Charlie I mean, but just so we're clear.
	I ended up on a stage with Bill O'Reilly later that or last night and getting lectured about JFK setting in the National Guard in 1963, and you know, it was very fascinating.
	Uh, I was like, you know, I appreciate Bill that you might have a little bit more historical or historical uh uh understanding about what happened in 1963, but I I think maybe I have a little bit better understanding what happened in 2023.
	Oh, snap.
	Oh, snap.
	It's doing it.
	No, it's no, but but no, Charlie was it's as simple as this.
	Charlie was the bridge.
	He was the bridge.
	Charlie was the bridge.
	He brought people together that otherwise wouldn't be together, and you saw that on fold as well.
	I mean, you not just from a media standpoint, it was it was also from a you know who we missed who we should have gotten that picture?
	Megan Kelly.
	No, the I because you know what it was though, because she was standing on the other side, and I know, but I should have grabbed like the honor guard was like in between us, so it was it was sort of no, we should have grabbed her, and we saw her later, obviously, and she was great and she was a gracious, but it was there was this military honor guard that kind of separated the the space, and so you didn't really want to cross that because they were keeping the aisle clear.
	I don't know why they were keeping the aisle clear because somebody walked down it, but yeah, you didn't you didn't want to cross this military honor guard, but that that would have been uh obviously would have been you can photoshop it.
	Yeah, we're gonna photoshop it.
	But boneless, boneless if you're watching, photoshop that boneless, it's on you.
	So hey, let's play some clips from uh oh, go ahead, go ahead, Cliff.
	Yeah, let me just make one comment to back you guys up.
	You know, I used to uh be much more of a flamethrower back in the day, and it's funny uh thinking back because Charlie was always the one, You know, who'd send me feedback on certain things.
	He'd be like, listen, you know, I know that you disagree with this person, or I know that you know you think that they're the enemy at the moment, but we got to figure out a way to you know come together, right?
	There's got to be some coalition here.
	But he always talked about compromising uh without compromising your principle.
	And I just always like to give Charlie credit for that because there was something that he was very good at uh in a way that that not a lot of people at his level understand kind of how to put those chess pieces together.
	Um, but I just want to back up what you guys said.
	I mean, who else can get all these different media, all these different big names, all of these folks to come together?
	It's Charlie, right?
	And it's Charlie, the one that they really, like I said, I mean, a lot of people when they get to that sort of position or that height of influence, uh, they're they're kind of forced to take certain sides.
	I think Charlie was just always trying to build the coalition.
	So I wanted to back that up.
	Yeah, no, absolutely.
	He he always was he always was doing that.
	He he didn't believe in purity tests necessarily.
	I mean, you could you could cross a line and he would he would um he would give you a name check and uh up against the glass uh use a hockey expression, but most of the time he was willing to work this stuff out uh in private, and he won a lot of uh trust and admiration from people that are used to getting betrayed by people in public, basically.
	You think you have a friendship with somebody, and then all of a sudden you find out that uh you're you're you're getting put on blast in in the media or whatever.
	So let's play some clips here.
	Jack, do you uh have one that I mean I can just start here?
	Uh how about 185?
	I want you to be the embodiment of this medal.
	I do.
	I want you to free yourself from fear.
	I want you to stand courageously in the truth.
	Listen for the still small voice of God.
	And remember that while freedom is inherited in this country, each of us must be intentional stewards every single day.
	And tend to see it through.
	And the torch is in our hands now.
	It's in mine, it's in yours, it's in all of yours.
	It's in all the students with turning point USA.
	Amen.
	Speaking directly to the chapters was I think just a brilliant stroke because it goes to show you that there's so many students out there and and more students now.
	And I've been I've been working with this um chapter at Rutgers, they're you know, under attack, and there's other people who are you know getting you know, getting in the limelight now, and and the pressure's on, right?
	The pressure's on turning point, but then you also see the people who are stepping up to the plate and delivering.
	So you look at the tour, the thousands upon thousands of kids that are coming out to these tour stops that are still going on.
	And we have a big new announcement.
	The big announcements.
	Yeah, so JD Vance came on the show yesterday uh on the Charlie Kirk show from the White House, which was fantastic.
	And he we he announced, well, I sort of announced, but then he filled in the gaps that he and Erica are going to be hitting up Old Miss Oxford, Mississippi on October 29th.
	Unbelievable.
	That'll be Erica's uh first tour stop.
	Uh and I think her only tour stop this time, but we also announced that Benny Johnson.
	Uh no, no, no.
	I I mean, maybe actually something like a campus.
	Uh yeah, it's probably it probably is.
	I think it is.
	And then we got uh Eric Trump, Benny Johnson, Laura Trump, and Coach Tubberville hitting up Auburn on November 5th, the one year anniversary of uh uh really Cliff Maloney's call heard round the world.
	That's what November 5th Pennsylvania called, the the Pennsylvania call, which was so it was so appropriate.
	You got to call it.
	I remember by the way, like we were we were all so saying it in the chat, and they were like everyone's like Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, and none of us wanted to say it.
	No, Charlie was saying, don't say it.
	Yeah, Charlie.
	That's right, that's right.
	Charlie didn't say it.
	Something bad is gonna happen.
	Don't say anything, something bad, something to pull it back.
	And we had the tasty cakes, which I actually, believe it or not, Uh look at what we have here.
	I have you guys Cliff, I got the tasty cakes back.
	We got the tasty cakes back.
	I know we are killing you.
	And I don't find them that delicious, but I love that they mean something to you.
	They're the pumpkin tasting is the greatest, the greatest cake out of Tasty out of Philadelphia.
	Yeah, uh Bobby Kennedy absolutely hates these things.
	I don't know if there's any ingredient list.
	I don't think there's any actual I don't think there's any actual pumpkin anywhere near these things.
	Pronounce most of the ingredients.
	Xylidol?
	How many cellulose the expiration days more than a year away?
	All you need to know is Tasty Baking Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
	But these are the ones we brought out right when because I knew Pennsylvania would be the one.
	And so I pull out the Tasty Cakes, which I had brought all the way after infiltrating Kamala Harris's.
	Remember the fake concert?
	Can we play the clip the clip?
	What is it?
	What is it?
	240.
	240.
	Let's play.
	I love the clip.
	Fox News decides Donald Trump is president of the United States.
	We've got our Republic back, folks.
	Let's go.
	There it is.
	Everybody should remember this moment.
	Look, I'm gonna I'm gonna echo Charlie from earlier.
	Remember where you were when this happened.
	Remember where you were when you realized that the uniparty and all these, you know, just the establishment.
	You said it's time to actually participate.
	And look what you guys have done.
	And if anyone deserves to get tears in his eyes, it's Charlie.
	I think we all agree.
	No one has worked harder than Charlie.
	We gotta hear some words here from you, Charlie.
	You put all this together, my man.
	Let's hear it.
	I I am just humbled by God.
	It's all God.
	It's all good.
	God alone.
	God alone.
	Decision desk has it.
	Pennsylvania.
	It's done.
	It's beginning.
	How has it been a year?
	I can't believe it.
	How is it been not quite a year?
	We got two, two, three weeks till it's been a year, but it's been a year.
	But I mean, and well, here we are again.
	It's October, right?
	So it's election season.
	We're, you know, the debate's coming up in a couple of minutes.
	New York City.
	Yeah, I would I do want to I do want to transition.
	New Jersey, Virginia.
	I mean I do want to, I just I want I want to play uh well shoot, it's too long of a clip.
	Never mind.
	So I was actually, I got to be on Fox News this morning talking about just we were the reason November 5th came up is because we have the stop with Eric Trump and Lara Trump and Benny and Coach Tupperville, which is actually was my original pitch to the vice president's office to say, hey, we should come on the day he became on the one year anniversary.
	And they really tried, they just couldn't make it work with the schedule, so we're we're doing all this.
	I can't even imagine that kind of much of a logistics and all the security.
	I mean, it it's anyways.
	The reason I wanted to play this Fox News clip, um, well, maybe it's worth it.
	Let's it's a little bit longer.
	Is that okay?
	We do cuz I I'm just giving kudos and a hat tip to JD Vance.
	And he did come on the the the Charlie Kirk show uh to to make this announcement.
	So what why don't we do it?
	It's for Charlie.
	For Charlie.
	Uh 243, please.
	The staff of TP USA on yesterday.
	Um I was just astounded by the numbers of people who have reached out.
	I understand there's I think 350,000 and growing uh young people who have said we'd like to be a part of this.
	Um the Charlie Kirk show continues as do the events, and Vice President Vance was on your show yesterday talking about how he's going to do an event and he's gonna take some questions.
	Watch here.
	I'm gonna do exactly what Charlie did.
	Just do QA with the audience.
	I actually wanted to I want to hear from these kids.
	I want to answer questions from them.
	He would answer tough questions from the left and from the right.
	And so I want to do that too.
	Part of keeping Charlie's memory alive is keeping the mission alive.
	And nobody can replace Charlie, but if we all sort of take little pieces, we can do as much as we can to ensure that Charlie's mission continues to survive long after he's gone.
	I feel like that's gonna be must watch um TV streaming, whatever we're calling it now.
	Yeah, no, absolutely.
	And uh I just want to give a huge shout out and hat tip uh to uh the vice president.
	You know, people I don't know how people imagine this working, but he has he and Usha have been so um just generous, and they have been the ones offering to help.
	They have been the ones saying, hey, we want to make sure that Charlie's legacy lives on.
	How can we help?
	What can we do?
	And I just love that uh the vice president wants to honor Charlie by emulating Charlie at these events.
	You know, yes, he'll give a few minutes of remarks, but he wants to, he wants to interact with the students.
	And people need to understand that part of what made Charlie so amazing is that, yeah, he spoke, but he he listened.
	And this is going to give the vice president an opportunity to do just that.
	Listening is a superpower, in my opinion.
	All right.
	Andrew, thank you and safe trip home.
	Thank you so much.
	So in minutes, the House Speaker Mike Johnson will give us an update, day 16.
	There you go.
	Yeah, I just I love that the vice president wants to honor Charlie by doing what Charlie did, which is he's gonna give a few minutes of remarks, but then he's gonna spend the most of his time taking questions and interacting with.
	Still he always said that.
	He always told me the very very first time that I went, never did one of the campus stops by myself, even without Charlie.
	Uh what he said was this was his his advice.
	So Charlie's advice was, and I've used it for almost every single event that I could since then.
	He says, if they give you an hour, do five, 10 minutes of remarks, and the rest, questions.
	Well, Charlie would plan five to ten minutes and usually go a little bit longer.
	Yeah, get a little bit longer.
	And then he was always I was like, well, why do you do that?
	And he goes, well, because the questions go viral, Jack.
	It's a true people are people are dying for that interaction.
	You know what I mean?
	It's funny because uh one of the guys, uh Nick Freyta, some of you guys know Nick out of Virginia, it's a delegate there.
	He it's so funny because like with him, uh, his social media is kind of taken off.
	And it's funny because I asked him once, and he says, listen, he says the four speeches people love.
	He says, but the the speeches aren't what really take off.
	It's that interaction, and obviously Charlie with the prove me wrongs, you know, understood that it's capturing not just stupid questions, but you know, people actually asking intellectual questions and getting a raw, real-time response uh from Charlie.
	And that's why these turning point events, you know, I think JD's correct and and right to say, hey, let me actually take questions rather than give some pontificating speech.
	That's not a shot at him, that's all politicians.
	Um, but I think that the real thing people are looking for, we saw this in 2024.
	The whole election came down to authenticity, right?
	People want something real.
	Trump going on Theo Vaughn, Trump going on, you know, Rogan, the the real long conversations where you actually get responses that people have to think about, and they can judge your temperament and what you're actually, you know, where you're coming from that position on.
	I think that's why these prove me wrongs are great.
	And I love that so many of these features are taking that angle.
	And it's it's that real-time, you know, sort of like gotta think on your feet aspect that's that's tricky.
	I know I know when uh let's do about five more minutes, and then I know because I know the debate is going to be starting, or do you want to throw to that and get it set up?
	But so we've got this debate, we're going into it.
	So Mamdani is currently leading in the polls, but Cuomo is right behind him.
	So the latest poll that I've seen out of Quinnipiac, it's Mamdani 46, Cuomo 33, Curtis Sliva and Sliwa.
	Sliwa.
	In Polish, you'd say Sliva.
	But uh, we could say Sliwa.
	Um at 15.
	So it's really this three-way race.
	Well, if you add up Sliwa and Cuomo, that puts you at what?
	Uh you'd be over 48.
	Yeah, you'd be over.
	So there's this question.
	You'd be just 4846.
	Yeah, it'd be just over 4846.
	So you'd be just over.
	And you know, we're seeing uh, and by the way, we're seeing a very similar, I gotta throw it out.
	The New Jersey governor's race, where you know, we've been doing a ton of work, by the way, new uh turning point action is holding an event this weekend with um with Chitterelli, Jack Chirelli up in Northern New Jersey and in up in Bergen County, and he's right, he's right behind her in the polls.
	If you look at the head to head, but the enthusiasm gap is huge.
	There is a 13-point enthusiasm gap, Chitterelli up 55, Cheryl 42.
	That's just enthusiasm.
	That's out of the same Quinnipiac poll.
	And uh, I think we actually have some video of Charlie talking about Mamdani, Zora Mamdanny, Charlie's favorite candidate of all time.
	Let's play clip 236.
	Now understand that in the modern world, authenticity is considered to be the most important thing ever.
	And but should it be now?
	Authenticity, if you're pointing towards something good and virtuous, is beautiful.
	You're authentically trying to be the best version of yourself, to be honest.
	If you're pointing towards a moral and transcendent ideal, but Zoran, Mom Donnie is not authentically trying to point New York or aim towards a better city.
	He's trying to bring New York into the gutter.
	And authenticity without virtue is just narcissism in disguise.
	Let me say that again.
	Authenticity without virtue is just narcissism in disguise.
	I remember that.
	I remember we we actually workshopped that whole thing.
	That line is so good.
	Yeah.
	I remember, gosh, it's a really good line.
	And it's and it's true.
	It's a hundred percent true.
	And in fact, that he's he's not just talking about politics there.
	He's talking about life.
	He's talking about everything.
	And there were so many times where Charlie would do that, and he would you know, you'd you'd start with one issue, you or some political issue or political candidate, and he would he would unpack it all the way down to its bones.
	Well, Erica did this in her speech, too.
	She she made a really important distinction between essentially what the founders would call licentiousness, which is freedom without rules, freedom without boundaries versus liberty.
	And liberty is about self-governance.
	Or liber liberty, like uh individual freedom is about it's not it's not about the the lack of rules.
	It's saying, listen, I'm only gonna have one glass of wine or I'm not gonna have any at all, as opposed to five or six.
	I'm only gonna have one tasty cake as opposed to five or six.
	Maybe I'll have maybe have a bite just to make Jack happy and then put it, throw it in the trash.
	No, but whatever, whatever the um, but but there is these nuances to being a fully formed human being that can be a productive citizen of a constitutional republic.
	Because if you allow your vices to control you, then you become a slave to your vices.
	Exactly.
	And Charlie understood that, and that's different from the like the libertine licentious do whatever you want.
	He is an expert at calling out the gods of this age, right?
	You you find out what the gods of this age are by when you realize what you're not allowed to uh criticize, right?
	Right?
	So if you're not allowed to criticize MLK, he found that one out.
	That's one of the gods of this age.
	You're not allowed to criticize the Civil Rights Act, even if you like the intention of some of the Civil Rights Act, you're not allowed to criticize it.
	But you because it's a god of this age, and you've committed blasphemy.
	Right.
	And you're not allowed to, you're well, you are allowed, but when you when you see these incisive commentary about you know licentiousness versus freedom, or authenticity versus narcissism, that those are the the gods of this age.
	How many times have you heard somebody on the news say, well, everybody wants authenticity?
	And you know, that's really the key.
	And Trump is so authentic.
	Well, Trump is authentically who he is, but it's also because his value system is in alignment with so many American voters.
	Trump is, you know, exceptionally American in many ways, right?
	And that's why him being authentically American works.
	Wait, that's so perfect that you mentioned this.
	Authentically American.
	That's true.
	Oh, well, speaking of authentic Americans, let's play clip 237.
	Good.
	The third holy grail of taboos in American politics.
	You have socialism, you have Islam, and then you have Palestine, and you are really going for the trifecta.
	Let's go, baby.
	Let's go.
	Tell me why is Palestine a part of your politics?
	When you grow up as someone especially in the third world, you have a very different understanding of the Palestinian struggle.
	And it's just it's just everything about that.
	It's just going into his mouth, it's just as he's talking about.
	You know, he just like the fingers.
	You know, he just used the restroom.
	You can almost guarantee that he just he was like, hey, before so ranked.
	It's really disgusting.
	And by the way, when you grow up as somebody in the third world, you have a much different.
	Oh, come on.
	You live behind a gated community in the wealthy elite, like everybody's a millionaire.
	I think he lived in the same neighborhood as the only Ugandan billionaire, just like every other communist.
	Let me ask let me ask you guys the question that I'm not supposed to ask.
	Do we want to win?
	Do we want him to win?
	No, we don't.
	And I'll say does him winning, you're right, give the poster child for an actual socialist in the financial capital of the world.
	I'm not I'm not arguing the answer is yes, But I think that that it's very interesting for me to think through.
	They have no leader right now on the left.
	They have no solutions.
	They have no policy that they're that they're driving.
	I mean, where's the when's the last time we've seen a Democrat leader put out some sort of plan in terms of a government budget or something?
	I mean, at this point, it's just we hate Trump.
	Does him getting elected as an outed socialist create a poster child that we can have a better dichotomy between free market capitalism and socialism?
	I think that's a great question.
	Look, I I hear you, but this is the George Will take.
	Defeating communism is always the right answer.
	There's never an answer where defeating communism isn't the right answer.
	Now, I do think Mondami is going to win the race.
	I do.
	And I think that Slee Wah is uh I mean he's running away.
	He's running a vanity campaign, and he, you know, easily could have taken a position in something else.
	He's claiming that he's been offered 10 million dollars to drop out of the race.
	No, no, no.
	I just mean I just mean there are other ways you can serve.
	And no, I'm not saying I'm not suggesting you say you should take the money.
	There's a bribe him.
	I'm just saying he he's claiming that he's been bribed, which is not by Jack.
	No, listen, he now he represents it.
	He reminds me of so many of these candidates that I deal with.
	You guys deal with these people, the Constitution Party, the Libertarian Party, the spoilers, right?
	And and look, it's a tough, tough conversation to have with folks because you know, they kind of have this hope and this dream and it's party loyalty, and he is the Republican, right?
	Don't get it.
	No, but what I'm saying is look at Bobby Kennedy, right?
	Look at Bobby Kennedy.
	Bobby Kennedy runs, he runs as an independent, he gets on all the swing states, he's up there, but then what does he do?
	He looks at the race, he looks at the polls, and he says, you know what?
	I might not be able to become president, but I could become a kingmaker, and then after I become kingmaker, I can still get what I want out of all of this, which is to help the children.
	And now he's doing that every single day.
	So you look at what Bobby Kennedy did for the country because he put the country before himself.
	That's what I'm trying to say.
	Right.
	And look to Sleewa, get some concessions, dude.
	You're not gonna win.
	So do what Bobby Kennedy did.
	Bobby Kennedy, you're right, Jack.
	Bobby Kennedy was a genius.
	He realized that he had a little bit of leverage that he could use to take this Maha thing to the next level.
	And the guy has just completely reoriented our entire health system in a positive way, right?
	And I just look at this sleewag guy, and I'm like, look, I'm a Republican, I get it, but why don't you get some concessions?
	He could be the kingmaker right now to tell all his supporters, and gosh, if you guys would have guessed a year ago that we'd be saying, hey, he should be endorsing Cuomo of all people, I would have probably thought you were nuts.
	But the political Well, Andrew's best friends with his brother now, so you know it's funny.
	I did I did I did go on Cuomo's uh Cuomo's uh I guess it was a town hall last night at the Kennedy Center.
	They they offered, I was like, I'm here, I guess I'll do it.
	And it was it was a fine experience.
	But yeah, Chris Chris uh is probably gonna go into debate prep mode tonight, right?
	I mean, or is he not allowed to because he's a journalist?
	I don't know the rules anymore.
	I don't think anybody does.
	But here's I'm sure he'll be watching.
	Yeah, for sure.
	Here here here's here's when we do it.
	We do have to wrap up because I think they they're gonna be starting soon.
	Okay, so we have to switch the stream over.
	All right, well, fine.
	I mean, listen, here here's what I will say that you're absolutely right, he should get some concessions.
	I I I just want to make f one final point on what you were saying, Cliff, about should we be hoping that a communist wins?
	And the answer, in my opinion, is absolutely not.
	You have no idea what kind of carnage this man would do to everyday Americans, even if they think they're voting for in their own best interest, you have no idea what kind of corruption he'll put in place.
	You have no idea what kind of apparatus will be put in place that you will not be able to extricate from a city that's in America.
	Every single inch of terrain that is America is America, and we have to insist that it is American.
	And so he's gonna stop working with ice.
	It's gonna stop working with ice, he's going to alienate the NYPD.
	People are gonna die.
	So I here's people don't realize the the facts when it just comes with NYPD.
	They are going to absolutely tuck tail and run out of that city as fast as they can.
	They're gonna get job offers from Florida, they're gonna get job offers from New Jersey and Connecticut, they're gonna go to these other municipalities.
