1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:03,400 Donald Trump, in the middle of the night, put on Truth Social 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:07,040 that the reason that all these Democrats had won is because his 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,920 name wasn't on the ballot. But in actual fact, his name was 4 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:15,680 all over all of these elections and it was against him that 5 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:19,040 people were voting. That is the common thread, along 6 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:25,200 with the economics. Hello and welcome to Trump 7 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:27,040 World. I'm Anushka Astana and I'm in 8 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:29,320 New York City. And I'm Matt Fry and I'm in 9 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,000 London. And we've had quite a big night 10 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,600 of elections, especially here in New York itself. 11 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,880 We have a new mayor coming in, Zoran Mamdani. 12 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,640 What do you make of it, Matt? Well, I'm very jealous that 13 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,200 you're there and I'm here and I was following it all night long 14 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:48,840 and this morning. It's an extraordinary story, as 15 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,400 Mamdani said in his victory speech. 16 00:00:52,720 --> 00:01:00,160 So Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have 4 words 17 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,880 for you. Turn the volume up. 18 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,000 And then the response from Donald Trump was in caps, of 19 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,560 course, on social media. And so it begins. 20 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:18,920 What's the IT Anushka? I think the, IT is a very 21 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:25,880 ferocious back and forth between 2:00, you know, extremely 22 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:30,440 forceful politicians who are going to love to hate each other 23 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,200 and are going to try and take each other on. 24 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,480 I think Donald Trump likes to attack city mayors. 25 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,520 He likes to attack. I think it's fine to say this, 26 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,000 minority city mayors. We've talked before about how 27 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,960 he's attacked Sadiq Khan endlessly, how he's attacked 28 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:48,560 Brandon Johnson in Chicago. And he's really, really going to 29 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:50,600 go for Mamdani. He's going to call him a 30 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,760 communist. I wonder if Donald Trump thought 31 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,360 maybe we would wake up today to a win for the Democrats in New 32 00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:59,280 York City, but not everywhere else. 33 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,320 And so he could say, you know, this guy is going to scare the 34 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:05,760 rest of the country. And actual fact, the president 35 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,680 has woken up to a terrible night all over. 36 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,840 What I find amazing yet again, is that in my experience of 37 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,440 American politics, the most outlandish scenario that you 38 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,520 think will never come to pass often does. 39 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:22,400 You know, Barack Hussein Obama becoming president, Donald J 40 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,880 Trump becoming president, this guy becoming the mayor of the 41 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,440 capitalist headquarters on planet Earth as a 34 year old, 42 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,160 you know, democratic socialist. I mean, this would have been 43 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,760 unthinkable even six months ago. But, you know, when these things 44 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,440 do happen, they show you that America is at some kind of 45 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:42,440 inflection point. So the question I guess we're 46 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:46,280 going to try and answer in this edition of Trombolism, does this 47 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,920 guy represent the new voice of the Democratic Party? 48 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:52,080 Because as you know, Anushka, not all Democrats are happy 49 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:54,120 about him. And Chuck Schumer, the Senate 50 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:57,040 Minority Leader, did not endorse him, even though he is the 51 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:00,320 senator from New York State. So, you know, there's a there's 52 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,320 a civil war going on within the Democratic Party that, you know, 53 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,520 that has just gone to another level. 54 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,080 And then, of course, you've got the ongoing war between Trump, 55 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:11,280 the MAGA movement and what the Democrats are. 56 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:15,160 Yeah, and, and I had a moment last night where I really felt 57 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,640 the sense of how far Zoram Mamdani had come. 58 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,360 But obviously last night I decided to go to the Hot Girls 59 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,720 for Zoram party, man, and the Gays for Zoram Party. 60 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,560 And for for those people who don't know what those movements 61 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,720 are, there was a kind of Hot Girls for Bernie movement. 62 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:33,920 It was meant to be a kind of tongue in cheek movement, this 63 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:36,720 idea that, you know, there are women on the left whose voice 64 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,440 should be amplified and they can get behind, behind, you know, 65 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:42,840 the candidates who they want to get behind. 66 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,280 And in this case, they got behind Zoram Mandani, and they 67 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:50,520 helped to knock on something like 3,000,000 doors in total. 68 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,680 And this night began with an act by two drag Queens. 69 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,720 And I was talking to one of them who's been very, you know, 70 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,480 involved in organizing from the start. 71 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,120 And she was describing this moment much earlier on in the 72 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,760 campaign where there was a big event for trans people and loads 73 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:08,600 of politicians were going to come and speak. 74 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,000 And then they decided that the only people who would speak from 75 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:17,160 the stage were trans people. And so she said 1 by 1, by 1, 76 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:19,959 all the politicians cancelled because they wanted to speak by 77 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:23,120 the stage. But Mamdani cleared his diary, 78 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:24,880 she said. And she turned up. 79 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:28,960 And at that point, he was at 1% in the polls and. 80 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:33,680 That's when I started believing in him, and that's the first 81 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,240 time I ever had faith in a politician like that. 82 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,160 And now he's not just that 1%, he's actually going to be the 83 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:42,640 mayor. It's crazy. 84 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:49,000 I'm sorry. That is how far he has come. 85 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:51,760 Rank outsider? No chance at all. 86 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:57,000 He totally, totally stunned New York by winning that primary. 87 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,120 As we know, his opponent, Andrew Cuomo, former governor of this 88 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,080 state 3. Time, Governor? 89 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,360 Yeah. Yeah, and establishment man who 90 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,280 and in the end had to go in disgrace because of complaints 91 00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:13,240 about sexual harassment. And, and I think in a way 92 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:16,680 embodies his story, embodies what people are fed up with, 93 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,320 which is this idea that, you know, somebody who, by the way, 94 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:22,560 there's a dynasty there. His dad was governor of the 95 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:27,440 state. Mario Cuomo should be pushed out 96 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:29,720 in disgrace and could just come back and assume he was going to 97 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:31,160 win. He ran as an independent and he 98 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:33,760 got very thoroughly beaten. And this drag queen who I was 99 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:37,320 speaking to last night, she, she couldn't stop crying at the 100 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:39,560 result at the moment that she found out. 101 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,080 And it was just an example of the kind of, you know, the 102 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:48,240 coalition that has come together to back him, which has had to go 103 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:52,200 far beyond, even in New York City, far beyond what you would 104 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,080 consider the socialist wing of the Democrat Party. 105 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:56,640 And you know what's so extraordinary? 