	It's all this in Seattle important.
	Yeah, and they they will be they will have their hands tied.
	They're already getting their hands tied from some can uh bad consent decree that just came across the wire this week.
	But they are they are gonna be sitting ducks and they're gonna want to get the heck out because cops, yes, they fear bullets.
	Do you know what they fear even more?
	Prosecutions.
	Prosecutions, yeah.
	They they fear getting prosecuted for doing their job becoming better exterminating.
	Darn well believe that Mom Donnie is going to be leading the charge to create villains out of cops that get put in terrible situations because there's terrible people running loose in the streets of New York.
	Andrew, you gotta run to the airport Cliff, you and I are gonna hang out.
	We're gonna get Tyler up.
	I think we're gonna try to see if we can find Mikey as well.
	But yeah, we gotta get the great Mikey McCoy.
	And by the way, Mikey's gonna be on our show tomorrow for the AMA out of Phoenix.
	In the daytime show.
	Yeah.
	All right, so you're flying back to Phoenix.
	I'm staying in DC.
	It's going crazy, and New York City is going red.
	Communist red.
	debate starts now
	Prices up, paychecks stretched, public safety, top of mind, school concerns, immigrant fears, good jobs in short supply, pressures, big and small, building on the greatest city in the world.
	Tonight, three visions for a brighter future.
	Who will lead New York City into the next decade?
	Live from Rockefeller Center, the New York City Mayoral General Election Debate with Independent Candidate and former New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, Democratic candidate and New York State Assembly member, Zoran Mamdani, Republican candidate and Guardian Angels founder, Curtis Sliwa.
	Sponsored by News for New York, Telemundo 47, Politico, the New York City campaign finance board, and NYC votes.
	Here now, News for New York anchor, David Usshery.
	Good evening, everyone, and welcome to this New York City mayoral debate.
	We are less than three weeks from election day when one of these men will be declared the 111th mayor of New York City.
	I'm joined by my colleague, News Fork, government affairs reporter Melissa Russo, senior politics editor at Politico, Sally Goldenberg, and Telemundo 47 anchor Rosarina Breton.
	This is a two-hour debate live on all NBC New York and Telemundo 47 streaming and digital platforms.
	Politico.com, telexitos, and YouTube.
	The first hour is also live on Channel 4 and Telemundo 47.
	We do have a few rules for the candidates for traditional question and answer.
	You'll have one minute to respond, and we'll offer 30-second rebuttals at the moderator's discretion.
	We'll also be asking questions where we will be looking for shorter answers.
	We also reserve the right to cut off your microphone if you ignore the rules, but candidates, you know we don't want to do that.
	The goal is for you to hear each other and for New Yorkers to hear everything you have to say.
	Good luck.
	We'll begin with Melissa Roos.
	Thank you, David, and good evening, gentlemen.
	Thank you for being here.
	We begin tonight by asking you to do what every mayor dreams of, and that is to write your own headlines.
	Imagine it's January 2027, and you have been in office for exactly one year.
	We would like you to quickly give us one headline about what you think your biggest accomplishment will have been in your number one.
	We'll begin with you, Mr. Cuomo.
	Uh first, thank you very much for sponsoring the debate and having all of us.
	Uh the one headline, how m how many characters in the headline?
	You're familiar with headline length.
	Rent down, comma.
	Crime down, comma.
	Education scores up, uh, comma.
	More jobs in New York City.
	We're getting maybe a little over the average headline length, but optimism high.
	Thank you.
	Mr. Sleewa.
	Uh Curtis Schlewa is without his iconic red bouretic because I'm talking to the people of New York City about the really serious issues of affordability, the cost of living, and obviously what I spent most of my life doing, which is public safety in the streets and the subway.
	We would love a headline from you.
	What will your headline be?
	Your big headline and your number one as mayor.
	Curtis Schlewa exceeds all expectations and looks very mayoral tonight.
	Mr. Momdani, you've had some time to think about it now.
	What's your headline?
	It's a pleasure to be here, first of all, and I really want to thank the moderators and the opportunity to speak directly to New Yorkers about this moment in time and our opportunity to transform the most expensive city in the United States of America.
	The headline would read in about a year, Mamdani continues to take on Trump, delivers on affordability agenda for New Yorkers.
	Thank you, Mr. Mamdani.
	Sally?
	Thank you, Melissa.
	We're going to talk about leadership.
	Voters have reservations about all three of you as chief executive of New York City, a city with roughly 300,000 employees and a budget bigger than many countries.
	We have questions for each of you, and Mr. Cuomo, we will begin with you.
	As a former governor of New York, you obviously have the management experience.
	But you resigned from office amid sexual harassment and COVID-related scandals.
	Why should voters now trust that you have the character to be mayor?
	You have one minute.
	Good.
	Well, thank you very much, and thank you for the question.
	First, uh you are right, I left office.
	There was a report that was done that had allegations of harassment.
	I said at the time it was a political report, and uh that there was no basis to it.
	Um it was then sent to five district attorneys, they all reviewed it, they found nothing.
	It was then litigated for five years.
	I was dropped from the cases.
	So none of that came to anything.
	When it comes to executive experience, I've run the Department of Housing and Urban Development, built housing all across the nation.
	I was governor for 11 years.
	The budget is double what it is in New York City, and I got government to work.
	I passed groundbreaking laws, minimum wage, paid family leave, built projects that had never been built before.
	This is no job for on-the-job training.
	And if you look at the failed mayors, they're ones that had no management experience.
	Don't do it again.
	Thank you.
	Thank you, Sally.
	In the theme of leadership, Mr. Mandani, you work as a foreclosure prevention counselor for winning seat in the State Assembly.
	You have no substantial management experience.
	How are you ready to lead the nation's largest and greatest city in the world in one day you have a minute?
	You know, I have the experience of having served in the New York State Assembly for five years and watching a broken political system, the experience of seeing a governor in Andrew Cuomo who would rather have served his billionaire donors and the working class New Yorkers who voted for him, and the experience amidst all of that of fighting and winning for working class taxi drivers to free them from predatory debt and delivering the first free bus lines in New York City history,
	and in working with unions and working class New Yorkers to finally raise taxes just that little bit on Mr. Cuomo's donors to start to fully fund our public school.
	And more than that, I have the experience of being a New Yorker, someone who has actually paid rent in the city before I ran for mayor, someone who has had to wait for a bus that never came, someone who actually buys his groceries in this same city.
	And what all of that experience has shown me, which Mr. Cuomo can't seem to understand, is that it is far too expensive.
	Thank you, Mr. And far too hard for New Yorkers to afford to live in this city.
	And the definition of experience is not doing the same thing again and again and hoping for a different result.
	That's actually the definition of insanity.
	Thank you, Mr. Mangdani.
	If I can, I think I was invoked.
	Yes.
	Uh in other words, uh, what the assemblyman said is he has no experience.
	And this is not a job for someone who has no management experience to run 300,000 people, no financial experience to run 115 billion dollar budget.
	He literally has never had a job.
	On his resume, it says he interned for his mother.
	Uh, this is not a job for a first-timer.
	Any day you could have a hurricane, you have God forbid, a 9-11, a health pandemic.
	If you don't know what you're doing, people could be able to do that.
	Mr. Mamdani want to respond.
	And if we have a health pandemic, then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their death in nursing homes?
	That's the kind of experience that's on offer here today.
	What I don't have an experience, I make up for an integrity.
	And what you don't have an integrity, you could never make up for an experience.
	Yes.
	May I?
	Uh, first, what you said was totally false, as you know.
	Uh which part was false.
	During COVID, everyone did whatever they could in this State.
	And there have been numerous investigations where they've gone through it and they said we follow the federal guidance, but yes, people died during COVID, and my heart breaks for everyone that broke in the uh that died in this state and across this nation.
	But just to be clear, Mr. Just to fact check that there is a criminal investigation reportedly underway at the DOJ about your testimony to Congress about your nursing home records.
	Yeah, but that was that is a uh political issue with the Congress.
	They made a referral, uh, which has gone absolutely nowhere.
	But there have been multiple investigations where the DOJ found that the nursing home investigation was politically motivated.
	Okay, we're gonna move on.
	We we might have time to come back to it.
	I do need to move on to the next slide.
	Yeah, but may I just finish my uh rebuttal?
	But the assemblyman still says he has no experience to do the job.
	Okay.
	Thank you, Mr. Cuomo.
	Mr. Sliwa, as founder of the Guardian Angels and as a radio host, you've been a well-known figure in New York City for decades.
	But you also lack substantial management experience.
	So how are you prepared to be the chief executive officer of New York City?
	You have one minute, Mr. Sliwa.
	First of all, I created the Guardian Angels to provide public safety in the subways and streets when government was incapable of doing so.
	I didn't do it to get a title or a paycheck.
	Secondarily, I don't declare myself to be all-knowing.
	I will hire the very brightest and best in their fields who have dedicated their lives to trying to improve the city of New York or the state or the federal government or the private sector.
	But what I will say is, thank God I'm not a professional politician.
	We have the architect and we have the apprentice of no cash fail, which has been a disaster.
	We have the architect and the apprentice here of raise the age.
	My own son was almost killed because of that in a gang attack.
	We have the architect and we have the apprentice of Close Rikers Island, which would just release criminals in the street.
	Thank God.
	I'm not a professional politician, because they have helped create this crime crisis in this city that we face.
	And I would sleeper.
	Candidates, President Trump has expressed intense interest in this election and in all of you personally.
	Mr. Mamdani, the president called you, quote, my little communist.
	Mr. Sleewe, he said you're quote, not exactly prime time.
	Mr. Cuomo, he has been critical of you, but said you have always gotten along.
	The President has threatened to cut federal funds to the city.
	And just yesterday he killed the gateway project, the tunnel connecting New York to New Jersey.
	You've all promised to resist him in some way.
	What would you say in your first official call with the president to set the tone for your relationship moving forward?
	We'll give you a minute for this.
	We'll start with you, Mr. Mumdaki.
	I would make it clear to the president that I am willing to not only speak to him to but to work with him if it means delivering on lowering the cost of living for New Yorkers.
	That's something that he ran his presidential campaign on, and yet all he's been able to deliver thus far has been prosecuting his political enemies and trying to enact the largest deportation program in American history.
	And what distinguishes me from Andrew Cuomo is the fact that he has gotten on the phone with that same president, not asking him how to work together to help New Yorkers, or not telling him that he would refuse to back down to protect those New Yorkers, but instead asking him how to win this race.
	That's something I can do myself.
	I don't need the president's assistance for.
	And what I tell the president is if he ever wants to come for New Yorkers in the way that he has been, he's going to have to get through me as the next mayor of this city.
	All right.
	Mr. Cuomo, we'll give you a little extra time, but I'd like you to answer this question as well, what your first conversation with the president would be like.
	Okay.
	Uh first, I never had a conversation with the president that the assembly was talking about.
	Um but he's he's uh has a distant relationship with the truth.
	Uh I would say to the president in the first conversation, look, we have had many, many battles.
	I fought with, we fought together every day during COVID.
	And the battles were bloody.
	Uh and I'd like to avoid them.
	Uh, you know, if you come after New York, you know what I'm gonna do, you know it's going to be ugly, uh, and you know my chances are almost 50-50, even though you're the president.
	I'd like to work with you.
	I think we can do good things together, but number one, I will fight you every step of the way if you try to hurt New York.
	Unless he weaponizes the justice system to go after the attorney general of this state, in which case you'll issue a statement that doesn't even name the president.
	And no matter what you think about Donald Trump, you know that not even being able to name him is an act of cowardice.
	And that's what we would see from Donald Trump's puppet on the right of the road.
	I do want to get Ms. Mr. Colombia, I'll give you a few seconds to respond to that.
	Yeah.
	I did mention I said political weaponization of the justice system is wrong.
	Both sides do it.
	It's wrong when Donald Trump does it.
	It's wrong when they did it to Comey.
	It's wrong when Comey did it to Hillary was wrong when it happened to the United States.
	You want to give it to Chase James.
	Thank you, Mr. Cuomo.
	I want to give Mr. Sleewe a chance to answer this.
	Mr. Sleewe, your first official conversation with the president.
	What would you say to set the tone?
	Well, first of all, there's high levels of testosterone in this room.
	I've had a love-hate relationship with Donald Trump that goes back over 30 years.
	But I know one thing.
	We have Andrew Cuomo.
	We have John Mandami.
	They want to take on Donald Trump.
	Look, you can be tough, but you can't be tough if it's going to cost people desperately needed federal funds.
	Zoran Mandami, the president has already said it's going to take $7 billion out of the budget right from the start if you're elected mayor.
	People are going to suffer in this city.
	People who need those federal funds.
	What I would do is sit and negotiate.
	I would say, look, Mr. President, we need that gateway tunnel.
	It moves millions of people from Washington, D.C. to Boston.
	But take away the Q train project.
	We don't need those three stations going from 96th Street to 125th.
	It's not a necessity.
	Sit with the President and whoever he delegates and try to negotiate.
	But if you try to get tough with Trump, the only people who are going to suffer from that are the people of New York Street.
	Okay, Mr. Sleewe, thank you.
	Brief response, Mr. Mamdani.
	You know, Mr. Trump is already suspending infrastructure grants to this city.
	And he's doing it in a blatant act of political retribution.
	And what it requires is leadership that will stand up to him.
	And I disagree with Mr. Sleewo.
	We do need to extend the second Avenue subway to 125th Street.
	It was a promise made to Harlemites decades ago.
	It's time to actually fulfill it.
	Thank you, Mr. Montana.
	Okay, quick question.
	Do I get 50?
	Quick question for each of you.
	Um, Mr. Cuomo, you've been asked to be a good question.
	So he mentioned my name.
	Don't I get a chance to respond?
	Well, we got a lot of ground to cover, Mr. When was the last time you spoke with President Trump, Mr. Cuomo?
	You've been asked this before, and the last time you said you couldn't remember.
	Uh I believe it was during his assassination attempt.
	So last year in 2024.
	Mr. Sleewa, when was the last time you spoke with President Trump?
	Oh, many years ago, uh, we were receiving awards.
	I was praising him for a saving uh the annual Veterans Day parade.
	Uh those were the conversations that I had with him.
	Please respond, I was asked about the Q train.
	Okay, real quick.
	I am the mayor of mass transit.
	We do not need a Q-train.
	I'm in the subways every day.
	We have more than a capable system of transporting people.
	Thank you, Mr. Sleeve.
	The infrastructure needs to be fixed in the system that we have.
	Thank you.
	Mr. Momdani, have you ever spoken with President Trump?
	No.
	Okay.
	There you go.
	Sally.
	Thank you.
	Mr. Cuomo, a follow-up to that.
	President Trump has spoken positively about you and your candidacy, even as his Justice Department, as we've noted, is reportedly investigating you for allegations you lied to Congress over your COVID record.
	Given that dynamic, how would you be able to stand up to this White House?
	How are you not compromised?
	And just take into account that New Yorkers are troubled by what they view as a compromise relationship the current outgoing mayor has with the president.
	Yeah.
	First, you're wrong when you say there's any investigation of me.
	That's not true.
	Do you have absolutely nothing?
	Congress did a press release.
	They said they sent a letter to the Department of Justice, uh, which they do routinely to generate press.
	Uh and that's what that is.
	Um I have been, I fought Donald Trump.
	He investigated me repeatedly with the Department of Justice.
	The Department of Justice Inspector General said that it was actually politically motivated.
	That does not back me up.
	When I'm fighting for New York, I am not going to stop.
	And I'll tell you something else.
	If the Assemblyman is elected mayor, Donald Trump will take over New York City, and it will be Mayor Trump.
	Who runs New York City?
	We have to move on to very quick follow-up, yes or no.
	You're saying unequivocally the Justice Department is not investigating you, correct?
	I have one, I've heard absolutely nothing.
	They could be in, you might not have heard it, but okay, we'll move on.
	David.
	Okay.
	Thank you, Sally.
	That is virtually impossible, by the way.
	Okay.
	So Mr. Cromwell, you did put out an ad the day after the news first broke in the New York Times that you were under investigation, calling out a political investigation, saying they were coming after you as they had to, you know, after other democratic politicians.
	You haven't denied this previously.
	That the Republican Congress was.
	Yes.
	I believe they play politics with the justice system.
	Okay.
	I believe the Republican Congress does it.
	I believe Donald Trump does it.
	I believe the Democrats do it.
	And that's why I think people are sick and tired.
	If you think that there's no difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, then that's the candidate for you.
	If you think it's time to have a Democratic Party that actually stands up to Donald Trump and his billionaire back assaulting working people, Mr. Babadi.
	You're candidates where you have not a Democrat.
	You're not a Democrat.
	You're a Democratic South candidate.
	We have to do that.
	You didn't vote for Kamala Harris, right?
	We have another ground cover.
	No, no, we have a ground cover.
	That's an incendiary charge.
	I want to be very You may have a chance to address it, but we do have a lot of issues to get to with New Yorkers, Mr. Mamdan.
	I'll be very quick.
	You didn't say leave it blank in the Kamala?
	I'll be very quick.
	I said leave it blank in the presidential primary, because primary is our place to air dissent.
	And like many Americans, I was horrified by Israeli genocide of Palestinians.
	And if you want to look for me on the ballot, you'll find me as the Democrats.
	Mr. Mamdani, thank you.
	General, we have to move on.
	This week, the world is reacting to President Trump's Israel Hamas peace deal and the release of the hostages.
	And many are cautiously optimistic about a lasting peace.
	Of course, the mayor has no direct role in foreign affairs, and we certainly have a lot of questions for you about city matters.
	But this war has been a major topic in the campaign.
	And there are criticisms about your positions in the past and how you envision leading on these issues as mayor.
	So we have questions for all of you, but first for Mr. Mamdani, because something you said that's been generating headlines in the news today as we come into the debate yesterday on Fox News.
	You were asked if Hamas should lay down its weapons.
	Key to the peace plan and ceasefire.
	And some say they found your answer confusing.
	You said, quote, I don't really have opinions about the future of Hamas in Israel, beyond the question of justice and safety, and the fact that anything has to abide by international law.
	And that applies to Hamas, and that applies to the Israeli military.
	So for the voters tuning in tonight, Mr. Mamdani, what do you believe about Hamas and how lasting peace will be achieved?
	We know it's a complicated matter, but we'd like you to keep your answer to a minute if you could.
	Of course, I believe that they should lay down their arms.
	I'm proud to be one of the first elected officials in the state who called for a ceasefire.
	And calling for a ceasefire means seizing fire.
	That means all parties have to cease fire and put down their weapons.
	And the reason that we call for that is not only for the end of the genocide, but also an unimpeded access of humanitarian aid.
	I, like many New Yorkers, am hopeful that this ceasefire will hold.
	I'm hopeful that it is durable.
	I'm hopeful that it is just.
	And for it to be just, we also have to ensure that it addresses the conditions that preceded this.
	Conditions like occupation, like the siege, and apartheid.
	And that is what I'm hopeful for.
	Yeah.
	If I may, that means from the rim.
	I'm being marginalized out of this.
	I'm sorry.
	We need to do that.
	Excuse me, Andrew.
	It's a debate of three.
	Do we acknowledge that?
	Three people.
	Mr. Sliber, go ahead and we'll give you a second.
	Go ahead, Mr. Slim.
	The President of the United States should have been applauded by you, Johan Mandami, and you, Andrew Cuomo, on the day that he brought together that international coalition that met in Egypt that came from the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.
	I certainly applauded him for bringing peace to Gaza and trying to end the hostilities in the war between the Israelis and Hamas.
	So they can be peace between the Israelis and peace between the Palestinians.
	But you seem, Zoran, to be incapable of praising our president and Angela.
	You were incapable of praising the presentation.
	Give credit where credit on the peace to Gaza.
	We have other questions on this matter.
	Mr. Cuomo, please, brief response because we do have other questions on this issue that you may be able to address.
	Go ahead.
	I did applaud uh President Trump and his administration.
	I think it was a great accomplishment.
	I hope the peace holds.
	The assemblyman will not denounce Hamas.
	The Assemblyman will not denounce Hassan Piker, who said America deserved 9-11.
	The assemblyman just said in his response, well, it depends on uh occupation.
	That is code, meaning that the Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish state, which he has never acknowledged.
	That is from the river to the sea.
	That's why he won't denounce globalize the intifada, which means kill all Jews.
	Let's give Mr. Mamdani a chance to respond to that.
	I want to be very clear.
	The occupation is a reference to international law and the violation of it, which Mr. Cuomo has no regard for since he signed up to be Benjamin Netanyahu's legal defense team during the course of this genocide.
	And I find the comments that Hassan made on 9-11 to be objectionable and reprehensible.
	And I also think that part of the reason why Democrats are in the situation that we are in of being a permanent minority in this country is we are looking only to speak to journalists and streamers and Americans with whom we agree of every single thing that they say.
	We need to take the case to every person, and I'm happy to do that, which is why I was on Fox News yesterday talking about how I wish it was more like NASCAR, so we could see all the billionaires who are sponsoring you right on your suit jacket.
	We're going to turn it to Sally, actually.
	Yeah, actually, this kind of flows, and then we'll go back to Melissa.
	Mr. Mamdani, you told NBC's Meet the Press that you don't believe it's the role of the mayor to police speech.
	Your words about this war have comforted many New Yorkers, but they've troubled others, and I want to ask about some of this.
	There is your recent refusal, as we just discussed, to condemn the slogan, Globalize the Intifada, which many view as a call to arms.
	In 2017, you rapped lyrics praising the Holy Land Five.
	These are men who were convicted of supporting terrorism.
	How would you assure New Yorkers, especially Jewish residents who might be concerned about this that you would be a mayor for all?
	You have one minute to answer this.
	Thank you for this opportunity.
	When I'm speaking about the responsibility of leading this city, I mean leading not just those who voted for me, needing leading not just those who vote, but leading every single person who calls the city home.
	And that includes Jewish New Yorkers.
	And I have been so thankful for the opportunity I've had to sit with so many Jewish New Yorkers over the course of the primary and through the general.
	And it's in those conversations that I learned that this phrase evokes many painful memories.
	Memories of bus attacks in Haifa of restaurant attacks in Jerusalem.
	And I heard from a rabbi about their roommate who was killed on one of those buses.
	And in hearing that, and the distance between that impact and the rationale that some use of saying it, of speaking about the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, is why I said that I would discourage this language, language that I do not use.
	And what I'm looking to do as the first Muslim mayor of this city is to ensure that we bring every New Yorker together.
	Jewish New Yorkers, Muslim New Yorkers, every single person that calls the city home.
	Okay, they understand they won't just be protected, but they will belong.
	Mr. Sleewa, we will get to you.
	First, I'm going to ask a question of Mr. Cuomo.
	While you are a strong supporter of Israel, you have also been slow to develop a relationship with the city's Muslim community.
	You have called Mr. Mamdani a terrorist sympathizer.
	How do you assure those New Yorkers, especially Muslims and Arabic New Yorkers, that you will be a mayor for all?
	You'll have one minute.
	Yeah.
	Well, first, I think the assemblyman uh created the perception himself.
	Why wouldn't he condemn Hamas?
	Why wouldn't he condemn Hassan Piker?
	Why did it take us here tonight for the first time for him to say it?
	He still won't denounce globalize the intifada, which means kill all Jews.
	Just say, I denounce it.
	He won't do it.
	That's the issue.
	And his defense of the.
	I think you've made the point, but can can you please answer about your own relationship with the Muslim community?
	You did not visit mosques for many years.
	More recently, you have then.
	Yeah, I don't think I'm I don't I don't think in any way the assemblyman is representative of the Muslim community, which is a vital community in New York City.
	Uh, and uh I am very fond of and I've been working with.
	Uh I think he is playing his own politics.
	Uh many of his positions don't even follow uh the Muslim faith, so I see them as two totally separate things.
	Mr. Mamdani, you want to respond?
	You know, it took Andrew Cuomo being beaten by a Muslim candidate in the Democratic primary for him to set foot in a mosque.
	He had More than 10 years, and he couldn't name a single mosque at the last debate we had that he visited.
	And what Muslims want in this city is what every community wants and deserves.
	They want equality and they want respect.
	And it took me to get you to even see those Muslims as part of this city.
	And that, frankly, is something that is shameful and is why so many New Yorkers have lost faith in this politics.
	Yeah, except that is totally false.
	I've worked with the Muslim community for many millions of people.
	Name a single mosque you went to when you were the governor.
	Can you name a single mosque you went to in 10 years?
	Before I was here.
	Before you were even in the state government, I worked with the Muslim community.
	Imams presided over the state of the states.
	I couldn't visit a mosque.
	All right, gentlemen, uh, Mr. Sleewe, Rosarita has a specific question for you, but I'll give you some.
	This is what disturbs me about you.
	Uh you will be celebrating your birthday this weekend.
	In 1991, I was in the streets at Crown Heights with the Guardian Angels for 30 days and 30 nights.
	When the first Democratic Socialist mayor of New York City, that's right, David Dinkins, who was a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, abandoned the Jews for three days.
	They were left to their own means.
	And we protected them for 30 days and 30 nights.
	Then your favorite mayor, Bill DeBlasio in 2019, abandoned the Jews again when they were being attacked in Williamsburg in Burrell Park and Crown Heights.
	Jews don't trust that you are going to be there for them when they are victims of anti-Semitic attacks.
	Okay.
	Brief response, Mr. Ramdani.
	We have a specific question for you from Rosarina, but Mr. Mamdani, please.
	I agree, by the way.
	One of the most meaningful experiences I've had over the course of this campaign has been the conversations I've had with Jewish New Yorkers.
	Jewish New Yorkers who've told me about the door that they've had to lock that they had kept open for 40 years.
	Jewish New Yorkers who've told me on the M57 about an apartment the speech therapist was trying to sell when a realtor told her, put the Jewish books off the table.
	Jewish New Yorkers who've told me about their fear in living in this city, and I will be a mayor who finally addresses that, not through the theatrics of the politics on this stage, but through action.
	I'll do that by ensuring that we have police officers outside of Syrians on the high holding days.
	Gentlemen, we have a lot to get to, and we do have a specific question for Mrs. Slila.
	Rosarino.
	Thank you, David.
	Um, Mr. Sleewa, you've called for a tougher police in a pro-Palestinian protest, and you've suggested that Mr. Mamdani uses languages that is anti-Semitic.
	How do you assure New Yorkers that you'll be the mayor for all?
	I've been there for all people and all times for 46 years as leader of the Guardian Angels here and around the world.
	Whether it is a religious uh violation of people's rights to worship as they choose in a mosque, in a church, in a synagogue, or a shool, whether it's because of racial identity.
	Remember, in the summer of 2020, Asians were under constant attack because of the lockdown and pandemic.
	I don't remember Governor Cuomo coming to their aid.
	You were the governor then.
	I was out there going into all the neighborhoods, flushing, Bayside.
	We were in uh uh down in Bensonhurst.
	We were in uh Chinatown itself, where Asians were being attacked indiscriminately because they were thought to be carrying COVID.
	We protected them then.
	Governor, you were not there for them.
	The Blasio was not there for them.
	We understand hate, and in order to counteract hate, you have to get the community involved along with the police to protect people when they're under siege.
	Jews are under attack now more than ever before.
	Mr. And I don't believe either of you have the capabilities of protecting them with increased anti-Semitism.
	That is pure fiction.
	I passed the no hate in our state, the strongest hate crime law in the United States of America.
	We tolerate no hatred, no discrimination.
	We are from every place on this globe, and we are proud.
	Excuse me.
	And we're tolerant and we accept.
	Uh if you notice, the assemblyman still won't say he believes that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state.
	He is a divisive personality all across the board, NYPD are racist, Barack Obama is evil liar, and he gave the finger to the Christopher Columbus status, by the way.
	turn the haters right back in the streets to violate and attack again and again and again.
	Thank you very much.
	You're the reason for that.
	No cash fail.
	You don't know what to do.
	Thank you.
	Go ahead.
	There have been a number of absolutely unfounded lies that have been said by Andrew Como.
	I would just like a moment to address them directly.
	I've said time and again that I recognize Israel's right to exist.
	I've said that I will not recognize any state.
	I said that I will not be able to do that.
	As a Jewish state.
	If I would be allowed to finish, that I would not recognize any state's right to exist with a system of hierarchy on the basis of race of religion.
	I have made that very clear.
	And part of that is because I'm an American who believes in the importance of equal rights being enshrined in every single country.
	Whether we're speaking about Israel, whether we're speaking about Saudi Arabia.
	You can stand here and you can lie all you want, but New Yorkers are not going to be able to do that.
	We have the question.
	We can also put Israel to address some issues here.
	All right, and we have another polarizing issue that we would love to discuss with you candidates.
	And let's talk about the National Guard here in the city of New York.
	Now let's go back to Mr. President Donald Trump.
	One threat hanging over the city is the deployment of the National Guard troops like he has done, as you all know in other cities.
	The NYP, the commissioner has rejected the idea as unnecessary.
	But the President ordered troops to hit the streets of New York.
	Now, how would you respond?
	Mr. Sliwa, you have a minute.
	There's no need for the National Guard in New York.
	Kathy Hochel, the governor, when we had a crime crisis in the subways that I'm well familiar with, being down there all the time, unlike my two adversaries.
	She sent 750 National Guardsmen down into the subways in 2024.
	Remember the horrible case of Dubrina Kowan.
	Does anybody even say her name anymore?
	That woman who was set on fire by that migrant.
	As a result of that, the worst crime I've ever seen committed in the subway system.
	The governor did the right thing.
	She sent an additional 250 National Guardsmen, giving us a total of a thousand National Guardsmen in the subway system, while our mayor, Eric Adams, was telling us it was all a perception.
	So Governor Hokel has responded.
	I would tell the President of the United States, since I'm familiar with cities all across America having Guardian Angels there.
	If you were going to send the National Guard, you don't need to send them to New York City.
	There are other cities that could desperately use their help in dealing with their crime crisis.
	Thank you, Mr. Slee.
	Well, uh, Mr. Mamdani, how would you respond?
	You know, I agree with police commissioner Tish, and that we do not need the National Guard here in New York City.
	We do not need them for the purpose of safety, because it w if it was safety that President Trump was so concerned about, he would send them to the eight out of ten states that have the highest levels of crime in this country, but he won't because they're all run by Republicans.
	What New Yorkers need is a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and actually deliver on that safety.
	When Donald Trump sent ICE agents on people in Los Angeles, Andrew Cuomo said that New Yorkers need not overreact.
	That is the furthest answer that New Yorkers are looking for.
	They are looking for someone who will lead, someone who will say that they will have their back, someone who will actually fight for the people of this city, and that's who I am, because I'm not funded by the same donors that gave us Donald Trump's second term, which isn't something that Andrew Cuomo can say.
	Thank you, Mr. Mandani, Mr. First, the answer in the subways is not more National Guard.
	I put National Guard in the subways also.
	It's more NYPD is the answer.
	But uh the National Guard is not, he's not sending in the National Guard to do any real function.
	It's control, it's power.
	He's trying to say these Democrats don't know how to run these cities, and it's a political gesture by sending in the National Guard.
	He has said if the Assemblyman is elected, he will take over New York.
	Forget the National Guard.
	But this is the first time.
	He has said I'm going to take the question.
	They order the troops to come here, well we can't do.
	Well, I went through this with him.
	He sent the National Guard to 20 cities when I was governor.
	You know what city didn't he didn't send them to?
	New York.
	Why?
	Because I said to him, don't you dare, we don't need it, and he backed down, and he will again.
	So that proves a good relationship.
	But wait a second.
	The president is going to back down to you, Andrew Cuomo.
	I know you think you're the toughest guy alive.
	But let me tell you something.
	You lost your own primary, right?
	You were rejected by your Democrats.
	Why are you going to be able to do that?
	You have a difficult understanding that what the term no is.
	So you're not going to stand up to Donald Trump.
	And I agree with Curtis.
	You're not going to stand up to Donald Trump.
	Okay.
	And he can't stand up to Donald Trump, who knocked him right on his tourist.
	-We have a follow-up.
	-You negotiate with him.
	-You don't fight with him.
	-Okay, just fluid, thank you.
	-Because only the people of New York City will lose.
	-We do have a follow-up.
	-We have a follow-up.
	-We have a follow-up.
	I'd like to see a show of hands.
	Are there any circumstances where any of you would allow the NYPD to cooperate with the National Guard if Trump sent them to New York?
	Show of hands.
	Yes?
	No takers.
	Okay.
	Moving on.
	If history as a guide, National Guard troops in the city could trigger protests.
	And we have questions for each of you about how you would handle that.
	So, Mr. Sleewow, you have been arrested for protesting migrant housing and for trying to serve Mayor Bill DeBlasio with court papers.
	How would your NYPD handle protests?
	And would you continue participating in protests as mayor?
	You have one minute.
	Well, I have been arrested oftentimes in civil disobedience.
	That is a great American right.
	But demonstrations have a time and a place.
	And it used to be before Bill De Blasio, I know he was your favorite mayor, Johan Montami.
	YOU'D HAVE TO GET A PERMIT.
	THERE WAS A TIME PERIOD YOU WERE IN A STRUCTURED AREA.
	YOU GET A SOUND PERMIT.
	IT WILL BE TURNED AROUND IN A DAY.
	IF THERE WAS GOING TO BE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, YOU DISCUSSED IT WITH THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
	And obviously you had an opportunity of expressing your anger or your outrage at whatever it was that motivated you to sit down in the street to block traffic or block an egress.
	Now we have rampaging groups that go running through the streets that enter all kinds of facilities and violate other people's rights.
	And there's no one who's willing to stop it.
	When I'm the mayor, there are rules and regulations.
	Everybody has the right to demonstrate.
	But you can't violate other people's rights, or you yourself must be arrested.
	And I would remove the face coverings.
	Remove those face coverings.
	Why are you afraid of identifying who you are as a demonstrator unless maybe you're an agent provocative who's been sent in here to cause chaos?
	Thank you.
	Rosarina?
	The next question goes to you, Mr. Mamdani.
	You were arrested for blocking traffic in a pro-Palestinian protest.
	And you participated in a sitting at Grand Central.
	Protesters offered block streets, bridges, and hubs like Grand Central.
	How much of that would you allow as mayor and what's your line in having the NYPD arrest protesters?
	You have a minute.
	Protest is a part of what makes this city's history what it is.
	It is a part of the First Amendment.
	We deserve to have a mayor who stands up for that First Amendment, especially as we have a president that's looking to shred it at each and every opportunity.
	And we will continue to have protests in this city as we should no matter who is the mayor.
	And the line will be on the question of breaking the law.
	What we have today, however, is an attempt to intimidate so many who are looking to use that freedom of expression to share their opinions about the city and the world around them.
	And to be frank with you, what New Yorkers are looking for is someone who can show leadership in City Hall.
	Because when they don't see that leadership, that's when so many take to the streets.
	And if you had a leader like Andrew Cuomo, who was telling people not to overreact when they see ICE agents abducting girls as young as six years old to deport them, many New Yorkers will take to the streets.
	We deserve to have a leader who will actually be following through on the values of the city.
	That's the leader that I'll be.
	Mr. Bandano, just a quick follow-up.
	If you're elected, would you still participate in protests?
	No, if I'm elected, I'll be the mayor and I'll be leading the city from City Hall.
	But no participation in protests, right?
	The important thing is to lead from City Hall.
	That's what I'll be doing.
	Yeah.
	If I may respond, because I believe my name was invoked.
	Very brief response and then a question for you.
	I dealt with ICE.
	I stood up with ICE.
	I had a war with ICE in New York when I was governor.
	And I stood them down and they moved out.
	What the assemblyman is saying is uh he doesn't believe in law and order.
	He believes in defunding the police, disarming the police, disbanding the police.
	That's who he is.
	Abolish jails.
	So we have a question for you.
	15 seconds.
	No, no, wait, wait.
	And then we do just 15 seconds because we have a question from Mr. Cuomo.
	Mr. Cuomo lies again and again and again.
	I am not running to defund the police.
	I am running to actually work with the police to Deliver public safety.
	Andrew Cuomo says that he has stood up to ICE.
	He has not said a word about the abductions that are happening right now.
	He's referring to a previous comment you made, and we will get back to this.
	But Mr. Cuomo, a question for you.
	It's a comment he made.
	I understand I said that.
	As governor, you put the National Guard on standby during the George Floyd protest.
	You didn't deploy them.
	As mayor, talk about how you would balance the right to protest with maintaining order in the streets.
	The right to protest.
	The right to protest is a sacred right.
	There is no doubt about that.
	But the law is the law also.
	And you have New Yorkers now who are afraid in this city.
	They're afraid of Donald Trump coming, they're afraid of that anarchy, and they're afraid of the anarchy in the city itself.
	We have to provide public safety that makes New Yorkers feel safe.
	Demonstration is one thing.
	Violating the law is something else.
	Blocking public transit is something else.
	Stopping students from going to class is something else.
	Harassment, intimidation, that's a hate crime.
	That's illegal.
	Enforce the law.
	Respect the police.
	They're not racist as the assemblyman calls them.
	They're not a threat to public safety as he says.
	They're not anti-queer.
	They are here to protect New Yorkers, work with them, fortify them.
	You know, that's that's ironic that you say that now.
	I'm sorry, Andrew Cuomo, because when you were governor for eight years, your parole board released 43 cop killers back into the street.
	Your father, when he was governor, released none.
	I knew Mario Cuomo.
	You're no Mario Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo.
	I'm sorry.
	You released.
	Don't say you're probably going to respond briefly to the comments that Mr. Cuomo raised about things you've said about police.
	You can do a brief response to that.
	I have been clear time and time again that as much as Andrew Cuomo wants to bring up tweets from 2020, which is around the same time that he was sending seniors to their death in nursing homes.
	I am looking to work with police officers, not to defund the NYPD, looking to ensure that officers can actually do one job when they're signing up to join that department.
	But he's not a good thing.
	Not the many jobs we're asked them to use.
	We will come back to that, but we're at corrupt candidates.
	We're moving on to the city.
	That's what you said.
	Your words, your words.
	We're moving on.
	Thank you.
	Despite record low crime numbers, polls show that crime remains a top concern for New York City voters.
	The three of you have very different approaches to crime fighting and how to manage the NYPD.
	We want to get into your plans.
	So we'll start with this question.
	It's a two-part question, but it's short.
	How will you make the city safer?
	And how will you change the NYPD?
	You'll have one minute.
	We begin with Mr. Cuomo.
	I would add 5,000.
	Well, let's take a step back.
	Remember what happened.
	The far left, the socialists that defund the police, defund the police.
	They took a billion dollars out of the police.
	The NYPD is now down at one of the lowest levels in modern political history.
	I would add 5,000 police, put 1,500 in the subways, raise the starting salary because you can't hire them.
	You can't even fill a class right now.
	And you have to add additional police officers because the attrition rate is so high.
	Part of that is going to be saying to the NYPD, I respect you.
	I don't think you're wicked, as the Assemblyman said.
	I don't think you're corrupt.
	I don't think you're racists.
	I value you.
	I will have your back.
	I'll be a mayor to work with you.
	That's how you're going to get the police to apply for the jobs.
	And then we have to work on the relationship between the community and the police.
	The police can't police the community.
	They have to police with Europe next, Mr. Slila.
	This is amazing.
	I'm standing here with my two adversaries, both of whom have threatened to defund the police.
	You, Andrew Cuomo, during the summer of 2020, you said if you don't reform police departments, I'm going to defund you.
	And you certainly said that Zorhan Mandami.
	We need 7,000 police.
	We only have 32,500.
	The problem in recruiting police, which neither of you are addressing, is that their insurance was stripped from them.
	The state, you did nothing when you were governor.
	And here in the city, 2021, the City Council and Eric Adams did nothing.
	They don't have qualified immunity, which you've benefited from, Andrew Cuomo, with the 13 lawsuits filed against you for sexual harassment.
	Tom DeNapley says we're paying out $60 million.
	Why?
	Because you had your qualified immunity as governor.
	And yet people have stood by as police have lost their insurance in all civil services.
	That's why you can't get recruits in because they're not insured.
	I will return their qualified immunity because they need to be protected like other civil servants.
	That is not New York State, it's New York City on the qualified insurance.
	On qualified immunity, it's not insurance at all.
	You are entitled to legal counsel, which is what he's referring to.
	Yes.
	You have spent Yes, but it's New York City that has uh revo qualified immunity.
	It's not insurance.
	It's qualified immunity.
	There's nothing to do with insurance.
	Well that protected you in all these lawsuits.
	And yes, the lawsuits, because there was a report filed.
	I said it was political.
	It turned out to be uh political.
	Okay.
	All 13 women were lying.
	Come on, Andrew.
	All 13 women were lying.
	Some of the things that we're doing.
	A state trooper two?
	Yeah, after five years, five BAs, five years of litigation.
	I was dropped from the case.
	Mr. Mamdani, how will you make it in a while?
	Okay.
	Mr. Mamdani, how will you make the city safer and how will you change the NYP day?
	Thank you.
	This is the concern for so many New Yorkers, and I'm proud to have a comprehensive plan to bring new ideas to this city.
	If you want more of the same, vote for Andrew Cuomo.
	If you want an actual approach to lower crime, look at our Department of Community Safety.
	That is something that has been hailed by experts as addressing so many of the pieces of why New Yorkers are not feeling safe today.
	We will ensure that no longer are police officers asked to do the job of both policing and responding to the mental health crisis.
	We will have dedicated teams of mental health outreach workers in the top hundred subway stations with the highest levels of the mental health crisis and homelessness.
	We will ensure that cops can finally go back to the response times they used to have in 2020, closer to 11 minutes as opposed to the closer to 16 minutes today, because they won't be asked to respond to the 200,000 mental health calls that are coming in through 911 every year.
	This is evidence-based, it's been successful elsewhere in the country.
	It's time we deliver it right here in New York City.
	It's time for a change.
	You are in Mandami, we already had it.
	I'm sorry, this is not free for all.
	We have another question for Mr. Momdani's.
	Excuse me.
	Mr. Mamdani, we're going to talk about disciplining police officers.
	The civilian watchdog that investigates police misconduct, regularly recommends discipline for cops accused of wrongdoing, but the police commissioner often overrides them.
	You want to change that policy so that the board has final say.
	Please explain to viewers in 30 seconds why you believe the police commissioner should no longer have that final say.
	What I've said is that I think it's time to remove much of the politics out of the question of accountability.
	We have the civilian complaint review board, which as you said studies, assesses, and investigates into complaints of abuse and the violation of the law.
	And oftentimes those recommendations are then subject to political pressures and not followed through on.
	I think New Yorkers deserve a system where they know it won't then be assessed once again, that there's actually more to the recommendation in the investigation that's being done by the CCO.