106 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,200 We always think that, you know, a very quintessentially 107 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,760 metropolitan candidate like Zora Nandani would be very easy to 108 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:05,560 defeat. And he's far too metropolitan 109 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,920 and far too New York in order to make an impact, you know, 110 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,200 outside the city. And, and let's see if that's 111 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:13,200 true. But, but let's dwell just for 112 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:16,080 two seconds on how metropolitan he is. 113 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,440 I mean, his father, Mahmoud Mandani, is an academic, I think 114 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,160 currently teaching at Columbia University near colonial 115 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,440 history. His mother, Mariner, is an 116 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:32,520 Indian born filmmaker. His wife, Rama Duaji, is an 28 117 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:34,160 year old artist. He, by the way, is the first 118 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,640 mayor of a major city who met his wife on Hinge, which is 119 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,000 quite interesting as well. I love the fact about his mum 120 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,840 that she actually, I mean, she's a very, very big famous 121 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:46,360 director. She actually directed Monsoon 122 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:47,760 Wedding. Exactly. 123 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:50,560 And but The thing is, the point is he is so metropolitan that 124 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,000 you would think that he would be low hanging fruit for 125 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,560 establishment Democrats like Andrew Cuomo, who was just 126 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:57,160 defeated, or indeed for Republicans. 127 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:02,480 But as despite his metropolitan roots and, and, and identity, 128 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,080 which he's incredibly unapologetic about, he has done 129 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:08,640 that thing that no other Democrat has managed to do, but 130 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,880 that Trump managed to do on the other side, which is to find a 131 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,440 voice that appeals to ordinary people on issues like the cost 132 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:17,840 of living, you know, on being fleeced. 133 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:20,880 You know, he's keeps referring to the unbelievable greed and 134 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,040 corruption of the Trump family, which you could argue is perhaps 135 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:26,760 their Achilles heel. Look, Republicans need to be 136 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:29,480 worried if they have any capacity for being worried. 137 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,920 Trump should, you know, be alert to the fact that this guy in the 138 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,560 way that he connects to people is quite similar to Donald 139 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:37,960 Trump. But on the other side. 140 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:40,520 And by the way, there were, as you, you know, reflected in all 141 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:42,040 your pieces this week, which were brilliant. 142 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:44,440 You know, there are lots of Trump voters in New York. 143 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,480 You know, of ethnic minorities voted for Mamdani, having voted 144 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,720 for Donald Trump a year ago. But the other thing is the civil 145 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,560 war inside the Democratic Party. This is an unresolved issue 146 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,400 that, you know, the voters of New York has just said, no, 147 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:00,120 thank you. We're not interested in the 148 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,680 Cuomo dynasty. We're not interested in old 149 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:05,400 people who think they're entitled to office. 150 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,680 But then I also, you know, remind you of the quote of Mario 151 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:12,760 Cuomo, the father of Andrew, the defeated candidate, perhaps his 152 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:16,240 most famous quote. You campaign in poetry and you 153 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,840 govern in prose. And for Nandani, that prose 154 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:24,640 starts in about 57 days from now governing a city with a $140 155 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,840 billion budget, you know, with, with Wall Street and all the 156 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:29,200 rest of it. Can he do it? 157 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:32,080 Can he make the difference? He will be judged on his record, 158 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:34,400 I'm sure. Let's listen to what he said 159 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,360 when he won to a crowd of 3000 supporters in Brooklyn I. 160 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:41,919 Must say this. Thank you. 161 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:50,040 Thank you to the next generation of New Yorkers who refuse to 162 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:54,360 accept that the promise of a better future was a relic of the 163 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:58,960 past. You showed that when politics 164 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,800 speaks to you without condescension, we can usher in a 165 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:09,280 new era of leadership. We will fight for you because we 166 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:16,160 are you, as we say on Steinway and a Milkum Waileikum. 167 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:22,640 So look, I think there was something quite interesting in 168 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:25,640 that speech, which was talking to New Yorkers who were going to 169 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:27,200 vote for Mandani, what they wanted. 170 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,720 And that was someone who would take on Donald Trump. 171 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,760 If you look at the American map for last night, if you look at 172 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:40,080 the victories in New Jersey, in Virginia, in a California 173 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:42,320 redistricting ballot for the Democrats. 174 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:46,240 And you could argue that it's ideologically all over the 175 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:47,760 place. And look, Democrats will, I 176 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,560 can't tell you how many Democrats in Washington, DC say 177 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:53,520 to me, Mamdani's not right for the country. 178 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,200 Socialism will work in New York. It's not going to work in 179 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,720 Pennsylvania. And what is true is that he has 180 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:01,480 won here from the left. Yeah. 181 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:03,960 And I would like to talk a bit about his policies later. 182 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:09,760 You know, Abigail Spamberger and Mikey Cheryl in Virginia and New 183 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,160 Jersey, respectively, both basically one from the centre. 184 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:16,960 But when I look around the country, I see something that is 185 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:22,120 the same everywhere, and that is 2 parts of their campaign #1 all 186 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:26,440 of them focused relentlessly on the economy that was at the 187 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:28,720 centre of all of this. It was about affordability. 188 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:32,800 It was about recognizing people are feeling the squeeze, they 189 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,440 are feeling poor. They wanted people to talk about 190 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:37,200 that. Even Mandani, who gets a lot of 191 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:41,880 criticism for his positions on foreign policy and particularly 192 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,520 around the Middle East, you'll notice that wasn't what he 193 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,760 focused on in this campaign. It was all about, you know, bus 194 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:53,280 fares, groceries, rent and so on, as it was in New Jersey and 195 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:57,200 also in Virginia. And then the other thing they 196 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,880 all put set themselves up as somebody who was ready to take 197 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:03,960 on Trump. You know, Donald Trump in the 198 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,920 middle of the night put on Truth Social that the reason that all 199 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:10,480 these Democrats had won is because his name wasn't on the 200 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,480 ballot. But in actual fact, his name was 201 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:18,240 all over all of these elections and it was against him that 202 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:21,600 people were voting. That is the common thread along 203 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,040 with the economics. The debate that is about to blow 204 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:26,960 up inside the Democratic Party is okay. 205 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,280 People are feeling the pinch. People are fed up with Donald 206 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:32,360 Trump. So what is our answer? 207 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:36,280 Is it some of the radical ideas that Mamdani has put forward, 208 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:39,080 which I think we should just be clear is a long way from 209 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:42,640 communism actually, and not that far from a lot of policies we 210 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:46,240 see in European countries? Or is it something from the 211 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:48,440 center? Whatever it is, Matt, and I 212 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:52,280 wonder if you agree with this. It has to feel radical because 213 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:54,600 Donald Trump has upended politics. 214 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:57,600 And you know, I remember Emmanuel Macron, you can't even 215 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,120 believe now, but remember when he was elected, it was radical 216 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:02,400 centrism. It's got to be radical in my 217 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,400 opinion, wherever it comes from. Well, it's got to it's got to 218 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,280 have a voice that punches through. 