	Okay, we're wrapping up.
	Thank you.
	Thank you, Mr. Mamdani.
	Mr. Cuomo, do you believe changes are needed for how officers are disciplined?
	And are there any powers that you would give up as mayor?
	You have 30 seconds.
	Yeah, I would uh not remove the police commissioner from the C CRB.
	Uh I'd leave it with the police commissioner.
	I think Commissioner Tish is doing a very good job.
	I would trust her.
	Uh the difference between me and the assemblyman is he doesn't like the police.
	That's why he won't hire more police when everyone else says we need more police.
	He wants to use social workers on domestic violence calls, which are very dangerous.
	Uh and he's told you what he thinks.
	He thinks the police are racist, wicked, corrupt, and a threat to public safety.
	Thank you.
	Those are his words.
	Very quickly.
	Mr. M. Mr. Mamdani, very quickly.
	Look, Andrew Cuomo is a politician of the past, and all they can speak about are the tweets of the past in 2020.
	Those are tweets which I have apologized for to New Yorkers and police officers directly, and they are not what I am actually running on.
	You're incapable of actually speaking about The platform that we have here, which is one that will keep New Yorkers safe.
	Can we just quickly ask you?
	Because I think what some people feel they haven't heard from you, we hear you saying that you don't believe that anymore, and you've apologized.
	People have not heard you sort of describe the evolution of your thought.
	How you got from there to here.
	You know, growing up in this city, I would think often about safety and justice and the ways in which that that relationship has been irrevocably harmed when I learned about the exonerated five, when I learned about Sean Bell, when I learned about Eric Garner, when I learned about Michael Brown.
	And then in 2020, when I wrote these tweets, learning about the death of George Floyd.
	And that was a moment where it felt as if the distance between these two ideals had never been further.
	And in becoming an assembly member and serving and representing more than 100,000 people in Queens, learning that to deliver justice means to also deliver safety.
	And that means leading a city where you recognize the bravery of the men and women who joined the NYPD and put their lives on the line.
	It means representing the Muslims who were illegally surveilled in my district.
	And the black and brown New Yorkers who've been victims of police brutality.
	So Mr. Sleewa, you've been out there, you've been on the trains, and I would like to know if you believe changes are needed of how officers are disciplined.
	Let me just suggest, uh Zorhan, what you've suggested.
	Zoran Courtesy.
	Zora.
	Thank you.
	Excuse me.
	Appreciate it.
	Let me just suggest what you have proposed with this new police outrage unit will endanger women and children in domestic violence situations.
	I know I've been involved in so many of them with the Guardian Angels.
	They will be killed.
	They will be main.
	Number two, in dealing with emotionally disturbed persons that I have dealt with for all my years is the Guardian Angels.
	You need trained professional peace officers.
	Yes, you can have mental health workers with that.
	Thank you, Mr. Sleep.
	But that has been suggested.
	It was before by the homeless outreach.
	We have other grounds.
	And the guy you thought was the best way to build the Blasio disbanded.
	Mr. Sleewood, thank you.
	Brief response.
	To be very clear, the Department of Community Safety is not about responding to calls of domestic violence.
	We are speaking about mental health crisis and the homelessness crisis.
	These are the focuses of the work that they will do.
	All right, we have other questions for that a little later in the debate, but we want to just change the pace a little bit, candidates, switching gears to the high cost of living in New York City.
	To kick us off, we have a few quick pocketbook questions that New Yorkers wrestle with daily.
	So we want to know how much you spend a week on groceries.
	We'll begin with you, Mr. Cuomo.
	Uh depends how many times my daughters come over.
	Uh but probably about 150 dollars.
	Okay.
	Mr. Slewa.
	Oh, I'd say about 175 dollars with a gallon of milk, now five dollars and always rising up.
	Loaf of bread.
	Simple loaf of bread that used to be 99.
	Mr. Now is too much.
	Mr. Sleeva, it's too costly.
	Mr. Mamdani.
	Yeah, I actually agree with Curtis on that.
	It is too costly.
	Now that eggs are down to less than four bucks, though, my average spend every week is about 125, 150.
	All right.
	Do you carry credit card debt or do you pay it off every month?
	Mr. Mamdani?
	I pay it off every month.
	Mr. Cuomo.
	Pay it off.
	Mr. Sleewa.
	I have a credit card.
	I have a debit card.
	And for the record, what is your monthly rent or mortgage, Mr. Slewa?
	Uh about 3,900.
	Uh it's not uh subsidized as Mr. Mamdani, what is your monthly rent or mortgage?
	2300.
	Mr. Cuomo.
	He has a rent stabilized apartment that a poor person is supposed to have.
	Uh mine is about $7800.
	We are actually getting to that.
	We're gonna we're gonna cover that subject.
	Sally.
	Thank you.
	Uh we're gonna talk a little bit more about the runaway rent in this city.
	Mr. Mamdani, you're pledging to freeze rent for nearly one million rent stabilized apartments.
	That really affects less than half of all rentals in the city.
	What is your plan for those who aren't in stabilized apartments but are struggling to pay the rent?
	What are you gonna do for them?
	Well, I'm proud to say that I, yes, we'll freeze the rent for more than two million rent stabilized tenants, and I will also build 200,000 truly affordable homes across the five boroughs over the next 10 years to ensure that tenants, whether rent stabilized or market rate, can actually have more housing such that they are not being priced out of this city.
	And finally, I'm also going to make it easier for the private sector to build housing in the city, because what we see today is that it's not labor, it's not materials, it's the weight that is often costing so many so much to actually build the housing we need in this city.
	Thank you.
	And a follow-up for you, Mr. Mamdani.
	The cost of maintaining a building change year to year for landlords.
	The rent guidelines board is legally required to consider those costs when deciding whether to freeze rents.
	So how can you promise a rent freeze today before ever seeing that data next year?
	You know, we've seen the data time and again.
	It's data.
	It's been data that's been overruled by mayors again and again.
	The last rent guidelines board study showed that profits were up 12% for landlords of those units.
	And what did they do?
	They raised the rent, adding to more than 12% under Eric Adams' administration.
	What I am speaking about is actually reflecting the needs of these New Yorkers and the state of the market today.
	These are New Yorkers who have a median household income of $60,000.
	We do not need to be pushing them further out of the city.
	We need to keep them in their homes.
	Are you saying in that answer that you are going to prejudge?
	You will not have seen the data for next year, and you're making a determination based on data you haven't seen.
	I've seen the data year after year of the fact that salaries are stagnating, costs are up.
	New Yorkers can't actually afford their apartments.
	And I will also take action to actually ensure that the landlords of those buildings can better handle their costs by taking on their insurance.
	It is based on annual data, and you haven't seen next year's data yet, but we're going to go to Melissa.
	Mr. Cuomo, I do have a question for you on this subject.
	You have proposed something that you're calling Zoran's Law.
	You think that Mr. Mamdani earns too much to live in his rent-stabilized apartment, though I should note that there are no income tests for rent-stabilized apartments, but critics say your plan would force people to pay too much of their income towards the rent.
	So if you think Mr. Mamdani is gaming the system, what about the other New Yorkers?
	Thousands of them just like him who earn similar salaries, who are living in similar apartments.
	Okay, just to follow up on what Sally was saying, because she's right.
	Uh this is not a new plan that the assemblyman is talking about.
	It's Bill de Blasio's plan.
	It was called freeze the rent.
	Bill de Blasio says uh the mayor can't say legally he's going to freeze the rent.
	There's a rent guidelines board.
	There are certain uh considerations that have to be looked at.
	You're right, Sally.
	You can't say today what it's going to be in four years.
	Uh also freeze the rent uh only postpones the rent because then you have to have an increase to cover the costs, otherwise the building is going to go bankrupt.
	And it does nothing for the majority of renters who aren't in these rent stabilized units.
	There's nothing for NYCHA, there's nothing for homeowners, there's nothing for people in black-brown communities who are getting priced out.
	I was the HUD secretary.
	I built affordable housing all across this nation.
	I built affordable housing in this city when I was in my twenties.
	I know how to get it done.
	I will get it done on the rent stabilized units.
	What I'm saying is those are the precious units, and we should have a good thing.
	We should keep them for the most rents and burden.
	We have to move on.
	But I have a question for you on the invoked me for much of that question, just a very brief response here.
	You know, you've heard it from Andrew Cuomo that the number one crisis in the city, the housing crisis, the answer is to evict my wife and I. He thinks you address this crisis by unleashing my landlord's ability to raise my rent.
	If you think that the problem in this city is that my rent is too low, vote for him.
	If you know the problem in this city is that your rent is too high, vote for me.
	If I understand it called the sons of millionaires need subsidized houses.
	It would not evict it.
	It would apply to people applying for apartments.
	But the tenant would affect it would evict no one.
	THIS IS LIKE A SPAT IN THE SCHOOL YARD.
	Mrs. Rosario has a specific question for you on this.
	Yeah, well I wanted to talk about affordability.
	So you've proposed, Mr. Sliewa plans that would make a point of talking about the struggle of renters and property owners.
	Describe your plan to help renters and landlords.
	Well, first off, we have 6,000 available apartments that are mayor controls in NYCHA, and they've been empty for years.
	That you address number one.
	Then we talk about senior citizens who were living here.
	My whole goal is to improve and not to move.
	I'm concerned about the seniors, especially those that own homes.
	If there's 65 and make less than 250,000, no property tax, because the property tax is way too high.
	We need to cut it in half to keep people who are here.
	And then in terms of rentals, we have affordable housing that can be built in these huge skyscrapers.
	You see them all throughout Manhattan and in Northern Brooklyn and in Long Island City, which we have 25 empire state buildings full of commercial space that will never be occupied for office space.
	We should be converting them into affordable apartments.
	They're in dense areas, the infrastructure can support it.
	I'm the only candidate here who's against the city of yes that would destroy residential neighborhoods.
	I have to interrupt you because we have a programming moment right now.
	We're about halfway through the mayoral debate.
	Channel 4 and Telemundo 47 will return to regular programming, but we got a lot to get to, and you can continue watching live on NBC New York, Telemundo 47 streaming and digital platforms, telexitos, political.com, and YouTube.
	Stay with us.
	A lot to discuss.
	Thank you.
	Gentlemen, gentlemen, thank you.
	That was kind of a natural point for us to transition, and we want to talk now about transportation and getting around town.
	And we have a few quick questions about how you get around town.
	Show of hands, even though they're in their waning days.
	Who has a Metro card or maybe uses OmniPay?
	Uses Omnipay?
	Yeah, Omnipay, yeah.
	MetroCard, I mean, I have one, but you know, I know I'm hanging on to the last minute.
	You're on the subways, Mr. Slee.
	Well, what do you use?
	I'm just curious.
	If you don't have to be OmniCard, in fact, I got a whole batch.
	I'm in the subways, I'm in the buses, the express buses.
	The only candidate rides mass transit every day.
	When you need to get somewhere fast and you can't take the train, you hail a taxi, do you use ride share?
	Mr. Sleewa, what do you do?
	I try to avoid yellow cabs.
	As you know, I was shot in the back of a yellow cab in 1992 by the Gotties and Gambinos.
	Uh, but I'd find my way around.
	If I have to, I I Uber if I can't get there by mass transit.
	What do you do, Mr. Mamdani if you can't take the train?
	I would either take a cab or ride a bike.
	Mr. Cuomo.
	Uh I will take a cab, Uber.
	Okay.
	All right, thanks, General.
	Ms. Sally.
	Thank you, David.
	Uh, let's talk about free buses.
	Um, Mr. Mamdani, this is a centerpiece of your campaign.
	Can you explain how you will make buses free?
	You have 30 seconds to answer.
	Absolutely.
	We will make buses free by replacing the revenue that the MTA currently gets from buses.
	This is revenue that's around 700 million dollars or so.
	That's less money than Andrew Cuomo gave to Elon Musk in 959 million dollars in tax credits when he was the governor.
	And the reason that we will do so is that making buses free doesn't just provide economic relief, but also public safety.
	Because what we've seen is that it decreases assaults on bus drivers by 38.9%.
	New Yorkers deserve more than the slowest buses in the country.
	I know that because I was on the M57 not too long ago, and its average speed is 4.9 miles.
	We will fund the revenue that would have otherwise been brought in from fares, and that's something that we would do in partnership with Albany.
	And I've put forward two proposals.
	The first is to raise taxes on the top one percent of New Yorkers by two percent.
	That would raise four billion dollars.
	The second is to raise the state's top corporate tax rate to match that of New Jersey, which would raise five billion dollars.
	We're gonna move along, but I just want to point out to viewers that Governor Hochel has opposed raising the income tax.
	But Melissa, we'll move on to your question.
	Could I address that on the buses?
	Because half the people don't pay their bus fare to begin with, Zorhan.
	Zorhan, Curtis Zorhan.
	So it's a complete disaster.
	If you have free bus fare, and the Citizens Budget Commission said just last year, 2024, a billion dollars of fair evasion in all different forms.
	This MTA system will collapse.
	There's not enough money out there to make up for fair evasion.
	Pay your fare.
	If you don't pay your fare, they have fair, fair programs for the poor and the indigent, but everybody should be forced to pay their fare.
	Mr. Cuomo, you had both praise and some criticism from Mr. Mamdani's free bus pilots.
	So you're sort of in the middle on this issue.
	What's your plan to make subways and buses more affordable?
	I think free buses is a mistake.
	It costs about $700 million.
	Just to give you an idea that we only raise about $500 from congestion pricing.
	It's been done before in other cities.
	It was a disaster.
	They stopped.
	They basically became mobile homeless uh uh gathering places.
	What I say is free buses for working families who can't afford it, and free subways for working families.
	But don't subsidize rich people uh on a bus.
	Uh and uh it's been tried and it failed.
	Mr. Mamdani, can you just respond quickly on the point about the uh mobile homeless gathering places?
	You know, this is something that we heard when we were fighting to make buses free in Albany when we delivered the first fare-free bus lines in New York City history.
	And what we saw is when we made one bus route free in each borough of New York City, there was no increase in homelessness on those buses.
	There was no increase in fare evasion in the surrounding area.
	What there was was an increase in ridership of up to 38%.
	Candidates, maybe we can dig deeper on this and get a sense of how all of you would pay for your big ideas.
	Mr. Romdani, we'll start with you.
	We've obviously been talking about free buses.
	You've talked about free child care, city-run grocery stores.
	So essentially you're proposing about $10 billion in new spending.
	And as you've indicated, you want to pay for it with tax increases, but as Sally pointed out, Governor Hopel said no to raising income tax on millionaires.
	So tell New Yorkers tonight how you're going to pay for all of this in one minute if you can.
	Look, a lot of people have called even my campaign a non-starter when we first began.
	And now I stand before you proud to be the Democratic nominee who got the most votes in city primary history.
	And I believe we will see the same thing with our push to ensure that we are taxing the wealthiest and the most profitable corporations, the fair amount that they should pay.
	Now there are those who will say that because it will be hard, you should give up.
	We saw what giving up looked like when Andrew Cuomo was the governor.
	He gave up on fighting for working class New Yorkers and instead caved in to his billionaire donors.
	And what did we get?
	We have the fastest and most frequent helicopter service to the Hamptons, and we have the slowest and more expensive bus service across the five boroughs.
	But again, Mr. Mamdani, I know Governor Hokel indicated this week there may be some open windows, but more or less income tax on millionaires is off the table, according to the governor.
	Look, I've said very clearly making buses fast and free costs about 700 million dollars a year.
	Making universal child care a reality costs about five or six billion dollars a year.
	If you raise the state's top corporate tax rate to match that of New Jersey, you'd be raising five billion in and of itself.
	I have a couple of followers.
	I would just want to add one additional thing.
	We have also put forward a plan to save money here in New York City with a billion dollars in savings through procurement reform through following the independent budget office's assessment about hiring more fiscal auditors and then actually collecting the fines and fees from bad landlords across the state.
	Just a quick couple of follow-ups.
	If you could find some of the funding, but not all of it, which of your priorities would come first?
	Would it be the first among equals that you would try to get done?
	Well, freezing the rent doesn't require any fiscal infusion, so that will be something we'll be pursuing immediately.
	And universal child care after housing is the second cost.
	Child care is the second cost pushing New Yorkers out of this city.
	22 and a half thousand dollars a year is the estimate we've seen.
	Okay.
	That will be a priority for us.
	And I just want to know if uh you could get the money and funding elsewhere.
	Would you drop the call for the tax increase?
	Absolutely.
	The most important thing is funding these agenda items.
	I think these are the two most important and straightforward direct ways to do so.
	But if the money comes from elsewhere, the most important thing is funding.
	Mr. Sleeway, you've been talking about cutting taxes and spending.
	So what is your plan?
	And how would you pay for your programs, like 7,000 more cops?
	Well, Zoran, uh boy, your fantasies are never going to come about in terms of funding everything you want.
	It's going to be free, free, free.
	It's a fantasy.
	Let's deal with the reality.
	7,000 cops.
	You already have a plan in Boston where you pay for taxes in the future.
	This is a great plan in which universities and others who have bought our properties that are now uh taken from the real estate market and taken from property tax pay.
	We could raise a billion dollars from Columbia University, NYU that are in the real estate business, and Madison Square Garden, your friends, uh Andrew Cuomo, Jimmy Dolan, who pays no property taxes.
	That's how you raise a billion dollars to get 700 police officers trained, vetted, and out into the streets in the five boroughs, and then the police will be on the subways and they will be patrolling the old-fashioned way where they need it, going up and down the moving subway cars where people want to see the visual protection, especially women who are being assaulted, perved, and like we saw this morning on 86th Street, a woman with a gun to a head.
	An armed robbery because we don't have enough cops.
	I have a question for you in this topic.
	And let's talk about history because as governor, you raised and cut taxes.
	Now you're proposing some tax release.
	What's the price tag for your proposals and where will you get the money for, for example, 5,000 new police officers?
	You have a minute to answer.
	Yeah.
	Uh I think Sally's question was very well taken.
	Uh the assemblyman's whole plan is based on a myth.
	Uh He's going to raise taxes.
	Albany's going to raise taxes statewide on corporations, but the money's only going to go to New York City.
	That could never happen.
	It's not just that the governor wouldn't support it.
	It's impossible.
	He said he's going to raise the taxes the same as New Jersey, corporate tax.
	No, it would be double the tax.
	You would see New Yorkers on 995 fleeing to Florida.
	We would be alone.
	So you have to be realistic with revenue.
	You have 115 billion dollar budget.
	You have to go through that city budget and find savings.
	I started the state, it had it which is double the budget of the city at a $10 billion deficit.
	I closed it and added services.
	And we can do the same with New York City.
	Governor, as mayor, you would not increase spending in the New York City budget.
	Yes or no?
	There would be whatever additional spending would be revenue neutral.
	So you're not going to be able to do that.
	You've got to cut taxes for people to stay here.
	The corporation they're not going to stay here.
	They're being lured south.
	The city said it won't corporate free.
	You got to cut the property tax.
	All right, all right, Slewa, thank you.
	Income tax for those who are 19 to 28 with skill levels if they go to school here.
	Thank you, Mr. Sleewa.
	Andrew Cuomo thinks it's all right to spend 60 million dollars to fund his legal defense from accusations of more than a dozen women of sexual harassment.
	But if I say we should spend the same amount of money on delivering cheaper groceries in the city of a pilot program, that is unfavorable.
	Quick David.
	Yes, quickly.
	First, uh I did not bring those lawsuits.
	That was brought to the city.
	They were brought against by the attorney general, which I said was political.
	Well, those lawsuits were filed by individual women, and some of them have still been making their way through the courts this year.
	Yes, and I've been dropped from the cases.
	Not all of them.
	Yeah.
	And the what the assemblyman doesn't say is all this money that he wants to pass.
	Uh the one thing he did do is he voted for a pay raise for himself.
	They're the highest paid layers in the United States.
	I did ask the state comptroller's office this week.
	The total was above $60 million.
	But just those sexual harassment cases to defend Governor Cuomo and his staff was about 21%.
	Sorry, it was sexual harassment answering.
	I just want to clarify because you said 60, but on those cases it was 21.
	Thank you.
	We have to talk about quality of life in the city.
	Let's turn to everyday life in the city and some issues a mayor can directly impact.
	We start with a couple of questions about 311.
	The number New Yorkers call or text for non-emergency help.
	First off, have you ever called 311 and if so, for what?
	Mr. Mamdani?
	I called 311 uh for issues with my heating in my apartment.
	And I've spoken to New Yorkers time and time again who are frustrated by the fact that they can track their Uber Eats block by block, but when they call 311 for them to come to their apartment, it's just a question of hoping and praying that they do.
	There's no actual appointment.
	That's something that we would change.
	All right, Mr. Slewa, have you ever called 311?
	You know, there used to be that song 911 is a joke by public enemy.
	311 is a joke.
	You can call it over and over and over again and the analytics are when the operators talk to you since I talked to them.
	Have you called?
	Yes.
	I've called them many times and gotten no response from the case.
	Mr. Cuomo, most citizens I talked to on the subways and streets, never get good response to short answer.
	Mr. Cuomo?
	I've heard a lot of complaints about 311.
	So I actually made a call to 311 myself to see if the complaints were bona fide.
	Uh and uh I was uh dropped twice.
	Uh then they were going to send someone to uh find uh help a homeless woman in distress.
	All right.
	Uh and no one showed up.
	You're all expressing frustration.