219 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:10,400 And I think if Donald Trump has shown us anything, it is that 220 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,520 tacking inevitably to the centre ground is not the way that you 221 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:16,840 win an election. You remember how he took on, you 222 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:20,640 know, the Bush dynasty when he first ran in 2016, he said, you 223 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,640 know, low energy Jeb and Jeb Bush, that then the governor of 224 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:26,760 Florida was the anointed leader of the Republican movement. 225 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:30,000 And that didn't go so well. And, you know, that sort of 226 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:33,760 centrist attitude, whether it's from the Republican side or the 227 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:35,400 Democrat side, doesn't really work. 228 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,200 And the environment, and we've talked about this before, you 229 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:41,560 know, of cable television, of the primary cycle, which always 230 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,120 rewards the candidate, you know, who's got the loudest voice on 231 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:47,400 the margins. That has changed the nature of 232 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:51,080 American politics. But even though Mandami is very 233 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:54,080 much, you know, of one side of the Democratic Party, he's a 234 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:58,760 self avowed, proud democratic socialist in the capital of 235 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,600 capitalism, which is which of course is, you know, unheard of. 236 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:05,800 He's also very pragmatic. So if you look at the kind of 237 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:09,160 the things that he's done during the campaign, he has had a 238 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,720 meeting with police officers where he is bent over backwards 239 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:15,760 to apologise for tweets that he put out after the George Floyd 240 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:18,880 murder where he basically called for the defunding of the police. 241 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:21,400 Now, they may not all believe him, but the fact is he's gone 242 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,520 out there and he's apologised. Crucially, he then added on to 243 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:29,520 that by saying that he would keep Jessica Tisch as the police 244 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:32,760 commissioner of New York. Jessica Tisch is, you know, is 245 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:35,680 an heiress from a billionaire's family, the Tisch family. 246 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,440 And she's been very popular apparently, as a police 247 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:40,040 commissioner. He will keep her on. 248 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:43,160 Now, this goes against the grain of kind of a lot of things that 249 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,040 he says he believes. You know, at the same time, he 250 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:48,080 says, well, you know, I'm not sure if I'm going to raise taxes 251 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,080 on on billionaires in New York. And not all the billionaires 252 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,720 believe that. But he's saying I'm open to all 253 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:57,680 sorts of suggestions about how we reduce income inequality. 254 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:01,040 And guess what? Those Wall Street billionaires 255 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,720 who were horrified at the idea of Mamdami becoming their mayor, 256 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,280 they are, they do what billionaires do, which is that 257 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,760 they bow to the inevitable. They reposition themselves. 258 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:15,160 So even Bill Ackman, very pro Israel, you know, very anti, he 259 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:18,920 led the fight against Harvard University, you know, a rich 260 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:22,560 dude, you know, who was incredibly nice about Donald 261 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:24,080 Trump and friendly with Donald Trump. 262 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:28,320 Even he came out and said, let's give this guy a chance, you 263 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:30,560 know, let's see how he's doing. And then other billionaires on 264 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:32,600 Wall Street have been saying, you know, we've got to help this 265 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:33,920 guy. We're going to make we've got 266 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,440 him help him win because the city needs to succeed. 267 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,920 So again, because everything these days is transactional in 268 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:45,080 politics, including someone as ideological, you know, as Zoram 269 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:49,560 Mandami to the Democrats and to Donald Trump, I would say watch 270 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:51,440 him. Watch that pragmatism. 271 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,200 Watch that transactional state of mind that has served you so 272 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:56,920 well in the past. Yeah, you know what? 273 00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:59,320 Last night I was talking to these supporters who were 274 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:03,040 dancing and crying and they were so happy and they'd campaigned 275 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:05,600 for him day in, day out. And, and they describe 276 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:09,320 themselves as being from the hard or the far left, whatever 277 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:11,440 you would call it. And they said we're the ones who 278 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:15,680 might be disappointed because because as you say, he has 279 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:18,960 moderated on the issue of Israel, which, by the way, you 280 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,720 know, has really divided New York's Jewish community. 281 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,280 You know, I witnessed UMM, which we put out on them the program. 282 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,040 You had that amazing scene of two people, 2 New York Jews, 283 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:29,200 arguing with each other on the bus. 284 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:31,040 It's fantastic. Yeah, one of them was back in 285 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:34,480 Cuomo and saying, look, you know, he was really upset about 286 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:36,600 things that Zoram Mandani has said about. 287 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:40,720 He does recognize umm and think that the state of Israel has a 288 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,440 right to exist, but he's talked about whether it should exist 289 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:47,920 with any hierarchy on religion. Umm and this was saying he to 290 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,280 him, that means he, he doesn't think Israel has the right to 291 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,200 exist. And he, he was genuinely scared 292 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:53,840 about this. And then the guy next to him 293 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,240 suddenly said, I'm Jewish too. And I think these attacks of 294 00:15:56,280 --> 00:16:00,080 anti-Semitism are a nonsense. Umm in terms of the policies, 295 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:04,560 though, just to go through them. They're not, you know, like I 296 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:06,200 say, they're certainly not communist. 297 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:10,040 If you look at the idea of rent freezes for 2 million New 298 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:13,360 Yorkers who live in certain types of apartments that the 299 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:15,840 mayor actually is able to control because of the way the 300 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:21,080 structures work, you know, Bill de Blasio did that three times. 301 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:24,160 So it's not like it's never been done before. 302 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,040 If you look at the idea of subsidising childcare, I mean, 303 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,920 it became an arms race of a policy in the UK where the 304 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,480 Conservatives won and it was Jeremy Hunter's chancellor who 305 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:38,080 put in a massive package of subsidised childcare, grocery 306 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:42,560 run, city run grocery stores. I mean, they actually already 307 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:45,640 exist. And then free bus fares. 308 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,000 I mean, the question I think that is going to be difficult 309 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,760 for Zoram Mandani is, is he actually going to get these 310 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:55,320 things in because they require the state in many cases to vote 311 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:58,200 for them, including the idea of increasing taxes. 312 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:02,560 And he says that the bus fares would cost $700 million. 313 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:06,560 If you actually think about the impact potentially of so many 314 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:09,960 more people traveling by bus of needing more members of staff 315 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:15,040 to, you know, be on those buses actually, then you might 316 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,359 question whether his 700 million is realistic. 317 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:20,560 And then you might ask for more money than that. 318 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:24,240 I mean his argument is mayors of ended up spending much more than 319 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:25,480 that on other things in the past. 320 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:27,160 Why shouldn't they be able to spend that? 321 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:29,640 I mean, listen, there's lots of things that can go wrong. 322 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:31,720 And, you know, guess what, governments promising never to 323 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,280 raise taxes and then doing it. Well, that sounds very, very 324 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:36,560 familiar, you know, talking from Britain at the moment. 325 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:41,840 But I think what what would be intriguing is to see whether he 326 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,640 can use his undoubted skills, campaigning skills, which he did 327 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,120 so brilliantly on TikTok and other social media, and his 328 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:52,200 ability to go into the lion's den of Trump voters in New York 329 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,600 and speak to them, you know, and get them on side. 330 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:57,560 It'd be really fascinating to see whether, you know, he can 331 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:01,720 make that big difference. By the way, just one small kind 332 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:03,760 of wrinkle in his record in New York. 333 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:06,160 If you look at the different barriers of how they voted, 334 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:10,720 actually Staten Island, which is quite conservative and slightly 335 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,200 further out and and really quite poor and also very working 336 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:18,400 class, they voted for Andrew Cuomo and not for Zoran Nandani. 337 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:19,560 So that was, that's quite interesting. 338 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:21,720 I mean, you know. Someone said to me today if 339 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:25,440 Staten Island had had voted for Zoran Mamdani, it would be 340 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:29,800 absolutely unbelievable. But indeed, and, and, and Cuomo 341 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:31,600 did get quite a large chunk of the vote. 342 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,800 So I think that that debate within the Democratic Party that 343 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:36,880 is only just begun. I don't think that's over yet. 344 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:40,120 But, you know, I mean, I remember people close to Donald 345 00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:43,160 Trump telling me that if Hillary Clinton had not been the 346 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:46,160 candidate in 2016, but Bernie Sanders and remember, they were 347 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:47,880 they, you know, they were against each other in the 348 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,200 primary, then Bernie Sanders, they thought this is Republican 349 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,200 speaking might have defeated Donald Trump. 350 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:58,000 So the the kind of search is on desperately seeking a younger 351 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,840 Bernie Sanders. And you could argue that Zoran 352 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:05,120 Mandani is is a prime candidate for that as indeed as Alessandra 353 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:09,520 Octavio Cortez, who AOC, you know, the Hispanic congresswoman 354 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,240 from New York who's often mentioned as presidential 355 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:14,080 material. I mean, these are all people, 356 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,920 you know, waiting to line up. And whether this strategy from 357 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:20,440 the left works well, we'll find out, especially in this, you 358 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:22,240 know, upcoming year, which is the year of the midterm 359 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,080 elections. And, you know, in the last 360 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,880 midterm elections when Trump was president, he lost the majority 361 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,560 in Congress. Let's see if that happens again. 362 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:33,200 I mean, judging from the result this week, I'd find it very hard 363 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:37,560 to imagine the Democrats not doing well as a correction to 364 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,280 everything that Trump has done. And because Trump is having a 365 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:43,960 such a good time being a disruptor, I didn't expect him 366 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,240 to calm down anytime soon. And Muska? 367 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,680 We've been focusing on New York for obvious reasons. 368 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,840 It's New York City, and Zoran Mandami is a unique candidate in 369 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:54,400 so many ways. But what about all these other 370 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:55,720 races? They were pretty significant as 371 00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:57,960 well, weren't they? Yeah, and also because they were 372 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,920 more unexpected if you think just over the water from here in 373 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,960 New Jersey, everybody said that governor race was incredibly 374 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:07,720 tight, but the Republicans could win it. 375 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,440 I mean, some people were worried about over interpreting that 376 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:13,800 because actually although New Jersey votes Democrat in 377 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,160 presidential elections, it does swing in terms of the 378 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,920 governorship. It's been Democrat for 2 379 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:24,920 governors in a row. And actually, you know, Mikey, 380 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:29,800 Cheryl, the. Democrat really won comfortably, 381 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,880 like, well, well, well ahead of her opponents. 382 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,360 Yeah, double, double digits, Exactly. 383 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:39,800 And then Virginia, we did expect to go to Abigail Spanberger, and 384 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,200 that's the way it did go. But actually the attorney 385 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:46,800 general race was also won by a Democrat candidate, Jay Jones. 386 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:49,200 So that was seen as a bit of a surprise. 387 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,720 And then if we just cut across the country to California, you 388 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,280 know, in the background of all of this, we've had Donald Trump 389 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,720 trying to gerrymander. He's been forcing states, 390 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,760 starting with Texas. I mean, it's forcing the right 391 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,800 word, pressuring them to redraw Congressional District 392 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:09,360 boundaries in order to give Republicans an advantage in the 393 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:12,400 midterms. Well, Gavin Newsom, the governor 394 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,960 of California, hit back and said, we've got to do the same 395 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:17,720 in reverse. And I remember watching one of 396 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:23,240 the early debates on this in in California, and, you know, 397 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,160 people were saying, well, hang on, this is like cheating. 398 00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:30,320 And he was saying we have to respond like with like, and the 399 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,320 queues in California as people came out to say, yes, we are 400 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:38,160 ready to redraw our districts in order to gerrymander too, so 401 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,120 that we can take on Donald Trump. 402 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:42,640 I mean, that's what I mean. And I think we both see this, 403 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,640 don't we? What we're seeing is the 404 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:48,560 beginnings of some sort of fight back from a party that has 405 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,400 frankly been flailing many ways. The question is, how does that 406 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,640 fight back now move forward? I mean, we've had a situation 407 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:59,280 that you mentioned earlier where Chuck Schumer wouldn't endorse 408 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:03,120 Zoram Mandani, wouldn't say how he had voted in the election. 409 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:07,240 And now he's meeting Democrats here who were saying, we will 410 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:10,560 not go out and knock doors for Chuck Schumer, we will not 411 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,440 support him anymore. He's got to watch out now and 412 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,720 understand that the Democratic Party has changed. 413 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,600 I still think there's going to be this very first debate that 414 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,360 we're about to see about whether whether this works elsewhere. 415 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,160 Won't that be fun to cover? I think the other big divide 416 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:28,760 here is not so much even between left and right within the 417 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:33,240 Democratic Party, between young or youngish and old or very old. 418 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,040 You know, Biden was the obvious example of a Joe and tocracy 419 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,720 kind of out of hand. Chuck Schumer is 74 years old. 420 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,000 You know, Nancy Pelosi, I mean, I know she's no longer running 421 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,880 Congress, but you know, she's very active politically and very 422 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:50,560 ancient. I wouldn't dare mention her age 423 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:52,080 in case I get some blowback there. 424 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,720 But you know, you know, the Democratic Party has been run by 425 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,120 very old people. Even Hillary Clinton is quite 426 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:01,000 old now and her husband Bill is really seems very old indeed, as 427 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,240 you know, as as a comedian in New York said in at a Mandani 428 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:07,160 rally. You know, it's so nice you have 429 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,920 a Democrat who wasn't old enough to know Jeffrey Epstein. 