	Last year, 311 received 38 million contacts from New Yorkers from calls to the website.
	Wanted to know if you had a sense across five boroughs what the top two categories of complaints were.
	What do you think they were, Mr. Slewa?
	Uh potholes, constantly potholes, people's undercarriages ripped out, poor bearings, alignments.
	Second one, top two?
	Racks.
	Rats.
	Okay.
	The city is uh flooded with rats.
	Mr. Cuomo, what do you think the top two complaints were?
	Homeless and uh trash rats.
	All right, Mr. Mamdani?
	There was housing and noise.
	Okay.
	So the answer is noise and illegal parking.
	And we're gonna stick with quality of life.
	Rosarina?
	That's right.
	And let's talk about noise candidates because they fall into these two categories.
	First of all, is the residential one, that's the neighbors and the loud music.
	And the second one is the street or sidewalk, everything with allowed construction and workers outside.
	So, Mr. Cuomo, as mayor, what can you do to help the city that never sleeps get a little bit of rest, Mr. Cuomo?
	Yeah, look, I think uh if the 311 system worked well, if there was actually contact with people, I think New Yorkers would get it.
	I think New Yorkers would be responsive.
	Uh I think we have to change the the ethos in this city, the ethic in this city.
	Uh right now it's toxic, it's divisive.
	Uh everyone's angry at everyone.
	I think when we have public safety that's functional again, uh, and uh New Yorkers are part of that system.
	I think they would be more cooperative than you think.
	Thank you very much.
	There's no proposal.
	Mr. Sliwa, how would you quiet a little bit the city that never sleeps?
	In the outer boroughs, I see problems all the time, quality of life issues, uh 18-wheel tractor trailers, RVs pass uh parked everywhere, garbage that's uh not picked up and collected in the city.
	We've seen trash uh cans taken away by the sanitation department, Jessica Tisch, when she was the commissioner, the quality of life has diminished noticeably.
	So naturally, people are going to revert to 311.
	But it's important that a mayor be able to provide services to all the people.
	And they believe if quality of life is diminished, the next stop is sell your house and leave the city.
	And my goal is to improve and not move.
	Mr. Mamdani, your turn.
	What we've seen is one of the biggest sources of noise in this city is from congestion.
	And with the implementation of congestion pricing, we've actually seen noise complaints drop in the congestion zone.
	And so I would continue to find ways to ensure that we have reduced congestion across the city.
	And one of the ways is by making the slowest buses in America ones that are fast and free, so that New Yorkers can not only live a life of excellent quality of life, but also be able to get around the city without having to worry if they have $2.90 or soon to be $3 in their pocket, which is already out of reach for one in five New Yorkers.
	We have here the author of Congestion Pricing, and we have the apprentice of congestion pricing.
	Okay, we might have to do that.
	I'm the only candidate who's opposed to congestion pricing.
	Thank you.
	It is led storefronts closing because they don't have enough food.
	We have other quality of life issues.
	We need to move on.
	Otherwise, we might have to place a call to 311 about candidates going over there a lot Okay.
	So we're gonna move on to the air, don't worry.
	We're gonna move on to illegal parking plaques in many neighborhoods.
	Recently, Councilmember Lincoln Wrestler released a study that found 450 vehicles parked illegally during the day in downtown Brooklyn, many with fake or government placards.
	That's just one snapshot of the city, but you hear similar complaints everywhere.
	So how would you fix this specific situation?
	You'll have 30 seconds.
	Mr. Sleewe will begin with you.
	Well, obviously, placards have been abused consistently.
	You have people who have created fake placards.
	Not in not only that, yeah, people with fake license plates, paper plates.
	This all violations against the Department of Transportation rules and regulations, a way you can park a vehicle.
	There's just no enforcement.
	And that's because we don't have police.
	We have these e-bikes going up and down.
	We have the motorbikes.
	They're not following rules and regulations.
	They should be licensed.
	They should have uh a way of being identified.
	This way, enforcement can take place.
	Because people are terrified walking out into the streets.
	Mr. Mamdani, your plan for illegal parking?
	We have to showcase that accountability is true, whether for New Yorkers who are just living in this city or those who are working for this city.
	And the violation of traffic laws are violations no matter who is doing it, and to show that that accountability is something my city government's actually gonna pursue.
	Okay, Mr. Cuomo.
	Uh on the quality of life, you're right, is very, very important.
	Uh on the on the placards, I would make it simple.
	I would recall all the city placards and reissue only those that are bona fide, period, on day one.
	Uh on the quality of life issues, the worst thing that could happen is if the assemblyman's proposal for legalizing prostitution went through, that would be terrible for the quality of life.
	He also doesn't want to enforce misdemeanors.
	That's assault, larceny, etc.
	That would be not have time to address that.
	I want to be very clear.
	Not only have I never called for the legalization of prostitution, I'm not calling for that today either.
	And I also have never said anything about not enforcing misdemeanors.
	This is just yet another figment of Andrew Cuomo's imagination.
	The DSA, which you give your uh part of your salary to, that's their position, abolish jails, no new carceral facilities, don't enforce misdemeanors.
	And you're on the bill in Albany as a sponsor to decriminalize prostitution.
	The difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo, of which there are many, is that there is no one that is actually telling me what to do other than the eight and a half million people who call this city home.
	If you want my policies, you'll find them on my website.
	Who told you to legalize prostitution?
	Okay, wait, we're actually.
	Andrew, you can't escape this.
	You signed the law doing away with loitering for prostitution.
	That was the law put forward by Justin Ramos.
	Gentlemen, since you started the prostitution, Mr. Slima.
	Mr. Slima, Mr. Sweden Heights and Flushing.
	Mr. Sleeva, we have and you want to add to it.
	Mr. Sleewo, when I talk over you, nobody's hearing you, and we actually have a question on that.
	So we'll let Rosarina ask.
	And for this question, Candidates, we want to come to Queens, where we know that prostitution has been an ongoing complaint.
	Mayor Adams force form a task force and order sweeps by the NYPD.
	But the situation continues, especially around the very popular Roosevelt Avenue.
	As mayor, Mr. Mandani, how would you handle this situation?
	You have 30 seconds.
	I want to first be clear that I am not, and nor have I ever called for the legalization of prostitution.
	And if you are happy with what's happening on Roosevelt Avenue, then you should vote for Andrew Cuomo because his policy is to continue the exact same ones we've seen under Eric Adams.
	My policy is to actually take on sex trafficking, to have a zero tolerance for violence against women, and to follow the advice of district attorneys that we have here in New York City, the current Manhattan DA, the former Manhattan DA, the current Brooklyn DA, the former Manhattan DA, having said that prosecuting women for prostitution is something that actually leads to less safety.
	And what we need to do is provide an economic.
	So no legalization.
	How about decriminalization?
	I do not think that we should be prosecuting women who are struggling, who are currently being thrown in jail and then being offered job opportunities.
	I think we should be actually providing those kinds of opportunities at the first point of interaction.
	Mr. Cuomo, you're talking to you.
	Look, Bill de Blasio, the assemblyman is a mini-me, BDB, okay?
	He's Bill de Blasio Light.
	He proposed legalizing prostitution.
	He didn't get it, and he just told the cops, don't arrest any more prostitutes.
	There is a bill in Albany that he signed that says the prostitution that a woman who is a prostitute, that would be decriminalized.
	That is what the bill says.
	And that's what he said, if you listen very carefully.
	That would take Roosevelt Avenue and explode it, because it would make it legal for prostitutes.
	Real quick, how would you handle this situation?
	You have to enforce the law.
	It's illegal.
	I went to Roosevelt Avenue.
	I talked to the store owners, I talked to the neighbors.
	I walked down Roosevelt Avenue with prostitutes there at nine o'clock in the morning.
	I've dealt with this uh back in the 80s and 90s in Hell's Kitchen in Chelsea when they were overrun with open-air prostitution and Times Square.
	You don't go after the women.
	The women are the victims here.
	You lock up the Johns, you shame the Johns.
	You let everybody know about the Johns.
	The madams and the pimps need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
	And these absentee landlords who knowingly rent their rooms, their apartments out for the use of prostitution.
	The Department of Buildings should come in, padlock the building, seize the building.
	Because many of these landlords live in Delray, Florida.
	They did back in the 80s and 90s when we did it in Chelsea and Times Square and Hell's Kitchen.
	Thank you.
	And they're doing it again.
	And so enforcement.
	That's why the prostitution for the city is a very good thing.
	We're going to go to Sally now.
	Thank you, David.
	We're going to talk a bit about experience and beliefs.
	We've covered a lot of ground tonight, but we want to probe a bit deeper into each of your mindsets and how you'll approach governing as mayor.
	Mr. Cuomo, you have touted your experience on the campaign trail time and again, but you pretty squarely lost the Democratic primary to Mr. Mamdani, forcing you, a lifelong Democrat to run as an independent.
	When you announced that decision, you said, quote, when you get knocked down, learn the lesson and pick yourself back up.
	What lesson did you learn and what do you feel it said about you, something you did wrong, something that you need to change about yourself?
	Yeah, I think uh in the primary campaign, I did not do enough on social media, uh, which is a very effective medium now.
	Uh I think the assembleman did do a better job on TikTok and social media than I did during the campaign.
	Uh and that is uh changed now.
	Um I've also uh increased my activity significantly.
	Uh but my my agenda is exactly the same.
	Uh I am the Democrat, although I'm not on the Democratic line.
	Uh he is a democratic socialist, called Barack Obama evil and a liar, didn't vote for Kamala Harris.
	Fight and deliver is I will fight for people, I will fight the bureaucracy, and I will deliver results.
	New Yorkers need the mayor to get something done.
	This is all words and theories.
	I am a manager who can ask you.
	That you need to be on social media more.
	Was there any other deeper lesson that you're between the two campaigns?
	Uh social media, uh more accessibility.
	Okay.
	I just have to say it's been an hour and 20 minutes of this debate, and we haven't heard Governor Cuomo say the word affordability.
	That's why he lost the primary, that's why he'll lose the general election.
	And you can lie all you want, but the truth is I voted for Kamala Harris.
	I'm the only candidate on this stage to have the endorsement of Kamala Harris, and I'm not the one who's funded by Bill Ackman who called Kamala Harris unqualified to be the vice president of this country.
	Okay, Maris Bond.
	Yes, brief response, please.
	There are a lot of New Yorkers who su who support me.
	Uh, and there are a lot of Jewish New Yorkers who support me because they think you're anti-Semitic.
	Uh so it's not about Trump or Republican.
	It's about you.
	Uh you think he's anti-Semitic, Mr. Cuomo?
	I don't make those judgments about people.
	Are you a racist?
	Are you an anti-Semite?
	I know there are many Jewish people who believe he is anti-Semitic.
	I believe not condemning the globalized intifada, uh, what he has said about Hamas.
	But Mr. I can see where they're sorry, I don't mean to interrupt.
	I covered your speech in an upper west side synagogue where you said anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.
	There is no difference, and you were talking about Mr. Mamdani.
	Is that not an allegation that you're not?
	No, I make that statement all the time.
	I wasn't referring to Mandami.
	Okay.
	All right.
	We Mr. Mamdani, a brief response, and then we have to move on.
	I have denounced Hamas again and again, and it will never be enough for Andrew Cuomo because what he is willing to say, even though not on this stage, is to call me the first Muslim on the precipice of leading this city, a terrorist sympathizer, is to send mailers that artificially lengthen my beard.
	Okay.
	Is to say to New Yorkers that they should be able to do that.
	Okay, Mr. Mamdani.
	Melissa has a specific question for you.
	Mr. Mamdani, you are the Democratic nominee and you're also a member, as we've been discussing, of a political organization that may be less familiar to New Yorkers, the Democratic Socialists of America, which believes in dismantling capitalism.
	New York City is the global headquarters of the finance industry.
	So how would you be the mayor of Wall Street and the DSA?
	You have one minute.
	I would be the mayor of this entire city.
	And that means ensuring that the wealth that we generate in this city is also wealth that every single New Yorker can actually feel in their pockets.
	Because what we have today is a system that has generated the most wealth in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, where one in four of our neighbors are living in poverty.
	That's unacceptable.
	We can't look at 500,000 kids hungry every single night as just the cost of doing business in the city.
	That's something we have to actually change.
	And I'm going to do that by fighting for my neighbors in Queens that I've come to know who are not only the ones who own teapots and toy stores who own diners and dry cleaners, but also the ones who work there.
	Because right now, all of them are being pushed out of this city by corporate greed, by private equity, and by a politics that refuses to fight for them.
	I will finally deliver that politics.
	Just a quick follow-up, Mr. Mamdani, a lot of Hispanic, definitely socialism, and are a little bit scared to hear your policies.
	What would you tell them?
	Well, I would first say that I wouldn't be here without the support of Latino New Yorkers, because it was the majority of their support that helped to make me the democratic nominee.
	And what democratic socialism means is a belief in the dignity of each and every New Yorker and the responsibility city government has to deliver that dignity.
	That's why I'm speaking about child care, because it's pricing out New Yorkers from the city.
	That's why I'm speaking about freezing the rent, because housing isn't a human right in the way that we practice our politics in this city.
	And that's why I'm talking about making buses fast and free, because one in five New Yorkers are being priced out of public transit today.
	Reservina.
	So Mr. Slee, when I would like to talk to you because you were here with us four years ago in the same stage for the general election debate, and you you lost it.
	Why do you believe that New York is ready to elect a Republican this time around?
	First off, uh did I not warn you four years ago that Eric Adams would be corrupt and we would have chaos?
	Did I not?
	Of course I did.
	And I get praise for that.
	Now I'm trying to get people to vote for me.
	Not just on the Republican line, but also my wife Nancy, who is the best thing that has ever happened to me, created the first ever independent protect animals line, which calls for no kill shelters and putting animal abusers in jail.
	But the other thing that differentiates me from both of my adversaries is that I am opposed to this city of yes, which will destroy the residential neighborhoods.
	Both of them are for the city of yes.
	So when you vote for me, whether on the Republican line or the protect animals line, turn your ballot over and vote no on all those initiatives and referendums.
	Imagine they've said, how can you court a Republican work with a Democratic majority in the council?
	Adrian Adams is in agreement with me.
	The Democratic City Council people are in agreement with me.
	No to the city of yes, which will take your home and provide you instead with lithium ion battery warehouses to your house, which are like miniature nobles.
	Thank you.
	Thank you.
	I have a quick follow-up to that, Mr. Sleewa.
	How do you bring down costs if you don't build more housing?
	Oh, it's very simple to build housing.
	You just look in New York City.
	Uh we have so many dense areas where you no longer can use the commercial space.
	Uh that used to be office space, and you just convert it into residential housing.
	You don't need to go into the outer world.
	You don't need to use wetlands and far plans, which they seek to do.
	If you build a new a new building, it takes five years.
	If you convert in the case, all right, Mr. Sleewood, thank you.
	I want to change the pace in a little bit of a year.
	We're curious about who you admire.
	Who is the best modern day U.S. president?
	Mr. Cuomo Day?
	Well, I'm partial.
	I was Bill Clinton's housing and urban development secretary.
	We built affordable housing all across the United States.
	Umpowerment zones.
	I would say Bill Clinton.
	Okay, Mr. Mamdani.
	I would say FDR.
	Mr. Slewa.
	He's modern day?
	Modern.
	Man, I'd say FDR also.
	That's modern day.
	Mr. Sleewa.
	A man that ended up being loved by Democrats and Republicans alike, the greatest governor we've ever had in my lifetime, George Pataki.
	Three terms, no chaos, no corruption.
	I was asking.
	actually beat president president president president president president president president this governor and this modern u.s president oh who's uh Yeah, who you thought are the best modern president.
	Best president in our lifetime?
	Yeah.
	I would say the best president in our lifetime that I've experienced.
	Uh I would go back to Ronald Reagan.
	Right.
	Okay.
	How about the best New York City mayor, Mr. Sliwa?
	Best New York City mayor, Mr. Sliwa.
	Rudy Giuliani, who endorsed me last week.
	Okay.
	And I'd have a little bit of Michael Bloomberg thrown in because he liked Mr. Mamdani's responsibility.
	I think the best New York City mayor of all time is Fiero LaGuardia.
	Mr. Cuomo.
	It was Bill de Blasio last debate.
	No, I've always said Furrell is the best mayor of all time.
	Who's yours, Mr. Cuomo?
	Uh is it of all time or modern time?
	Best New York City mayor in your of all time it is Fiorello LaGuardia.
	We agree.
	Uh uh recently I would say uh Mayor Dinkins and Mayor Bloomberg.
	Okay.
	How about the political leader, dead or alive, you most admire?
	Mr. Mamdani.
	I would say I admire Bernie Sanders.
	Mr. Cuomo?
	My father.
	Mr. Sleewa.
	I said it already, George Spitaki, which is loved by Democrats and Republicans, and the greatest mayor in our lifetime.
	All right.
	Greatest governor in our country.
	I just have one more before Sally starts to ask you about schools, a show of hands.
	Who supports Kathy Holkle for re-election?
	It's a decision that should be made after this general election.
	So no decision.
	Mr. Cuomo, you hand picked her as your intended governor.
	No thought.
	You have to know who's running.
	Yeah.
	Okay.
	So I would add that I do think that Kathy Hochel, our governor, has been doing a good job in not only serving the government.
	Supporter for reelection.
	Not only delivering for New Yorkers, but also standing up to Donald Trump.
	Just what do you support for reelection?
	I'm focusing on November.
	Why don't you engo it?
	I appreciate her support and I appreciate her work.
	But you don't endorse her.
	Now shout out for Lee Safonics to take out Kathy Holkos.
	So you have a Republican mayor Curtis, a Republican governor, Stephonic like Juliana.
	You want to talk about schools, save the city.
	We want to talk about schools.
	Sally?
	Okay.
	Thank you, David.
	Let's turn to education.
	There are a number of issues facing public schools.
	One that's been controversial in the campaign is the gifted and talented program, which offers accelerated instruction to elementary school children.
	Mr. Mamdani, you have said that you want to phase out the gifted and talented program while Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Sleewa want to expand it.
	Mr. Sleewa, we will start with you.
	What is your plan for the program?
	You have one minute.
	Uh gifted and talented.
	Yes, gifted and talented.
	I have two younger sons with uh Melinda Katz, the Queen's DEA.
	They both attempted to get into gifted and talented as four-year-olds.
	They failed.
	Uh it did not uh present a problem with their future education.
	We don't have enough slots.
	Right now they're 1,900.
	We need to have at least 5,000 slots around the city.
	What they have not done at the Department of Education is make these tests available in black and Hispanic communities.
	So for instance, you have 77,000 children who are four years old.
	Only 10,000 have taken the test.
	Only 2,000 are accepted.
	Why not offer the test to all 77,000?
	And even if a gifted and talented class only has three or four in a minority school, give these children an opportunity to excel too.
	That would make it fair for everybody.
	Mr. Thank you.
	Mr. Cuomo, how does your plan differ from Mr. Sleeves?
	You also have one minute.
	First, I support mayoral control.
	I think it would be a terrible mistake to roll back mayoral control.
	That's probably been the most dramatic educational reform in 40 years.
	We'd go back to the old system that had local school boards, which were corrupt, patronage mills, et cetera.
	So who runs the system is number one.
	I would expand gifted and talented programs, uh accessibility.
	I'd offer preparatory courses to any student, parent that wanted to take them.
	I double the number of specialized high schools from nine to eighteen, and I would keep the SHSAT uh as it is.
	Thank you.
	And Mr. Mom.
	There's been no discussion about vocational high schools which save so many young men and women.
	We need we need to expand vocational training for those who are not going to achieve academics.
	Why should the gifted and talented program be phased out, in your opinion?
	You have a minute to answer.
	So I want to be very clear.
	I have spoken solely of gifted and talented for kindergartners.
	I do not believe that kindergarteners should be subject to a singular assessment.
	I have not spoken of any gifted and talented programs older than for kindergarten.
	I'm solely speaking about kindergarten.
	And I believe that we should be delivering the best education across the country here in this city.
	We will do that by following through in the proposals I've put forward to hire a thousand more teachers every single year through our community to classroom program.
	One that will ensure that we're providing each student, whether they be in high school or someone who is an adult looking to become a teacher with 12,000 in tuition subsidies so that they can start to fulfill the 7 to 9,000 additional teachers we need so that we can actually deliver on the class size reduction act, which I was proud to pass in Albany that will ensure that children and teachers actually have a manageable ratio in that classroom so that they can learn.
	Because today that learning is being rendered impossible by the number of kids in that same classroom.
	It's time to make sure that that number is lower.
	Thanks for the government.
	But you don't believe the mayor should run this system.
	I've been critical of mayoral control because of the ways in which it's been used to take away the voice of parents, of educators, of students.
	I think it's important that those same voices be a part of how we lead the system.
	So are you for or against mayoral control?
	I've been critical of it.
	I'm against mayoral control, and I think that there's an importance of developing something that actually enshrines all of those voices together.
	Mr. Cuomo, you also tried to curtail it when Mayor de Blasio was mayor.
	Did you hear what she said?
	No.
	I was saying you you proposed a curtailment of mayoral control when Mayor de Blasio was mayor during the year.
	There's been multiple modifications of mayoral control over there.
	Some some proposed curtailment at your hands.
	So if you are such a champion of it tonight, I never proposed reversing mayoral control.
	No, shortening the duration of time he would have control of schools.
	Yes, for renewal.
	The renewal of the government.
	How much control of schools?