430 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,040 That kind of sums it up. He's so young, though. 431 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,560 I said this to someone. They said it's a smear, but I 432 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:20,040 was like, Zora Mandani was in high school when Barack Obama 433 00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,480 was elected. It's enough to make you feel 434 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:24,720 extremely old, isn't? It he's, he's, he's got such 435 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,360 good lines in, in the debate with, with Andrew Cuomo, Andrew 436 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:30,600 Cuomo said, you know, you've got no experience. 437 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:35,040 And he and Mandami shot back and said, what I lack in experience, 438 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,920 I make up for in integrity. And then he turned to Cuomo and 439 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,720 said, and what you lack in integrity, you'll never make up 440 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:44,680 for in experience. Bam. 441 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,520 You know, that's the kind of line that Donald Trump comes up 442 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,480 with, although not quite as elegant, but equally punchy. 443 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,480 And and with Mandami, you know, that's what you're getting. 444 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,400 You know, you could feel the hunger, the thirst amongst 445 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,760 Democrats to finally get a voice that even though they're they're 446 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:01,880 a bit worried about what he might do to taxes or to their 447 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,400 bottom line. You know, they feel finally as 448 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:07,560 if they're punching back. And, and what an unlikely 449 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:13,080 puncher, 34 year old, you know, Muslim American immigrant born 450 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:16,080 in Uganda, you know, all the rest of it that we've discussed 451 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,280 it is it is so unlikely. But as I said before, the most 452 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,440 unlikely scenario in America, the one that if you went to 453 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,840 Steven Spielberg with a pitch, he would show you the door often 454 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:31,760 becomes the the reality. And that reality then changes 455 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,280 everything else. So let's see, you know, could he 456 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:36,800 be the next Barack Obama? That's the question we're really 457 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,240 circling around. Because he was born in Kampala, 458 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,120 so he can never be president. Well, yes, absolutely. 459 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:43,920 There's a Bertha campaign right there. 460 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,200 But, but in terms of in terms of energizing the party, you know, 461 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,080 and who does he then hand that baton onto for president? 462 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:53,520 Yeah, although like I say, Democrats outside of New York 463 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,560 are very insistent that this isn't the answer elsewhere. 464 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:58,960 So I do think they'll be that kind of battle for it. 465 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:00,120 I. Don't know San Francisco 466 00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:02,240 Democrats, you know, they're, I mean, they're, you know, the 467 00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:05,800 Chicago Democrats. I mean, you know, the debate 468 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,320 will be between Gavin Newsom, incredibly good looking 469 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,480 telegenic governor of California, who obviously wants 470 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:12,720 to be president and is behaving as if he's already on the 471 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,400 campaign. You know, Pritzker, the that, 472 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:20,560 you know, the less telegenic but multi billionaire hotel air, you 473 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:22,880 know, governor of Illinois. I mean, he's another contender. 474 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,680 You know, Josh Shapiro, governor of, of Pennsylvania, I mean, 475 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,160 these are there's some really powerful voices there in the 476 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,680 Democratic Party. You just want them all to make 477 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:34,240 up their mind who's going to lead. 478 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:38,040 I think one just final thought on this is about how you deal 479 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:40,160 with Donald Trump. I mean, you mentioned San 480 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,280 Francisco. The San Francisco mayor was 481 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:45,160 actually, it was a bit controversial. 482 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:47,000 Donald Trump was like, I rang him up. 483 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,520 I spoke to him. He was nice and polite. 484 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:52,200 He said he'd work with me. So I'm not sending the National 485 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,320 Guard in to San Francisco on on the final night of campaigning 486 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:59,480 here in New York, I went to watch Zoran Mandani's last kind 487 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,400 of rallying talk to canvassers. It was in a park in Astoria in 488 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:07,400 Queens where he years an assemblyman. 489 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:10,880 I was on my knees for quite a long time waiting for him to 490 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,480 come to try and him ask him questions and listen to what he 491 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,080 had to say. And and Donald Trump had just 492 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:20,800 put on Truth Social that voters should back Andrew Cuomo, not 493 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,720 the Republican candidate in New York, because in his words, a 494 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,200 bad Democrat was better than a communist. 495 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:31,920 And Mamdani seemed to almost inflate that attack. 496 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,160 That was the thing that he thought was going to help him. 497 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:38,200 The idea that Donald Trump was endorsing the other guy was what 498 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,200 was going to bring New Yorkers out to the polls and get them to 499 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:42,600 vote for him. And, you know, we had an 500 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:46,280 absolute, you know, massive turn out here for this type of 501 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:49,080 election, the biggest since 1969, so I think. 502 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,440 It's an amazing question. How do you deal with Trump? 503 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:55,680 Everyone who won last night dealt with Trump by taking him 504 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,000 on and placing themselves on the opposite side of the debate. 505 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:03,680 OK, let's bring in scholar. Doctor Christina Greer, 506 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:06,520 political scientists and professor at Fordham University. 507 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:11,720 Also Co host of FAQ NYC podcast. Doctor Greer, thank you for 508 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,720 joining us. How are you feeling waking up in 509 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,480 a new New York? It definitely feels like a new 510 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,320 New York. You know, it's been really 511 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:23,720 interesting to see Mamdani's rise. 512 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:28,000 This time last year, he was pulling at about 1% name 513 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,320 recognition. And through hard work and 514 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,200 mobilizing people online and getting them into the streets 515 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,600 and talking about a lot of issues that New Yorkers care 516 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:40,560 about, he's been able to build this movement across the city 517 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:44,280 that has put together so many diverse types of coalitions that 518 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,680 we have never seen before. So it feels like a new day, 519 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:51,040 especially when thinking about what's going on at Washington, 520 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:54,440 DC Instead of trying to pit Americans against one another, 521 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:56,280 this feels like the antithesis of that. 522 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,960 And it's really interesting that he he focused a lot on, you 523 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,400 know, cost of living issues, you know, the stuff that really 524 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,480 effects ordinary New Yorkers, including many of those who 525 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:06,840 voted for Trump. So tell us a little bit about 526 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:08,800 that. His his strategy of going 527 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,440 straight into, you know, the mini pockets of Trump heartland 528 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:13,960 in New York to to bring people on side. 529 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:19,000 Well, if you all remember in 2024, Donald Trump's case was, 530 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,600 you know, affordability. The difference was he was saying 531 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:24,000 he's going to bring down the price of eggs. 532 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,160 He's going to bring down the price of groceries and gas. 533 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:28,920 And the only reason why things are expensive in your life and 534 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,280 things aren't working in your life is because immigrants are 535 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,000 taking things away from you. That's the Donald Trump 536 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:35,920 philosophy. Very subtractive. 537 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:40,040 This one in many ways, is the same populist message that deals 538 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,240 with affordability. Can you afford your rent? 539 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,640 Can you afford to get to work? Can you afford groceries? 540 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:47,680 But collectively we can change that. 541 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,520 And so instead of blaming your immigrant neighbor, then you 542 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:53,160 work with your immigrant neighbor to try and get a better 543 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:55,360 life. And I think those two issues 544 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,440 both hit at affordability, but from very different angles. 545 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,920 It's, it's really fascinating. I spent, I went back to Hillside 546 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:05,440 Ave. in Queens where Zoram Mandani had gone to try and talk 547 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:06,960 to people who were voting for Trump. 548 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,400 And I met a number of Bangladeshi voters who who would 549 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:13,800 all everyone I spoke to had voted Trump the year before, 550 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,080 even though they were all lifelong Democrats. 551 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:18,520 And then they were voting for Mandani. 552 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:21,560 And I was trying to understand this shift in terms of the 553 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:23,000 politics. And as you say, it was about 554 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:25,240 affordability. Although interestingly, they 555 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:28,320 weren't regretting their votes for Trump, which I think is also 556 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:33,320 quite interesting in itself. I guess the question is that 557 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,280 people keep voting for change. They keep voting for something 558 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:40,800 new here in the UK as well, thinking, you know, maybe this 559 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:43,320 will make my life easier. If it doesn't make their life 560 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,080 easier, they then seek out another thing. 561 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:51,720 So in terms of Zoram Mamdani's policy offer, how realistic is 562 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:53,880 it that he can actually get it done? 563 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:57,720 I mean, quite a lot of it does rely on, you know, getting votes 564 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,200 through the state legislature here, doesn't it? 565 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:02,360 Right. So I'll take the first part of 566 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,320 your statement first, though. I mean, I do think we have to be 567 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,280 realistic about 2024. There's just certain people who 568 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:10,920 can't vote for a woman no matter how qualified. 569 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,160 And not saying that the campaign was perfect and we know it was a 570 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:15,800 very short campaign, but there are a lot of people who said it 571 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:19,240 was the economy and it was not. So that's one piece. 572 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:22,240 The second piece is, you know, affordability across the 573 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:24,000 country. We just have these calcified 574 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:25,880 problems that don't seem to get resolved. 575 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,400 And even and in both parties, we have these lifelong politicians, 576 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:33,040 these career politicians, 70 years old, 80 years old. 577 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:35,720 We just keep coming back and essentially telling the American 578 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:37,560 people, well, we can't do it right. 579 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:39,800 We we've tried, but this can't be done. 580 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,760 So in Donald Trump's case, he says, why not? 581 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,520 Let's try it. And the same with Zaram Abdani. 582 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,200 Why do we have to accept the status quo? 583 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:50,160 I think for immigrant communities who have sort of 584 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:53,680 switched back and forth and maybe back again, because they 585 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,240 are, you know, all Americans go to the the polls. 586 00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:58,840 They based on pocketbook issues, we can say it's about 587 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,640 immigration, we can say it's about, you know, whatever the 588 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:03,440 issue is. But at the end of the day, 589 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,160 people vote their pocketbooks and if you're promising them a 590 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,000 better life, then that's very real. 591 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,640 With Mamdani, he does not have citywide experience. 592 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,160 It's a very little bit of time in Albany, which is the state 593 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,320 capitol, where he'll have to get quite a bit done. 594 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,400 But the good thing working for him is that the governor, Kathy 595 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,120 Hochul, is not only up for re election in 2026 in her general 596 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:25,600 elections in November, but she's being primaried by her own 597 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,400 Lieutenant governor for now. That's the only real primary she 598 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:31,640 has, but there could be others who jump in. 599 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:35,200 So she's going to need in the next six months to keep this 600 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,520 mobilization in this groundswell of energy that comes out of New 601 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,200 York City, because that's the bulk of her votes across a very 602 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,760 purple, if not red state. She's going to need Zaram 603 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:48,120 Abdani, and something tells me he knows he's got six months 604 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:50,120 before the left and the right turn on him. 605 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:52,920 Those two are going to have to work in conjunction with one 606 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:55,680 another, and I think it'll be for the better of New York City 607 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:57,440 residents. And Christina, I mean, 608 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,120 immigration is a massive issue in politics, both in America but 609 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:02,920 also here in Europe. And most political leaders, as 610 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:05,840 far as I can tell, are dealing with immigration in a kind of 611 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,280 semi apologetic way. They they don't really want to 612 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:09,800 talk about it if they're incumbents. 613 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:12,280 They want to shout about it if they're in opposition. 614 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,760 But Mandani is the first candidate of this stature 615 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,680 because he's of, you know, immigrant stock himself, I 616 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:24,240 guess, who is unapologetically embraced the identity of 617 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,440 immigration and the importance of immigration in New York City. 618 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,280 I found that really remarkable. And it it seems to work. 619 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:32,400 It did. And you know, what's interesting 620 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:34,280 is that, you know, we're a nation of immigrants. 621 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,880 We're a city of immigrants. John F Kennedy famously wrote a 622 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:38,200 book about the nation of immigrants. 623 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:40,840 I'm a proud board member of the Tenement Museum that does 624 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,480 nothing but celebrate the history of immigrants. 625 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:47,160 But he didn't run on I'm an immigrant. 626 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:51,400 Let's all be immigrants. It was I'm a New Yorker, and we 627 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:53,520 all encompass what it means to be New York. 628 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,720 And a large part of what it means to be a New Yorker is also 629 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:59,880 to be an immigrant. But his identity politics were a 630 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:02,120 little different this time. It's not the traditional 631 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:04,240 identity politics that you've seen. 632 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,840 It's the I would argue that the identity of being a New Yorker 633 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:11,840 encapsulates way more of New Yorkers than being an immigrant. 634 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:13,760 And that's what he tapped into in the. 635 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:15,520 Clever. Fantastic way. 636 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,320 And I think a lot of, well, honestly, we're just excited 637 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,840 about the fact that he's young. We have almost 1,000,000 Muslims 638 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,560 in New York City. We consistently undercount the 639 00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:27,840 South Asian population, which is politically active but largely 640 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,200 ignored in polling. So there are a lot of different 641 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:33,720 ways, to say nothing of a fantastically run campaign going 642 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:37,000 to neighborhoods and communities who have never been talked to 643 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:39,080 before. I think all of those things 644 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:40,600 resulted in what we saw last. Night. 