	Mr. Mondani, how much control of schools would you be giving up?
	Is it just a sharing arrangement?
	I know you want to share with the districts and with parents, or would you be giving up full control?
	And is that an accountability problem if the buck doesn't stop with you?
	I think the mayor needs to retain the accountability so that New Yorkers know exactly who they can come to when they have critiques.
	And I think we also have to develop a system where we don't have what we saw just recently, where you have hours and hours of parents and teachers and students testifying only to be overruled without any consideration by the panel on the city.
	Switching now, it's a question for all three of you, switching to students with learning challenges.
	Parents of students with dyslexia, ADHD, and autism are very well aware of the fact that the school system in New York City is not doing enough to meet their children's educational needs.
	How will you help these parents and students?
	We know that Mayor Adams has expanded evaluations specifically for children with dyslexia.
	It was an issue close to his heart, but what would you do more broadly, Mr. Mamdani?
	You know, I think some of the initiatives that Mayor Adams has launched, especially with this chancellor, have been showing positive signs, especially for literacy and for preparedness, especially as we're in a national crisis on reading and mathematical comprehension.
	And I think those are programs that should be furthered, should be invested in, all while also ensuring that we're giving teachers greater flexibility in the curriculum that they're actually teaching.
	Because what I've heard from many of those teachers is that too often the curriculum that's being procured in the 10 billion dollars a year in DOE contracts is one that has little relationship.
	Thank you, Mr. Mamdani.
	Mr. Slee, well, you have 30 seconds.
	Yes.
	Uh we have 41,000 that we're spending on each student now.
	By fourth grade, two-thirds of these children cannot read, write, or do math at grade level.
	We should be ashamed of ourselves for that.
	100,000 less students than we had last year.
	One-third are truants.
	We have 200 schools with 200 students or less, and Michael Mulgru determines which schools stay open.
	Eric Adams is not exhibiting mayoral control.
	The mayor should run the Board of Education, the old Board of Education, it is now the Department of Education.
	The bureaucracy.
	I'm mistaken.
	You have 13 deputy chancellors.
	You have 50 department heads to suck up all the money.
	I was thinking about the city.
	And teachers are still reaching into their pockets to pay for badly needed supplies for the children in the class.
	The money should be going to the children and young adults, and it's not.
	Mr. Cuomo, what is your specific plan to deal with the challenges of students who have learning differences?
	We are losing young families.
	When the child becomes of school age, they leave the city, they go to the suburbs, they go to New Jersey.
	not going to sacrifice their child on what they think is a secondary education system.
	The core competency, reading and math below 50% is a disgrace.
	The gifted and talented programs gives people hope.
	I do believe Mayor Adams has made progress on the evaluations and services for children who require special needs and assistance.
	But obviously we have to do more.
	So we have another question about improving schools.
	And in the last year, the schools enroll more than 36,000 migrant students, many learning English for the first time, from class size to bilingual teachers.
	That puts a big strain in the system.
	Mr. Cuomo, what can you do to help migrant students, but also the staff?
	You have 30 seconds.
	Well, first, uh, I think it was wrong of the state to put so many migrants in New York City.
	New York City had the overwhelming majority of migrants.
	But they were already here.
	Close to about 80%.
	The state should have uh put them all across the state, Nassau, Suffolk, Upstate.
	Uh, so other governments could have uh uh also Well, they were bust here from Texas.
	And we have a situation.
	But if they're bust from Texas, you could have brought some to Nassau, 20 miles.
	We're asking for the current problem.
	Yes.
	Well, that's how the problem was created.
	Okay, we understand.
	The state put them here, the state gave the city the bill.
	Uh it has now increased the challenge in our education system.
	The state is going to have to help financially.
	So you didn't answer the question, Mr. Mamdani is your chance.
	You know, when I spoke about our community to classroom program, the importance of it is not just bringing in a thousand more teachers every year.
	It's also that we would bring in a number of more bilingual educators.
	Because what we've heard from a number of adults who have taught in other countries now live in New York City, is the process by which they get their certification approved to teach here is one that is onerous and one that is actually pricing many of them out.
	That's why this is a program that will directly address that, to increase that bilingual capacity in our school system so that we can teach every single child, no matter when they got here, the public education.
	education this certification has been offered and it hasn't been successful so how can you make more teachers to be you know Like they want to do this.
	Part of what I've heard is that the tuition costs as part of the same certification exams are onerous for many of these adults looking to switch careers.
	That's why this program is built upon providing 12,000 in tuition assistance that would lead to a thousand more teachers every year.
	And also salaries will be a good question.
	We have not just migrant children, we have the children of the homeless, over 120,000.
	We haven't yet discussed charter schools, parochial schools that are closing.
	Normally, parochial schools would have been able to take some of these children.
	We need to expand the number of charter schools that are doing an amazing job, especially in the in the cities.
	And why not make that available to migrant children and to the homeless children who are coming from shelters all across the city who need the special teaching skills that have lifted children in the charter schools?
	We need to give choice because that's our most precious resource, our children.
	So allow me to now move on into the city.
	I agree on the charter schools.
	Thank you, Mr. Cuomo.
	So allow me now to enter into the Santuary City situation, and let's talk about also undocumented immigrants.
	26 Federal Plaza has become a flagship in federal immigration crackdown.
	We reported that asylum seekers are showing up for like those routine appointments, not facing any criminal challenges, and they end up being deported.
	So by the show of hands, we would like to know if you believe that you, any of you could do something to stop this.
	Okay.
	So, Mr. Cuomo, you have a minute to explain us what would you do?
	The law is the law, and I would have an attorney assigned to every person who is undergoing any review by the federal government or any legal proceeding and put the full weight of the city government behind it and make sure they are legally protected.
	Mr. Slee, what was your plan?
	Look, going after the criminals, that's the job of uh immigration and naturalization service ice.
	But when they have to perform under a quota, because I speak to many of the men and women who serve this country.
	It's putting too much pressure to go outside of courthouses to go Home Depot shape ups or in the backs of restaurants and hospitality businesses, which have hired these migrants, and they are essential workers now.
	I can tell you I have three sons.
	None of them are going to do that work.
	Some Americans will, but most won't.
	We need to protect the migrants who are workers, who are essential workers, and use ice to go after the drug dealers, the gangbangers, the sexual uh uh predators, and those who are sex trafficking and involved in narco terrorism.
	Mr. Mamdani.
	You know, I would be proud to see the first immigrant mayor of this city in generations, and it's a 26 Federal Plaza that I've seen what used to be moments when New Yorkers would be getting their citizenship turn into moments of tragedy, where judges are asking New Yorkers who are there for routine immigration check-in whether they're prepared to leave in the very same clothes that they arrived to that courthouse.
	I agree that we need more legal representation.
	I also think we need to actually be able to stand up to Donald Trump because I heard from Pastor in East Flatbush, Pastor Galbraith, who told me how he accompanied a member of his congregation to 26 Federal Plaza.
	He sat there as a judge was determining her fate.
	They managed to convince the judge to replace the deportation order with a TPS order, but they knew that ICE would not care about that change, and they had to sprint her out of the building, smuggling her into the elevator in order to get her back to Brooklyn.
	Thank you.
	Candidates uh want to talk about New York City's economy uh and change the pace a little bit.
	Everyone supports growing New York City's economy.
	The mayor is our chief salesman to the business world.
	So we want to mix it up, test your persuasive power.
	So we're calling it an elevator pitch.
	And we'll start with you, Mr. Momdani.
	In this scenario, imagine you're talking to the CEO of a big tech company, deciding to move its headquarters to New York City or to Dallas.
	The CEO is concerned, New York just raised its corporate taxes and employees will pay more for everything.
	Look into the camera and make your pitch to that CEO to come here and not there.
	Do it in 30 seconds.
	New York City has something that Dallas or no other city across this country could actually offer.
	And that is the quality of life.
	That is the arts and the culture.
	That is the people that make the city so special.
	And I, as the mayor of this city, will deliver that quality of life, will deliver the safety that is the cornerstone of an affordability agenda and will ensure that companies choose to come to this city and also choose to stay in this city.
	Because so much of what drives the tech sector is a hunger for innovation, a unrepenting desire to actually innovate, and those are the very things that are going to characterize my city government in this.
	But what do you say to the CEO about the corporate taxes and also the staggering costs for the workers?
	We are going to make this city more affordable so that workers who want to work at those companies can actually be able to do so.
	And we're going to ensure that this city continues to be one where we see businesses opening and also staying open.
	All right, thank you, Sally.
	Mr. Quomo, something of a reverse scenario for you.
	The CEO of a similar company with 1,000 good jobs tells you she's very close to moving her headquarters out of New York City.
	She cites everything from taxes to the crushing cost of living for her employees in New York City.
	How do you convince that CEO to stay?
	Please look into the camera and make your elevator pitch.
	You have 30 seconds.
	We know that uh the other companies in the New York City.
	I'm sorry.
	I'm sorry, Andrew.
	Um the question is to me in this camera.
	Yes, the question is how you would convince the CEO of a company with a thousand good jobs who's looking to move out of New York City because of the high cost of living for her employees and taxes.
	How you would convince her to stay in New York City?
	Uh in 15 seconds?
	30.
	Okay.
	30 seconds.
	Okay.
	I get it.
	I understand your frustration.
	I understand that the far left has been raising taxes and making uh businesses feel like the enemy.
	Uh we get it, that's gone.
	Uh the DSA, the socialist orientation, we're not socialists, it didn't work in Venezuela, didn't work in Cuba, didn't work here.
	We know that we have to work with business.
	We want to be your partner.
	We want to have taxes that help us grow our city but are competitive for you.
	And we want a partner to grow your business and our city together.
	Mrs. Leewa, let's talk about business because let's assume the big tech company that we pitched to Mr. Mamdani earlier, has decided to move to New York, and it's a thousand good paying jobs, and the CEO wants to be based in a story at Queens.
	But there's a loud pushback of residents who don't want the noise and the traffic.
	How can you convince the residents to accept the new neighbor?
	You're speaking to a very powerful community.
	How can you convince them?
	But we saw that with Amazon.
	Amazon wanted to come in, and AOC led the charge and local elected officials to say no to Amazon.
	That was a big mistake.
	I would say this.
	Our companies are being recruited away by the day.
	We have young people who are going to school here who could fill their needs in these high-tech industries who also are being lured away.
	We need to cut their income taxes for five years.
	Tell them if you go to school here, graduate here, no income taxes for five years.
	It's an income tax holiday.
	And the most important thing, we have to be able to assure...
	Thank you, the executives that this will be a city where we don't lock up toothpaste any longer, but lock up the criminals who make it intolerable to have a good quality of life.
	Thank you.
	We need to move on to a subject that is...
	That was a Democratic Socialist of America that stopped Amazon and cost us 25,000 jobs.
	Thank you, Mr. Cuomo.
	We need to move on to a crisis that is very important to a lot of voters, and that is people struggling with mental health problems.
	Roughly 500 times a day, someone calls 911 about an emotionally disturbed person.
	And in a limited number of those cases, when the person is not believed to be violent, Social workers are dispatched instead of police.
	Mr. Mamdani, you want to do that on a much larger scale.
	So we want to know how will this work?
	When will you send police versus social workers?
	You have one minute.
	You know, we have a program here in New York City called Be Heard that is attempting to do this kind of work.
	But we've had a mayor who has ensured that it's been unsuccessful, to the extent that even when there was an assessment of about 60 percent of calls that could have been addressed by B. Heard instead of the NYPD, B. Heard was not actually responsive to it.
	And that's because we haven't had the political will to deliver on what is a crisis that affects so many New Yorkers, which is the mental health crisis.
	What my plan will do, an innovative plan of the Department of Community Safety will take what has worked elsewhere in the country, a program in Eugene, Oregon, where they took 24,000 911 mental health calls out of the police department.
	They were able to respond to all but 311 without police assistance.
	When there is a concern for safety or of violence, absolutely, you would have the police there.
	But what we are doing today is actually ensuring that every single call is going to the police and not allowing them to do the work that they signed up to do.
	How will you determine whether there is a concern for safety or violence?
	What is the line between the calls in which police will be dispatched and the calls to which social workers will be dispatched?
	The line is also going to be one focused on violence and the threat of violence.
	And I also trust the operators who will be receiving those calls to make that determination as they do every day today for so many emergency services.
	And just two really quick points, please.
	Um there has been a lot of discussion that you would send social workers to domestic violence calls, which police are concerned about.
	So you're saying no, okay.
	And then the other question is how can you be sure that a situation that does not sound violent when someone calls 911 does not become violent in the moment?
	Would police be assigned as backup?
	I think what you do is you actually follow the experts that have shown us this can work when you're willing to ensure that you're trusting the mental health experts who have been doing this work elsewhere in the country, where they call for the police when they need the police, but their initial impulse when there is no violence in that call is to actually address the mental health at the heart of it.
	Okay, Mr. Slewa, you have encountered plenty of these types of situations in your decades of work with the Guardian Angels.
	So do you see this approach working?
	You're not a police officer, but you've helped out in situations.
	Boy, another fantasy that's not real.
	Eugene, Oregon, have you ever been to Eugene?
	I've been to Eugene.
	Come on, this is New York City.
	We have so many emotionally disturbed persons that are in need of help.
	I will tell you this, Andrew, you closed the mental health beds that were taking care of them.
	40,000 when you came into office down to 4,000 because of your cuts, which forced these people to live in the streets, in the parks, and the subways.
	These people need to be removed.
	They need mental health care.
	We need to make our shelters safe.
	I've been in one-third of the 300 shelters run by the Department of Homeless Services.
	It's Darwinian there, survival of the fittest.
	If we can make our shelter system safe, we can get men and women who are homeless in there, especially veterans who are not giving any attention to, who we put out in Ward's Island at 10 o'clock at night, release during the day, don't give any training, have them roam about, and obviously when you have nothing to do, you end up getting into Trouble.
	This is a disastrous homeless and emotionally disturbed plan that we have in New York City.
	And I'm the mayor that can change it because I deal with them every day in the streets, in the parks of somebody.
	Okay, Mr. Mr. Cuomo, do you think that the NYPD handles these calls for emotionally disturbed people in distress?
	Well, is that is there room for something in the middle?
	Yeah, I think uh the assemblyman deals in theory.
	There's an advantage when you actually have experience.
	I run homeless programs.
	I ran the homeless programs for the federal government.
	I worked with cities all across the nation.
	When you get a call on a telephone about a mentally ill person who may be violent, uh it is a very dangerous situation.
	And I think you should have a mental health worker accompanied with a police officer, because these can be explosive situations.
	I have been in situations that uh seemed apparently calm and fine, and then erupted into violence very quickly, and it got very dangerous very quickly.
	So I would have a social worker with a police officer and get the people off the streets.
	That's the humane thing, and get them the care they need.
	Uh, not the institute, not institutionalized 40,000 people again.
	We have supportive housing now, which is what we use, and forensic beds for people who need them.
	Now let me get this straight.
	Uh a police officer is there first.
	He has to wait for the arrival of a mental health officer.
	I would send them as a team.
	As a team.
	That's not how that's not realistic.
	You're dealing with fantasy also.
	All right.
	The police officers are going to be the first one on the scene.
	Okay.
	And they're always going to have to deal with it first and foremost.
	Mr. Cuomo says that he has experience running homeless programs.
	What he has experience doing is cutting funding for the very programs that prevented homelessness here in New York City.
	As the governor, he cut funding for the advantage program, which was putting New Yorkers who had otherwise been in shelters, otherwise been homeless, into apartments.
	I met one of those.
	Thank you, Ms. Mamdani.
	Brief response, Mr. There was a pilot program that had a work requirement.
	It was very controversial.
	It was $65 million.
	Uh, advantage, just so we need to be able to do that.
	The advantage program.
	It was 14 years ago, 65 million.
	I added billions to the homeless budget.
	Funded the homeless budget larger than any governor in history.
	Okay.
	Okay, thank you.
	We want to talk about the program.
	Mr. Mamdani, we have narrative.
	It was during the Bloomberg administration.
	And yes.
	Okay.
	Okay.
	I want to ask you about climate change.
	As New York City confronts the impact of climate change, one issue already on the desk of the next mayor's local law 97.
	Passed in 2019.
	The law requires large buildings to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
	That may require very expensive upgrades to buildings, which some landlords and co-op owners say they just simply can't afford.
	We're wondering how each of you would enforce the law.
	You have 30 seconds.
	Mr. Cuomo.
	Local law 97, I support.
	Implementing the law is going to be the key.
	Because it has to be done in a way that isn't so disruptive to businesses and residences that they just give up and pay the fine and don't even try to comply.
	Which is what is going to happen now.
	It will be cheaper for them to pay the fine than comply.
	And that obviously will accomplish nothing.
	So, yes, I support the law.
	Yes, uh, we have to implement it, but we have to implement it in a way that is feasible.
	Thank you, Ms. Clone.
	Mr. Sleewa?
	Local 97 will destroy those people who have invested in co-ops and condos.
	Just 100,000.
	It's forcing them to electrify.
	Now, you, Andrew Cumell took Indian Point offline, 25% of our electrical capacity with no replacement, which has caused skyrocketing electricity bills.
	And now we're going to force condo and co-op owners to electrify.
	Maintenance fees will go up 30 percent.
	These people will be leaving their condos and they need relief.
	When I'm mayor, I slow that process down.
	We need our co-op owners and condo owners to stay here in New York City and briefly.
	Yeah.
	Indian Point was started before me.
	It was a very dangerous situation.
	We have nuclear facilities upstate.
	And I uh my proposal and what I did is run cables from the nuclear facilities upstate to bring the power to downstate.
	Uh Indian Point was in it, had 20 million people in the kill zone.
	Thank you, Mr. Cuomo.
	Mr. Mamdani, local law 97.
	How would you enforce the law as mayor?
	I support the law, and I would also make it easier for condo and co-op owners to comply with the law because what I've heard from so many is that it's cheaper to pay the fine than to actually get into compliance.
	And I think the city has a role here in procurement at a large scale of so much of what is necessary in these infrastructure investments.
	We've seen it be done in the Clean Energy Challenge within NYCHA.
	It's time to do it right here in New York City to assist those condo and co-op owners in meeting the standards we desperately need to hit.
	Okay, gentlemen, New York City loves its parades, and the mayor is often front and center.
	You have all said that you want to be mayor for all New Yorkers.
	So will you march in all the parades that mayors have traditionally marched in?
	Or are there any that you would boycott?
	Mr. Sliwa.
	I think a mayor has a responsibility whenever possible to march in parades to celebrate whatever that parade is uh performing at.
	So I've been a Grand Marshal with a Pulaski Day Parade.
	I was proud to celebrate my policy.
	Excuse me.
	Would you boycott any of the city's parades?
	No, I would not boycott any parade.
	No, I wouldn't unless they discriminated.
	Okay.
	Mr. Mamdani.
	There are many parades that I would not be attending because I'd be focusing on the work of leading this city.
	Which parades?
	I've already missed a number of those parades because I've got to be able to do that.
	Okay.
	I don't have the list of all the parades I've missed.
	Wow, that's a lot.
	Let me ask you this.
	Are there any parades that don't exist that you think should?
	Mr. Mamdani?
	I I haven't thought much about parades, to be honest with you.
	Mr. Cuomo.
	I have not thought I I don't even know what parade doesn't exist.
	Could be for anything.
	Mr. Sliwa.
	Uh every parade has the right to exist in New York City.
	I would ask you.
	Thank you.
	Would you protect the Christopher Columbus statues that exist here in the city?
	I'm telling you, my focus is on affordability.
	I'm not thinking about the state.
	Well, you're not answering the question.
	Yeah, thank you.
	He's not answering that.
	We have gave the finger to the Columbus Day status issues come up.
	That's what we call a disgraciado.
	Listen, we're in the last couple of minutes, and we thought you know what that means.
	Some questions.
	We thought we'd have some questions that maybe give a glimpse into your life or your personality away from the political podium.
	What's your go-to breakfast order at the bodega?
	Mr. Sliwa.
	Oh, eggs and cheese on a roll.
	No salt, please.
	Mr. Cuomo.
	Same thing.
	No salt also.
	Mr. Mamdani.
	Egg and cheese on a roll with jalapenos.
	No.
	Have you ever purchased anything in a cannabis shop?
	And if so, what did you buy?
	Mr. Mamdani.
	I have.
	I have I've purchased marijuana at illegal cannabis shop.
	Okay.
	Mr. Cuomo?
	No.
	Mr. Sliwa.
	Uh, when I was shot five times, I've had Crohn's disease.
	I did use medical marijuana.
	Yes.
	Okay.
	In a dream scenario, we know it's not possible, but the Mets are playing game seven of the World Series on the same night as the Knicks are playing game seven of the NBA championship, and you can only go to one.
	Which one will it be, Mr. Sleewa?
	Again, which baseball team?
	This is the Mets, game seven, Knicks game seven.
	Uh I'm not going to the Mets game.
	I'm a Yankee fan.
	True baseball fans, either like one or the other.
	I'm going to the Knicks uh game.
	That's my team, the Knicks.
	Mr. Cuomo.
	I'm gonna go half in half.
	I can make it back and forth.
	All right.
	Mr. Mamdani, this is what New Yorkers are sick of.
	Just pick a T. What's your answer?
	I'd be there for the Knicks.
	Okay.
	Well, there's a lot of ground covered.
	We'll leave it on that light note.
	Thank you, candidates, for a spirited debate.
	We thank you as well.
	We hope you got a lot out of it.