645 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:43,840 But what he did do, and I did find this completely fascinating 646 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,120 and I think almost with a British perspective in Britain 647 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:50,480 as an Asian woman growing up, there was a sort of almost 648 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,360 separation between my Englishness and my Indian Ness. 649 00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:57,880 And I always looked to America and thought America was 650 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,280 different because the assimilation was so much more 651 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:02,520 expected. So you became African American, 652 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:05,600 you became Asian American, but what you were above everything 653 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,800 else was American. And, and watching Zoram Mandani, 654 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:12,360 I mean, he embraced his culture. He's not going to hold back and 655 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,000 tell you what, you know, Asian food, he wants to go and eat 656 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:17,760 around the country. He's not going to hold back from 657 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,600 eating that food with his hand if that's what his culture says 658 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:23,120 he's going to do. And he's not afraid of speaking 659 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:25,719 all these different languages, you know, playing on the 660 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,639 Bollywood themes, etcetera. That must feel very different 661 00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:32,600 and fresh. I am interested in a, it worked 662 00:34:32,679 --> 00:34:36,360 here big time in New York. Do you think that can be 663 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:40,239 embraced elsewhere in the US? And I'm just want to ask you on 664 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:42,639 the woman point that you made, you're absolutely right. 665 00:34:42,639 --> 00:34:44,800 You know, one of the men I was speaking to about why he didn't 666 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:47,239 vote for Kamel Harris, he was like, you know, America didn't 667 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:49,920 really want to vote for a woman. And I was like, no, you clearly 668 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:53,600 didn't want to vote for a woman. But but you know, Mandani can't 669 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,080 be president because he was born in Kampala. 670 00:34:56,080 --> 00:35:00,080 And I was speaking to democratic socialists last night who I was 671 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,040 saying, who's your person? Because it's not any of the 672 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:04,800 candidates around the country that we've heard of. 673 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:10,200 And they were talking about AOC. Can a woman win in this country? 674 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,240 Sorry, two questions there. I think it's more than two 675 00:35:13,240 --> 00:35:15,080 questions in there, but I'm going to try and impact them. 676 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:17,800 So let's take, let's start backwards. 677 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:22,120 AOC is still young. You know, she is soon to be 35. 678 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,880 She'll be eligible. You know, this is a very 679 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:28,320 conservative country. So I don't know how well she 680 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,800 plays across the country, to be very honest. 681 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:33,400 And we'll see. But it depends on her messaging 682 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:35,520 and how she can galvanized people. 683 00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:39,000 I mean, it's so interesting. I look to London as to how you 684 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,520 all have sort of assimilated in different ways because, you 685 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:46,560 know, America seems as though it's this melting pot and, you 686 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,480 know, gorgeous mosaic and, you know, fruit salad, all the 687 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,160 things. But for a lot of community, yes, 688 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:54,320 we have, I wrote a book called Black Ethnics, right? 689 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:58,160 You can become African American, but that prefix is mandatory. 690 00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:02,040 And you never get that complete American status. 691 00:36:02,240 --> 00:36:05,320 It's you're just, you're, you're an American with something in 692 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,280 front of it. So Americanness means whiteness. 693 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:11,160 And that's been the tension for a very, very long time. 694 00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:13,600 So it's it's fascinating because I actually look to the UK 695 00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:17,640 because Mark Twain, our great satirist and and writer would 696 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:20,240 always go to London to help him think clearly about America. 697 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:25,080 I do think that Mamdani's identity works in New York 698 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:27,000 because we are this city of immigrants. 699 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:29,080 I don't know how it works in other cities. 700 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,560 You know, we have such an exponentially large immigrant 701 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,360 population and population of non whites. 702 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,920 Other cities, I don't know how how they communicate and how 703 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:42,760 that really shakes out. I do think though, it will give 704 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:46,440 people permission to be their more authentic selves because we 705 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:49,400 have seen when you show up as your authentic self, that's what 706 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:50,960 so many young voters are craving. 707 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:54,240 So many voters who have been sitting on the sidelines who are 708 00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:57,200 coming into the process for the first time, that's what they're 709 00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:00,800 craving. And so we'll see if that becomes 710 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:03,800 a model. I think the larger take away 711 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:08,480 though is when you ask voters what it is they want out of 712 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:12,120 their politics, all the consultants said the main issue 713 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:16,000 in 2025 is public safety because that was the big issue in 2021. 714 00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:18,320 That was not the issue on on the public's mind. 715 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:21,480 The biggest issue in 2025 was affordability. 716 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,520 And that's, and that's the message that mum Donnie came out 717 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:26,920 with last November. That's the message he stayed 718 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:29,120 with all the way through last night. 719 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:32,440 Because first of all, you don't get public safety if if people 720 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:34,400 can't afford things, if they don't have a place to live and a 721 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,640 place to eat and a place in a way to get to work. 722 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:39,960 But instead of letting DC consultants, Washington DC 723 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:44,200 consultants tell you what the message should be, he actually 724 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:46,920 went to the people and asked them what the message should be. 725 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:50,120 I wonder also if the old labels of left and right are kind of 726 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:53,280 redundant in the age of Trump and you know, the, the, the 727 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:56,520 fledgling age of Mandani and whether the, the, the, the 728 00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:59,800 tacking to the centre ground, you know, the famous two-part 729 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,880 strategy in the primaries you stick to the edges and then in 730 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:04,880 the general election you go to the centre. 731 00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:08,040 Does that even work anymore? Is that still a thing? 732 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,800 Not in a in. It's complicated. 733 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:14,320 I don't want to punt, but it's complicated because Donald Trump 734 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:16,760 has dragged his party so far, right? 735 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:20,040 He's just in the stratosphere. So many Democrats are just 736 00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:22,560 chasing that center and that center has moved far to the 737 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:24,360 right. But there are a lot of Democrats 738 00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:27,640 who are saying if I'm voting for a Democrat, I want a Democrat. 739 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:30,600 I don't want a weak leaning Republican who's disguised as a 740 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,520 Democrat. And I think every city election 741 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:35,840 is is it's own thing. Every congressional election is 742 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:38,040 it's own thing. And obviously statewide is it's 743 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:39,320 own thing. And we've seen moderates 744 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:42,760 obviously last night in New Jersey and Virginia win because 745 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,400 states tend to be by and large, very conservative. 746 00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:47,520 And Donald Trump was not on the ballot. 747 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:50,480 And so people behave a little differently when that's the 748 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:52,600 case. But I do think that if you 749 00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,400 actually talk to people about issues they care about, you 750 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,520 don't have to frame them in, you know, radical ideas. 