	New York City viewers, New York City Voters.
	The New York City Campaign Finance Board, we thank heartily and we urge you to check out their website, NYC Votes.org.
	From all of us here, we certainly thank you for watching.
	And remember, go vote.
	Tuesday, November 4th.
	Have a good night.
	Have a good night.
	Okay, so we just saw the New York mayoral debate.
	Uh it was a two-hour debate.
	thank you for everyone who had to watch uh all of that communism, all that socialism.
	And honestly, I just gotta say right off the bat well-run debate.
	I thought it was a well run debate.
	I thought it was uh good job by the moderators.
	All right, I'm being told now that we have everyone here.
	That is good.
	So Andrew, of course, had to leave earlier.
	Uh he was making his way to uh a flight, but we've got the great Cliff Maloney.
	What's up, Cliff?
	Good to see y'all.
	Good to see you.
	Mikey McCoy is there, and he's the only one of us actually in Phoenix right now for once.
	This feels weird being the only one in the studio, right?
	I gotta be honest.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	And Tyler Boyer, who is uh who is on assignment.
	What's up, guys?
	How are we doing?
	What's up?
	So I I kind of threw my my piece out, Cliff.
	You were earlier.
	Uh let's go, let's go, Tyler.
	You know, what what were some of your takeaways from the debate?
	Yeah, I agree with you, Jack.
	It was a really well-run debate.
	Um, I was expecting absolute chaos because you have a communist, uh, a guy who uh has a lot of piercings, and another guy who really can't usually stop talking all on the stage at the same time.
	And my expectation was just an absolute circus of a debate, and it actually was like an enjoyably long debate.
	I think actually most debates should be about that length and cover as many many substantive topics like they did.
	I mean, it's a lot of stuff that most Americans really can't um totally comprehend because it's New York City specific, you know, inner city you know, garbage stuff that um really shouldn't exist, but you have to talk about, I guess, if you're from New York City.
	So uh yeah, anyways, I thought it was uh a really great, well-run debate.
	Mikey, what do you think, man?
	Yeah, I I thought this was the most New York debate ever because you have these two New Yorkers on stage arguing on who loves the Jews more, and then you have mom Donnie saying the craziest stuff on stage, and you have you got mom Donnie saying,
	We need rent control buildings and we need to fix everything, and then you got Sliwa going up there, and every other sentence he's going, you know, in my day when we had the guardian angels, we would patrol the streets and keep it clean, and then Cuomo doesn't really know what's going on, somehow ties it all back to to you know to protecting the Jewish community, which is great.
	You know, that's a big community in New York, but I I did think it was very near New York, and then on top of that, you have the two DEI sign language hires who have the green sheep behind them.
	And I I think that they automatically thought that that maybe a set would pop up if they put a green sheep behind them.
	But I I thought it was good.
	I thought the moderator did well.
	I thought maybe the moderator could have started by holding up a Chipotle bowl and saying, Mr. Mom Donnie, how do you eat this with your hands or a fork?
	I I thought that we really missed out on that one, but other than that, I thought it was a pretty good debate.
	Oh my gosh.
	Umike's canceled.
	Mikey just appears like going to the city.
	Mikey came in on Thought Crime today.
	He Mikey had we had a clip last week of uh he's like, I really like Thought Crime, and he's been thinking about it all week, and he just came in with the most content.
	I mean, I think we can close up shop.
	That's that's great.
	Covered everything.
	Yeah, it's pretty good.
	I was like trying to be all serious.
	I'm like, oh yeah, it was good debate.
	Tyler's like, oh, substitute issues.
	No easy.
	Let me all right.
	We gotta go.
	Jump in real quick and say that you know what was fascinating to me is this idea that it's the true Democrat party, which means both Cuomo and uh Mom Donnie, you could tell every answer was not, oh, I want to present something because I have a plan or I have some sort of vision.
	It was who am I not allowed to offend?
	Every single answer, you could see him kind of pausing.
	I don't want to offend this group, so I have to answer this correctly.
	I don't want to offend that group.
	You know, at least Curtis went in as the Republican with some actual solutions, but I just feel like that represents the Democratic Party today.
	Is there just worried about offending people?
	It's all about this these classes and virtue signaling.
	And to me, it was a good debate, and that the the structure I think went well, but there was no real policy positions that got anybody excited.
	I didn't think they really went deep on any of that.
	Um Donnie said, Hey, we want everything to be free.
	Uh, They didn't really push back on him.
	I will say this though.
	I thought they went after Cuomo pretty tough on a lot of the follow-ups.
	I mean, they really inserted themselves as if they were kind of fact-checking in the moment, but they only seem to do that for him.
	Yeah, they went really easy on Mom Dani on a lot of the follow-ups, which was, you know, kind of expected because it's just the communist propaganda that you see coming out of the elections department in New York City.
	But I mean, I uh everything Mom Donnie said was just totally rehearsed, totally fake.
	Nothing he actually believes.
	Uh, you know, I you know, Cuomo did a nice job saying that a lot of times, and just pointing out, hey, you actually said this, and now you're here.
	And then he didn't really give any real explanations as to why he changed his tune in very short format after becoming the democratic nominee.
	But here we are with with uh you know potential communist as mayor of New York City here.
	And and that's yeah, I'm just gonna say it, right?
	You know, so so coming in, um, Mandami was the front runner, and you know, Sliwa, a lot of people are looking at him as kind of like a spoiler.
	They're saying, okay, you know, you'd put, and I think the latest Quinnipiac poll said Slee was at uh 15, Cuomo's at 33, and then Mandami's at 46.
	So if you put the two of them together, they'd be at 48, and they'd uh that Cuomo would be the lead, but instead, and and obviously not all that 15 would go over, but instead, uh, you know, it's it's it's just this split ticket.
	And so Mandani was the one who needed to have a pitch perfect night.
	And I gotta say, I I don't know that either of those guys laid a finger on him.
	I'm just gonna say it.
	Do you do you guys think there was any moment where they you know, where they got in and really got some shots in, scored some points.
	I I didn't really see anything.
	I'll throw it to you guys, though.
	I'll jump in and say that I think when it comes to authenticity, momdani destroyed it.
	Uh, he he just he comes across as a likable guy, he's young, he looks fresh.
	Uh, obviously the things that he stands for, we all vehemently disagree with.
	Um, but I think that's the the almost reminded me, I hate to say it like this, but it was almost like Trump versus the other candidates.
	Now, look, a lot of the other candidates in the debates, especially 2016, you know, I like a lot of them, they're good on policy.
	But you know, Shane Gillis in his stand-up bit about the debates, he's like, This wasn't fair.
	You know, they brought Trump in, who's a professional at this, a TV guy, and he's up against all these other people that are professional politicians, and that's what tonight felt like.
	I felt like Cuomo and Sliwa, you know, they didn't do bad, but they really struggled, even just looking at the camera.
	You know, we know this because we do this game, but like every single answer, Mom Dami is eyes to the camera, talking confidently, calmly, smiling at the end, answering questions directly.
	I mean, I've never said this many positive things about a socialist in my entire life, but the other two just seem to be the old school of just thinking that they're going to answer the political way.
	I think Mom Dami connected.
	Yeah, I think it's important to point out how likable he is also to the younger generation, both millennials and Gen Z. And I I keep talking about this, but there's a crossroads that's coming uh where where young people need to pick as a solution to their problems to go to the right or to turn to the left, but either way, there's gonna need to be radical change.
	And so Mom Dani is this young, fresh cut, good looking, looks at the camera, clean cut, and he he's offering a solution, though radical, it's a socialist solution.
	And and when you think about it, Gen Z and Millennials, these are the ones that are are the users of BNPL programs, the generations most in debt.
	And so they're they're being offered a solution that's out of the norm.
	And for a lot of them, the the ones living in New York, they they've had Cuomo and they've they've had kind of the status quo for so long.
	And I think they're hopeful to see change.
	And the only change that they they're actually offered is Mom Dani.
	And so I think he's really appealing to a lot of them.
	Um, and I think you're spot on Cliff.
	I think he was super appealing on this entire debate.
	Do we have guys?
	I want to I want to go in and play some of these uh plays with the clips.
	I want to ask though, as well, do we have that clip about the mosques by any chance?
	I don't know if we have that.
	Let's play real here though.
	Um, this this um this kind of speaks to what Mike He was just saying, though.
	Play Clip 314.
	Andrew Cuomo is a politician of the past, and all they can speak about are the tweets of the past in 2020.
	Those are tweets, which I have apologized for to New Yorkers and police officers directly, and they are not what I'm actually running on, but you're capable of speaking about the platform that we have here, which is one that will keep New Yorkers safe.
	And there, I mean, you you just hear it.
	It's it's he's this he's the politician of the past, he's the one that is, you know, from you know time immemorial.
	He's obviously tied to you know his his family being in New York for a long time, and so it's it's tough to be a Cuomo and say you're running as as a change candidate.
	I mean, I just don't really know how you do that politically.
	Yeah, and I you know, just kind of piggybacking on that.
	It's you know, Cuomo's just such an such an unlikable guy that it's just such an unfortunate situation where you have uh yeah, that's juxtaposition of likable bad policies and unlikable, really just slightly less bad policies and then unlikable good policies.
	You know, that's just that's the that's unfortunately the construct of every good campaign that runs, you have to be likable.
	You have to become across as someone that people connect with.
	And mom Donnie is you know, a you know outsider looking Obama-esque young uh uh messenger who he clearly sat down and was told and coached that he could could not come across tonight as you know angry or defensive or uh uh you know opportunistic.
	He he was really smart in how he answered questions, which was moderation and quiet and calm and likable.
	And so that's just the that's that's the winning formula for him right now because it's his race to lose at this point, unfortunately.
	And all he had to do was make you know take more away from you know a bad, unlikable Democrat candidate.
	And I think he was successful, unfortunately, at that tonight.
	And that's part of the reason why so many people have hesitancy to tell Curtis Lewat to get out of the race, because you've got a guy that is not good at all.
	And I'll point to one specific example as they were like arguing over why mom Donnie hasn't endorsed Kathy Hokel.
	Well, that's not exactly the the person that instills a lot of confidence with all the Republicans that you have to try to win over in the city, is you know, making the point in the debate that you know the governor deserves you know, an endorsement from you know the the Cuomo clan.
	So again, and and that that governor may end up in and Curtis Lewa was right, is that there's a really good chance that you're gonna have a Republican governor in the state of New York, and that may be the only way to hold mom Donnie in check,
	but you know, Cuomo didn't get the message, and he showed up tonight and he was like carrying the water for the the democratic establishment, which that may be the only thing that you can do at this point, I don't know, but it doesn't instill a ton of confidence in the person that's trying to pull together a unit to take out the communist.
	Well, and let's talk about Cuomo's biggest drop ball, and that to me was when they asked him, hey, is there anything that you've learned or or somehow that you've improved and experienced or something of a deep level?
	And he literally said social media.
	He said, I wasn't on TikTok before, but now I'm gonna focus on and then they went back to him.
	They said, sir, we're talking about you learning about something that that you feel like you've gained some experience.
	it was so his answer was so bad.
	They tried to give the old man a second chance.
	Like it's not just TikTok, buddy.
	There's a couple other things.
	Yeah, I mean, just echoing how unappealing both of these candidates, other than Zoran Mom Dani are to the younger generation.
	I I you it's Sliwa, I I look personally speaking, I think he is so unlikable and unappealing to the younger eye.
	I think he's just that this this he keeps quoting the Guardian Angels over and over again.
	And to us, we don't even know what that is.
	And I was texting my friends who live in New York, they don't even know that it's that's from like a different generation, I feel like.
	And then on top of that, you have him saying, you know, for transportation, what he's not gonna take a yellow cab because you know, the Gavitis and the Gambonies shot me when I was in the back of a cab, and it just seems too like theatrical at times with him.
	And for Cuomo, he's he's saying that he's one of the biggest takeaways or one of the newest things he's done is get on TikTok on social media.
	It's just he doesn't understand the younger generation.
	I don't think either of them do.
	I I think Zoran Mom Dani to the independent voter is just you know, uh, if I'm gonna vote, I might as well vote for mom Donnie since he's the only one.
	But they didn't spend enough time talking about his policies that are so beyond radical, things that could actually sway voters away from him, which is you know, the dreet decriminalization of prostitution or or bringing OnlyFans culture, which is just so toxic.
	He he wants this on the streets, like you want to turn New York into a third world country.
	And I they didn't talk about this enough, they didn't bring it up enough, they didn't hammer it him on uh on it enough.
	It's I don't know.
	I don't think that they did uh enough that they should have done to push back on him and his policies.
	I mean, this he he's literally the most radical candidate in the country right now when it comes to some of his policies.
	I wanna I want to give a point of that because this the this is a clip that I'll actually illustrate what you're saying.
	Play clip 305.
	He literally has never had a job on his resume.
	It says he interned for his mother.
	Uh, this is not a job for a first timer.
	Any day you could have a hurricane, you're God forbid, a 9-11, a health pandemic.
	If you don't know what you're doing, people could.
	And if we have a health pandemic, then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their death in nursing homes?
	That's the kind of experience that's on offer here today.
	What I don't have an experience, I make up for an integrity.
	And what you don't have an integrity, you could never make up for an experience.
	I mean, literally just torched it.
	Literally dropped.
	Yeah, buried him.
	Yeah, I again, I mean, he basically just gave points over to the younger generation.
	For Gen Z, they're cut graduating college with a labor market that's already shrinking with with degrees and jobs that don't even exist.
	And so they see this candidate who's getting made fun of on a national stage for not having a job when most Gen Z can't even find jobs right now.
	So you just basically won him more points with the younger generation, and then on top of that, they just saw Zo Ron Mom Donnie absolutely destroy Cuomo.
	I I that he's winning more points.
	Congratulations, Cuomo.
	Well, and I think Cuomo is a good thing.
	That's exactly what I was gonna ask you.
	Because how how does that like you think that's gonna work with younger voters?
	You think that's gonna work with his base?
	He's appealing.
	You're uh you're burnishing his credentials to his core base by saying, Oh, you you've never had a real job.
	And it's like, well, neither have so many of them.
	That's kind of the whole point, right?
	And then you turn around and it's like, dude, you're a Cuomo.
	Like, you want to talk about somebody's dad and mom being famous and help you getting a job, like your whole career is based on nepotism.
	So I mean, it it is what it is.
	Like, I just wouldn't open myself up.
	And then he opens it up with COVID, which is like gonna, which is gonna blast in with anyone who might still be undecided or independent.
	I mean, it like I I thought this guy was supposed to be a good politician.
	I'm like not really sure what happened here.
	Well, and I think look, you have to pick a lane, right?
	You have to pick a lane.
	I think Cuomo's problem is he's just all over the map.
	I mean, and when you're running as a change candidate, the problem is the past that you want to change.
	You used to be governor, so you're running this whole campaign trying to call out that we need to fix things because obviously New York uh is in the you know the gutter at the moment, and you have to then call out things from the past.
	And to bring up COVID to me, like that was just uh uh I mean, everybody knows how bad he was on COVID, even people on the left.
	I mean, when I was in New York City, you guys remember you had to have the COVID uh pass just to literally eat, right?
	Luckily, I won't admit this on air because it might be a felony, but luckily I had a card on me and uh was able to get into some restaurants, but like that was horrific, and so many people, I don't care what side of the aisle you're on, they don't forget that stuff.
	And so you can't run as a change candidate if you were part of the things that you're now trying to change.
	It doesn't add up.
	Yeah, I I just imagine if Cuomo hit back with a long list of wait, aren't you the candidate for N cash bail, repeal walking while trans ban, decriminalized sex work, legalize marijuana, permit safe injection sites, state-run grocery store stores, restrict solidarity confinement, enact elder parole, re I did he could have hit him back, but he I don't even think he prepped for this debate.
	I don't I like I don't know his his prep was like I'm gonna hang out and I'm gonna I'm gonna beat him up because he never had a real job and I'm I'm gonna show how good I am because I'm I'm Andrew Cuomo and I'm gonna do this is gonna be great and and and and I'm gonna come in there and talk about all the things that I did when I was I was the governor and and Trump and and COVID and it's I'm sorry, it's like it was where's it was very Biden-esque.
	Where's trying to connect with voters?
	It was very Biden-esque, like his whole thing, it wasn't obviously as bad and you know empty as Biden was, but it was the same type of attitude, which was like, but we're gonna run it back, like when I did with Obama, and we're gonna come back and we're gonna do this all over again.
	And and again, that just never works.
	Like people just don't believe it, they don't believe that that Cuomo was good to begin with.
	He's right now just like uh I'm a little scared of mom Donnie, and so I'm gonna throw my vote his way, but he did nothing to actually show he's uh he's a uh a qualified leader for any party, and certainly not for the largest city in America.
	I I I would I would also point out one thing too is that his uh his intent to you know go after mom Donnie seemed like it was just like axe grinding type stuff throughout the whole thing.
	Like he was just upset that Democrats within the city had kind of cast him aside.
	And again, that just that's just we've seen this over and over again uh throughout American history.
	Whenever you try that, even when you're extraordinarily popular, people sense that and they sense the the kind of self-righteousness when you're in that, and that's all that came through tonight was I'm great, just like Joe Biden would do uh when he when he would talk, and everyone would be like, Oh no, Joe, stop talking.
	And it just comes across extraordinarily disingenuous.
	I think one of the biggest missteps uh from both uh the not Mondami, but the other two was they really didn't paint him into the radical corner and to expose him for a lot of things.
	Mikey, you just read off a lot of the list.
	But the funniest part was the moment that showed me just how radical mom Donnie is was not the others calling him out.
	It was him saying FDR was his favorite president.
	That to me was like it's such a calculated response.
	But the fact that he didn't say Obama, I was thinking to myself, like, you know, I didn't know he had past statements against Obama.
	I mean, this guy is about as far to the left as you can get, but that to me was a pretty big moment that he would say FDR over Obama.
	Um, I don't really know what that says or who he's playing to, but that to me was pretty wild.
	I want to play this clip here because this is something that that Charlie talked about a lot.
	And here it is coming up live in the New York City mayoral debate, it's clip 332.
	In the Democratic primary for him to set foot in a mosque.
	He had more than 10 years, and he couldn't name a single mosque at the last debate we had that he visited.
	And what Muslims want in this city is what every community wants and deserves.
	They want equality and they want respect.
	And it took me to get you to even see those Muslims as part of this city.
	And that frankly is something that is shameful and is why so many New Yorkers have lost faith in this politics.
	Yeah, except that is totally false.
	I've worked with a Muslim community for many years.
	Name a single mosque you went to before, but can you name a single mosque you went to in 10 years?
	Before I was here.
	So we are what 24 years since 9-11, uh, two and two and a half decades, give or take.
	And at the New York City mayoral debate, a serious question is being held, an accusation.
	You didn't go to a mosque.
	How dare you not go to a mosque?
	Charlie always warned about the Islamization of America.
	I think that, and we were talking in the preview a little bit, uh that uh with Andrew that you know, I think going to London and seeing how far it had come and then coming back and realizing that that was coming to New York, I think that had a huge impression on him.
	And there you go.
	That's exactly what Charlie predicted that that becomes a question and a huge moment inside the debate in New York City itself.
	Mikey, you you were on that trip with him to to Oxford and Cambridge, and then when he came back and and made those comments.
	Is that is that something that you think you really kind of drove where he was coming from?
	Yeah, big time.
	But not just in London, which is now basically a third world sharia hellhole.
	And when you're in your yeah, exactly, London stun.
	Well, when you're in your hotel room in London, you're you're going through the TV channels, and you realize that they have Qatar TV, and they have Omar TV, and they have, and it goes down the La Syria TV, and they have every single Middle Eastern countries TV networks.
	And you realize this is no longer London.
	This is no longer the United Kingdom.
	And recently it's debated right now if Qatar actually owns more land in London than the royal family does.
	And I'm 99% sure that's true.
	And they're just buying up land nonstop.
	And it's not just in London, it's in Oxford, it was in Cambridge, both in the student body that we saw, but also in the towns.
	You'd see these beautiful towns that are picturesque from medieval England that have just been destroyed and desecrated by a big mosque that's blaring music in the middle of the day, like Dearborn, Michigan.
	And and I I think the trajectory is really scary here in America's biggest city, that the debate is about visiting a mosque.
	Charlie warned about this all the time, but what's gonna be next?
	Did you as governor not approve Sharia law 10 years from now?
	I I'm really worried with the trajectory that this is headed.
	Charlie was a big advocate about warning of the Islamisation of America.
	It's coming, it's a threat.
	They they outbreed, they they will take over everything they touch, and then the sword comes.
	So I I think this is a big threat and a big warning sign to America that in America's biggest city, this is a debate topic.
	What what's that's wild?
	And look, so let's let me ask one of the other old heads around here.
	Uh Cliff, can you believe that we're sitting here again, two and a half decades after watching those towers come down, finding out who did that, and then this becomes a centerpiece of the debate.
	New York, same city.
	Yeah, and like I said, I mean, this debate really didn't go deep on a lot of issues.
	So for them to spend so much time on this issue, you know, to me just shows that the party has kind of lost its way.
	Um, no, I would have never guessed that, you know, two decades later that this becomes a topic that we discuss.
	But I agree with you guys.
	I mean, I I went to London, and I think the trips, when you see it, it's very different.
	Um, I think Elon Musk was the first person to really post about it.
	I'm like, well, you know, but when you go there and you kind of see how they turn into third world countries with this endless immigration, and then we're looking at New York City, the finance capital of the world, and that's the topic of discussion.
	I mean, that should be a moment of self-reflection for all of us, right?
	We're not talking about lowering taxes, we're not talking about creating jobs, we're doing a litmus test On if a person running for political office has been in a mosque.
	I think that's a wild, wild interaction.
	Yeah.
	And I would just point out too, it's really scary what's going to be happening here to New York because we've talked a lot about the communization, whatever you want to call it, you know, adding more communism and socialism to the city.
	I mean, this guy is literally a member of DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America.
	These guys celebrate the Russian revolution as a holiday.
	That that's who these people are.
	They celebrate the Russian revolution.
	And we're going to see this complete change in New York of in-groups and out groups with with as far as culture goes.
	But as people are coming in, I mean, we're going to have an eradication of culture within New York City as we know it, with people leaving the city.
	We already had literally hundreds of thousands of people leave the city permanently from New York during COVID.
	And now you're going to have, because of the uh election of this mayor, uh, tons of people leave, but it's not just the communism that you're going to see uh take place and take footing.
	You're going to see a dramatic increase of Islam in the city.
	Um, certainly, I mean, it's and this isn't you know, looking at this from just a pure racial standpoint or ethnic standpoint.
	It's just it's just the facts that you when you have somebody that represents the city, New York City, um, they're likely to attract more of that culture to the city.
	And if you have a ton of people leaving because they feel like communism's taking over the city, who is going to move into the city?
	And that's why the Islamization of London and other European cities is so in line with New York City, where you're going to see this.
	You're going to have this really happen in a big way, to the same way that we've seen it happen uh with different subgroups, like in Toronto, like we just talked about London within Berlin.
	Uh yeah, cities that we've seen all over uh Europe, including Italy, where there's you have this infighting that's happening.
	It's going to create such tension because culture is unstable and that people are leaving in such big numbers that it's going to be really, really bad.
	And what that means in the very simple terms for most that we're not really talking about very directly is crime is going to go up.
	Uh, there's going to be instability uh amongst our caregivers within uh the medical community, police are going to struggle to fill jobs.
	Uh, because when you have people leave this the city, that's not just you know, businessmen who don't like communism, it's also you know, good Republican police officers and conservative police officers, whether they're conservative Democrats or they're actual conservatives, they're gonna be leaving the city and getting better jobs elsewhere within communities that they feel more comfortable serving.
	So this is a real problem for New York City.
	There, there's a number of chain reactions that are going to take place that come from the decision uh of the Democrat Party to basically hand over all of their the cultural elements to communists and Islamists, and that is what's going to start to make up the context of the future of the Democrat Party.
	And that, I mean, the winner here is the Republican Party.
	If we can pull ourselves together and actually represent core values to American citizens in a very clear and concise and open way.
	Uh, but momdani is now going to be the face, whether they like it or not.
	He will be the face of the Democrat Party in America.
	I think that's right.
	Um, I want to throw it here, by the way, to a very good friend of ours, play clip 335.
	And people say, I like authentic momdani because he's authentic.
	But authentic to what?
	And what is he aiming towards?
	He's aiming towards a devolution.
	It's bad either way.
	By the way, if he eats with his rights with his hands, whether he means it or not, he's either authentically gross or he's being a fake, disgusting person.
	And in some of the comments of a TikTok video I made, people said, but Charlie, who are you to judge other cultures?
	No, no, no, no.
	That's the point.
	We in Western culture believe that our way of life is the best.
	We're better than Muhammadism.
	We don't do female general mutilation.
	Well, I guess the trans people do, but we don't do female general mutilation.
	We in the West don't have child marriages.
	We don't believe in honor killings.
	We don't believe in polygamy.
	We believe in American exceptionalism.
	We believe our culture is better.
	You see, in the modern world, happiness is the goal, feelings are the guide.
	Judgment is the ultimate sin, and God is the ultimate guest.
	And let me say that again.
	Judgment is the ultimate sin.
	You're not allowed to judge others.
	Guess what?
	I'm gonna judge you if you rice with your hands.
	That's bad.
	That's wrong.
	Assimilation is a necessity, not a suggestion.
	So good.
	Man.
	The the part where he where he corrected himself on the fly.
	He's like, we don't do female general mutilation.
	Well, except for the trans.
	It's like, oh no.
	Well, listen, Charlie is Charlie's line on authenticity.
	Um, I really think you know Trump showed us that people do care about authenticity.
	I think that's a big reason why Trump won in 24.
	But it's also a problem when the other side, the evil side, is beating us at the authenticity game.
	I think tonight's debate showed that.
	I think the most authentic person on that stage, based on no politics, no policies, but just watching them, hearing them, was mom Donnie.
	It was the same thing with Obama.
	People thought he was authentic.
	We can disagree with their politics all day.
	So sometimes it helps us, and I think Charlie's right though.
	You know, what is the authenticity pushing towards?
	Is it pushing towards radicalism where we want to have government as our god, or is it pushing towards free enterprise, free markets, the things America was founded on.
	But that's the that's the thing with authenticity.
	It does go both ways.
	Yeah, I mean, it's just it's Nietzsche's reevaluation of values.
	And it's just I I Charlie is the best.
	I love I could listen to him every day, all day, and I do listen to him every day all day.
	But it's just the whole, you know, that's offensive to other cultures.
	You you can't no, he's spot on.
	We don't do that here.
	You can go back to where you came from to go do that.
	But in America, we do not eat with our hands, we do not poop on the streets.
	Like there, there is a crow, there's a line that you cross that we just we have to lay the line.
	Truth is truth, and we need to have our standards, and you do not cross those standards.
	And I was talking to a big donor this last week, and he said, Look, listen, I I when I give, I disagree with a lot of the people I give to.
	I weren't, but nobody you're ever gonna be aligned with, you're gonna agree with 100%.
	As long as I agree with you 60% of the time, that's great.
	As long as the 40% isn't make communism great again, you can count on my support.
	And that's kind of the mentality that we need.
	Look, let's be real.
	Sleewa needs to kind of drop out of the race and endorse Cuomo.
	But I don't blame him.
	Like, why would you want to drop out of the race and endorse this candidate that it's kind of a joke?
	Was a joke as governor and it's gonna be a joke as mayor.
	And it's it's again that Nietzsche's reevaluation values.
	This is why Mom Dani is so appealing to those people that are saying that's offensive to other cultures, that's racist.
	That these are the people that are going to vote for Mam Dani because he is changing the standards in a bad way.
	We are not gonna move forward as a society, we're gonna move back as a side as backwards as a society because he's changing the norms.
	He's changing what we stand for in America, like eating with the fork.
	I mean, there's so much with that, it's just demographics is destiny, right?
	And I remember um JD Vance had this clip.
	I don't have time to pull it up right now, but he was talking about how you know there's so much of the demographic that voted for Mandani.
	It's your it's your like young urban creatives, your Gen Z, but then also so many recent migrants from uh from South Asia, and whereas like Cuomo in the primary that they held,
	he got a lot of blacks, he got a lot of Hispanics, and so it's sort of like that was the actual working class vote that went for Cuomo, and then instead it was these, you know, the the artsy urban creative types.
	Uh Scott Greer has this great line, he calls them the yuckies, why you see, like as opposed to the yuppies, the young urban professionals, and that the yuppies weren't really going for mom Dani at all.
	It's it's these these yucky types, these artists, and again, just these, you know, the migrants.
	And so for some reason, after 9-11, we decided to just open up our borders, and we were going to get into a war with the Middle East, but then also invite the Middle East to come into our country, and then Barack Obama put that on absolute steroids and started just like mass importing uh whole populations like the Somalians and others directly to the Midwest.
	And you know, now we've got like thousands of Haitians in uh you know Springfield, Ohio and all the rest of it.
	And you look at a city like New York, how could it happen?
	How could it happen?
	Well, there you go.
	And people want to take about, you know, talk about you know the the demographic replacement, and it's like it's not a theory, it's just a description of something that's happening, and we can all see it and you know, write me up again about it.
	Write me up again.
	It's just the truth.
	It it reminds me of of Dr. James Orr's tweet, which was such a good tweet that when he was in town, I printed it out.
	I was like, Dr. Orr, would you please sign this for me?
	Import the Arab world.
	Yeah, of course.
	I could why wouldn't you?
	Look, I I'll get you a copy next time I see him, Jack, because I know you're secretly jealous.
	But import the Arab world.
	Or kind of them, like we had dinner, and I didn't realize that he was signing tweets.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Well, you could have asked, you know.
	Yeah, should have.
	You should have.
	Now the only solution is for you to travel to Cambridge and get it signed.
	But look, his tweet was import the Arab world, become the Arab world.
	And this is happening actively in America right now.
	Dr. Orr, the UK is probably 10-15 years ahead, maybe less, probably less than we are in the trajectory that we are headed.
	But it's definitely happening.
	And when Charlie and I were in Maine that this this couple months ago, we spent a day in Portland and we were talking to police officers, and the police officer said there are so many Muslims coming here and Somalians that we will get police calls where we check in on a house, and it's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom house or or apartment.
	And when we come in, there's 18 Somalians, and they're beating up one woman, or or there's trash everywhere, and there's feces on the ground.
	This is happening right now in America.
	And the mayor of South Portland at the exact same time that this was happening, the police officer said she was a Muslim that this is happening.
	While you are getting elected Muslim officials to office, there are Muslims in Arabs and the Somalians coming in and living in uh 18 of them living in a one-bedroom house, uh, beating up women, they don't have the same values that we have as Americans.
	And that's why Mam Dani is uh he's kind of appealing to some of these immigrants because they see their third world mentality in him, and they're hoping, well, maybe he can make this a little bit more like our home that we came from.
	And then when you're not third world mentality, speaking of third world mentality, it wanted to play clip 336.
	It's genocide.
	And I find the comments that Hassan made on 9-11 to be objectionable and reprehensible.
	And I also think that part of the reason why Democrats are in the situation that we are in of being a permanent minority in this country.
	So that's that's Hassan Piker on his live stream tonight, watching himself get disavowed by his his little boy momdani.
	So he's he's disavowing him on in the debate itself, and that's that's him watching, and he needs that little that little pat on the back from that.
	I I don't even know what his little sidekick is.
	Jack, can I Hassan?
	Jack, let me ask the question I asked earlier uh before the debate, but I want to ask it now to Tyler and Mikey.
	Do we think in any world it is a good thing for mom Donnie to win?
	And you guys know what I'm talking about to have an actual poster child that is elected and to see the results of socialism.
	Earlier on the show, we said no.
	We all agreed on that, but it's an honest discussion, right?
	It's an honest question.
	Does him winning and creating an actual hey, look, this is what socialism is.
	Is that a net negative net benefit?
	What do you guys think?
	Yeah, I I I mean it could rally the troops, I guess.
	But I I I don't know.
	I'm really worried about that.
	If he wins, which he most likely will, I think that Republicans, this is gonna be a wake-up call for them when they see the trajectory that New York is headed in, what actually happens.
	But I would like to see how much he actually pulls through on some of his promises.
	Do we actually think that state-run grocery stores will happen under Mom Donnie?
	Or is he just saying this to kind of get elected?
	I I think it's a lot of talk versus what he will actually do.
	Um, but I do think that it, yeah, if New York becomes the hellhole of America and a third world pocket of our country, then yeah, I definitely would be a wake-up call to Republicans.
	But why do we need that?
	Why can't we just have action now?
	Why doesn't the donor class wake up and fight this immediately now?
	Why don't the Republicans fight this right now instead of waiting for this to fester into a pocket of a third world country in our biggest city in America to wait for action to take place?
	I it's just a little confusing to me for a so I do agree with with you.
	Like obviously defeating communism is good, letting America's greatest city fall to communism is bad.
	But Tyler, look, you've been putting together the turning point action 26 plan.
	Uh midterms obviously are right around the corner.
	Um I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Virginia and New Jersey, uh, something what 19 days away, 18 days away, huge, huge um elections going on.
	It's working hard in New Jersey action event in uh in North Jersey this Sunday.
	But Tyler, let's, you know, talking about the midterms.
	If Mam Dani is the mayor, do you think that would have an effect on the midterms and the way it plays out?
	Yeah, for sure is.
	I mean, and and the probably the best analogy is uh when your favorite restaurant closes down, nobody really is really happy about that for whatever reason.
	There's a lot of different reasons people close down restaurants.
	Uh sometimes it just runs their core, sometimes the the people who own it retire, sometimes you know COVID and 2020 happens and BLM and never go back.
	That restaurant is permanently damaged or closed.
	Okay.
	But what the natural the natural impact that happens is that people go other other places.
	They go elsewhere, they stay stand up, they eat elsewhere, they open up new restaurants and new places.
	And that's what we're gonna see happen coming out of New York, whether we like it or not.
	I don't think anyone celebrates or enjoys the fact that their favorite restaurants now closed, but they are going to have to go other places.
	The question is is our Americans going to defend those other restaurants so the old one or the new one doesn't close like the old one did.
	And and that's the real problem that we have in America right now is that we have a lot of people who have taken themselves their their community for granted.
	They haven't got involved and are active enough.
	They haven't defended the local public policy that has uh enabled uh Cretans to come in and really dismantle the culture of America.
	And and you have to keep again keep supporting and and loving uh your local legislators, your local city council members, your local school board members, recruiting them, running yourself uh for those positions in order to protect your community.
	And unfortunately, the story of of New York City is that that has all been handed away.
	And that is why you are where you are at in New York City now.
	And that also means that people are gonna go elsewhere.
	And New Jersey and Connecticut are gonna see huge spikes in conservatism.
	Um, both moderate and conservative Democrats and conservatives.
	The question is again, is there are the Republicans going to take those people in, embrace them, and then convert them to be permanent members and fixtures of the party and say no more of this.
	We're going to uh have a new community here that it protects culture uh instead of uh allows all the again, like I said, these Cretans to come in and hijack uh your community.
	And that's to be seen.
	But I think people are gonna look back at this and say that was not a good thing that New York has gone the direction that it's gone.
	Whether you're you're it benefits the Republican Party or not, this is going to be very disruptive and dismantling to our culture.
	It's going to create friction uh that's not good and healthy for for America.
	It's going to create more violence, it's going to create more animosity uh between Americans, people who think America is something different than culturally what it what it actually is and has been.
	And that's a real problem for America.
	Well, and and look, it it gives for the midterms, I'll say for 26, you know, as we see New York do this, it will give people something to push against.
	Look, uh, the very first thing that Lundami's gonna do, if and when he gets elected mayor, and you know, we'll see.
	We'll see.
	New York might may go otherwise.
	But um, I think the very first thing he does day one is block any cooperation with ice.
	He will absolutely turn New York back into the sanctuary city that it was prior to Eric Adams, where people were just remember this, they were flooding the streets, they were going through hotels, they were getting like taxpayer funded vouchers for sleeping in hotels um all over the place.
	And you're gonna see that happen again again immediately.
	So there's gonna be this huge, and by the way, that's why they talked about we didn't mention this.
	They talked about Trump more than anything else during the entire debate.
	And why?
	Because they want they know that uh that if Trump gets, you know, Trump's still president, that they have this election, they can turn it into a referendum on Trump and then make it be this, you know, thorn in the side of Donald Trump, the mayor of New York, the mayor of Donald Trump City refuses to agree with him, refuses to endorse him, refuses to go along with ICE, etc.
	etc.
	You know, and they're gonna deny the National Guard, they're gonna have standoffs.
	It's going to be uh I could see a scenario where a Mundami uh you know, mayoral term, mayoral tenure turns a lot of New York into the new Portland.
	I can really see that.
	It's gonna be worse, Jack.
	It's gonna be worse than Portland.
	And you know why it's gonna be worse than Portland?
	Is because you you already have massive racial tensions and uh a scenario with within New York that is far more uh far more of a hotbed for crime and criminal activity.
	You have significantly uh more people, obviously, which always causes massive disruption.
	You have uh a historic you know, New York police department uh and fire department that has relied on the backs of multi-generation, multi-generational talent that has made that kept that city safe.
	And guess what?
	All those people are going to probably finally make the decision to leave.
	And this is really again, I cannot bring this back enough.
	Is that a community is not a community built on just ideas and looks and and just values.
	It's it's a culture that is sewn together with heritage and again, multiple generations of people standing together to build something special.
	And New York has existed and worked for this many years because again, you've had a lot of people that have dedicated themselves to public service, and I just don't see I I cannot we've heard it from people.
	I mean, we've seen it from people.
	They got an injection of that post-9-11.
	9-11 caused people to turn their hearts back to the city.
	The difference between you know that that happening nearly 25 years ago after next this next year, and to where we are today is people's hearts are turning away from the city.
	You have COVID, uh, where you have a candidate that's on stage who literally killed, had you know, had people oversaw people dying within the city, that they were forced to die within the city uh because they wouldn't properly take care of them.
	They wouldn't institute policies that were you know both freedom loving and then also uh you know, using just you know, cooler and letting letting cooler heads prevail.
	And you now have a candidate who's gonna be Become New York or New York City's mayor who uh is going to radicalize the city in such a way that there's not going to be very many people left that are going to keep that that culture together.
	And so we're gonna see just a complete departure and representation of what New York City looks like.
	It's gonna change dramatically and drastically.
	And there's gonna be a lot of heartache and sadness uh in the in the tri-state area for people to say, well, that's what New York City used to be.
	Or I remember how New York City was, and now look at it today, and that's what the next 20 years is probably gonna look like.
	Uh, because momdani's just the beginning of this.
	This is not this is not something that's going to get corrected very quickly because of the democratic socialists of America.
	Yeah, I I back to what Cliff said just on what what the reaction will be in in the country.
	I feel like there should already be a massive reaction to this because following the 2024 presidential election, you would have thought that the left would move a little less radical on their policies.
	Uh since the huge 8020 issue of men in women's bathrooms and other radical stances that they've taken, lost them the presidency and the Senate, et cetera.
	And you would think that they would take less radical stances, but they're not.
	And you see mom Donnie coming in with these crazy, crazy stances.
	But then on top of that, what's really scary about this that I think Republicans need to spend more time talking about is the fact that this is a municipal power that he's threatening BDS uh against Israel, and that he would arrest the leader of a foreign nation if he stepped foot in New York City.
	It's since when is a municipal power acted in in this way?
	And if this is the way Mom Dani is going and this is the way the left is going in the Democratic Party, what what is gonna continue, not just in New York, but across the country with with with candidates running for office across the country and their stances.
	How are they gonna abuse their power and are they gonna continue to move further and further left?
	I just think that not enough Republicans are really warning about the trajectory of this.
	Mikey, let me make a plug I never get to make, just real quick, Jack.
	This is why local go for I want to wrap uh start wrapping soon.
	It's now this is why East Coast Angelo's let me know.
	This is why local elections matter.
	Okay, I've been trying to say this.
	Me and Tyler can debate this forever.
	Obviously, we got to do the big national races, but local elections, this mayoral race, obviously it's not that local, it's a New York City mayor race.
	But this is why Republicans need to adopt the strategy of the left, which is building a bench, building a minor leagues, and understanding that we need America first Patriots across the country to run at the local level, school board, dog catcher.
	I don't care what it is, countywide, especially state level.
	But if you want to really enact change, these local races are the way to do it because it takes less money, it takes less of a grassroots, but you're not dealing with the big money that you deal with when you run the federal races.
	Been dying to say this on Charlie's show for probably two years, but local races matter, and I think tonight's debate shows you it has an outsize impact and it helps you to build the bench for the future.
	There you go.
	Cliff, where can people follow you and get access to Sissens Alliance?
	On X at Maloney, we're running the PA chase again this year.
	And of course, we've got the New Jersey chase, just under three weeks left to try to elect Jack Chitterelli want to thank Turning Point and all the partner groups out there that help us make it possible.
	Amen.
	Mikey working to follow you.
	Uh on X, it's Michael underscore McCoy with two Y's.
	And then on Instagram, Mikey.
	McCoy.
	Crushing it on the gram.
	I've been seeing that stuff.
	Insane traction there and great content.
	I love the um, I just love all the video polls you have, man.
	It's like like endless Charlie content, and I love it.
	It's so all the behind the scenes stuff.
	Videos that no one's ever seen.
	It's so cool.
	Tyler Boyer.
	Yeah, you've you can follow us at Tyler Boyer, and then uh, of course, with our team at TP Action.
	Uh it's TP action underscore on on X. But we need your help.
	We can get involved right away, go to TPAction.com, sign up, become a member of our coalitions.
	You can go to coalitions.com where we're recruiting in every swing state.
	We've got a lot of work to do this next year.
	We do, but we've got a lot of work this weekend too, because I don't know about you guys, but I am so excited for the No Kings protest.
	I'm gonna be out there.
	I'm gonna be bringing my walker, maybe my wheelchair.
	Man, it's gonna be it's gonna be so good.
	I really hope better.
	That'd be a good like Alex Stein bit to just like dress up as like like remember when um uh Johnny Knoxville used to dress in like old like dress like an old man and then like he just walk go to the no kings protest.
	I should uh my brother's uh into doing that this weekend or something.
	I'm gonna be there.
	Of course, I am Jack Pasobic.
	You can follow me at Jack Pasobic, and the show is Human Events Daily.
	We are live every day.
	Thank you so much for tuning in with us.
	The Charlie Charlie always loved doing these debate watches and debate recaps, and so that's why we decided that uh we're gonna continue the tradition and make sure that we do it tonight.

▲