751 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,840 You know, helping people stay in their homes isn't a radical 752 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:03,800 idea. I think Republic will harp on 753 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:07,280 democratic socialism, but let's not get caught up in semantics. 754 00:39:07,720 --> 00:39:09,960 Most Americans want to be able to afford their rent. 755 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:13,120 That's not a socialist idea. That's just good politics. 756 00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:16,480 So I think the labeling is getting a little fuzzy since so 757 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:20,400 many Democrats feel like, you know, a George HW Bush 758 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:24,560 Republican from the the late 80s, nineteen 80s. 759 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:28,160 And so we'll see, you know, now that we've got this democratic 760 00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:31,880 socialist label that's on the rise, I'm very interested to see 761 00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:35,520 how the Democratic Party situates itself because it's 762 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:39,400 such a large tent with so many diverse ideological Democrats in 763 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,320 one in one space, I mean. What, what would you think is 764 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:46,040 the lesson of this election? In many ways, as you say, there 765 00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:49,360 was a commonality across the different victories in that it 766 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,160 was about cost of living, it was about affordability and about 767 00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:55,160 taking on Trump. But these were ideologically 768 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:57,040 very different politicians. Who won what? 769 00:39:57,040 --> 00:39:59,200 What does the Democratic Party learn from this? 770 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,640 Right. I think for 2025 the issue was 771 00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:05,040 affordability. I don't know what the issue will 772 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:07,200 be in 2026. Something tells me it might 773 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:10,520 still be affordability since the president is laying people off 774 00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:13,040 and firing them. But the key is to ask people 775 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:15,800 what it is. I also think you know the common 776 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,200 denominator is that Dharma Amdani is. 777 00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:21,040 A politician, but not a career politician. 778 00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:24,080 The same goes for Virginia and New Jersey. 779 00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,880 We have to have a regenerative politics. 780 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:30,920 I think a lot of Americans, but especially Democrats, are so 781 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:35,600 tired of seeing septuagenarians and octogenarians who will not 782 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,360 leave the office. They have not passed the baton. 783 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:42,160 They've not created a pipeline of mentorship for other people 784 00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:44,040 to come in. If you notice, all these 785 00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:48,280 candidates are 55 and below. And so when you look at Congress 786 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:50,640 and you look at the the average age of a senator is like in 787 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:52,720 their 60's. The average age of a member of 788 00:40:52,720 --> 00:40:56,120 the House is slightly lower. But we have, you know, my 789 00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:59,040 students say the March of the dinosaurs and here, you know, 790 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:01,240 here we are. If you give people some young 791 00:41:01,240 --> 00:41:04,480 energy, new ideas, or at least something that's packaged as a 792 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:07,560 new idea, I think that helps with turn out exponentially. 793 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:11,400 When I first heard Zoam, and I mean describe himself proudly as 794 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:14,800 a democratic socialist, I was really, you know, quite 795 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:18,400 surprised because socialism is normally the word that dares not 796 00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:20,840 speak its name in American politics. 797 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:24,120 And it clearly, you know, didn't prevent him from winning in New 798 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:25,240 York. And I've, you know, wonder 799 00:41:25,240 --> 00:41:27,600 whether that would be possible outside New York City. 800 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:32,440 But also explain to us, you know, why policies that are kind 801 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:35,400 of quite reasonable on the centre left in terms of housing 802 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,880 and transport, and you see them in many European countries are 803 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,440 socialist in America. And why is socialism, Why is the 804 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:46,680 S word so toxic in American politics over history? 805 00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:48,760 Right. I mean, it goes back to, you 806 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,640 know, obviously the early 20th century. 807 00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:53,480 I mean, it's interesting. The president keeps calling him 808 00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:56,560 a communist, which is obviously not the same thing at all. 809 00:41:57,160 --> 00:41:59,240 You know, democratic socialism, when you think about someone 810 00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:02,040 like AFC or someone like Bernie Sanders, I think they're 811 00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:04,120 essentially, you know, in the past, they would have just been 812 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:06,240 Democrats. But because so many Democrats 813 00:42:06,240 --> 00:42:10,440 have moved so far to the right in the center, this new label to 814 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:14,240 help welcome in people who have progressive ideas has emerged. 815 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:18,840 I mean, I don't think that, you know, helping people have a cost 816 00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:22,720 of living is a socialist idea. I do think that we don't talk 817 00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:26,360 enough about the donor class that is captured not just the 818 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:29,400 Republican Party, but also the Democratic Party as well. 819 00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:33,560 And so many of them make it such that our elected representatives 820 00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:37,040 really reticent to start talking about redistributive politics in 821 00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:39,200 a way that will help millions of Americans. 822 00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:40,720 And so that's considered socialism. 823 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,240 Let's be clear. Rich people in this country, in 824 00:42:43,240 --> 00:42:45,160 America have socialism every day. 825 00:42:45,160 --> 00:42:46,840 They're not paying their fair share of taxes. 826 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:51,120 They get tax breaks and sort of all types of free things that 827 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:53,680 they argue, you know, the lessers will get. 828 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:57,840 And so I think that this is a conversation to the, you know, 829 00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:01,920 to earlier point, I think this is going to open up a 830 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:06,080 conversation about what it is that Americans demand and 831 00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:08,880 deserve. And the, the key phrase that I 832 00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:12,280 keep hearing, whenever I would ask people about Mamdani, you 833 00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:15,480 know, my podcast and other places, everyone would say he 834 00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:20,280 awakened something in me almost akin to 2008, Barack Obama's 835 00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:23,400 candidacy, where so many people and a lot has happened since 836 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:26,200 2008. But a lot of people said, I just 837 00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:28,320 thought this is the way things had to be. 838 00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:32,720 And they're so beaten down by 2016's election, They're beaten 839 00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:35,720 down by 2024 election. And they just thought that the 840 00:43:35,720 --> 00:43:39,400 status quo or worse was what they had to live under. 841 00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:43,160 And they said that he woke something up and reminded them 842 00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:45,320 that this democracy belongs to ours. 843 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:48,520 It's active and living and breathing and if we fight for 844 00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:51,440 it, we can win. And that was a repeated message 845 00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:54,440 from the campaign. If we do it collectively, we can 846 00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:56,360 win. And I think that's the piece 847 00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:59,200 that will be interesting to see moving forward, to see how many 848 00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:02,160 people recognize that this is it's a marathon and not a 849 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:05,320 Sprint, and they have to sort of stick with it even through all 850 00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:07,080 the highs and lows and the wins and losses. 851 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:09,360 Just really quickly, if I may, do you think he's a bigger 852 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:12,600 threat to establishment Democrats or to mega 853 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:15,440 Republicans? I think establishment Democrats, 854 00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:18,200 just because establishment Democrats have gotten by quite a 855 00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:21,880 bit with saying what they can't do for the Democratic Party. 856 00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,320 And I think he is saying, well, we need to get creative and 857 00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:27,240 figure it out. And so I think is evidenced by 858 00:44:27,240 --> 00:44:29,760 the fact that Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, the two New 859 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:34,080 York states or near US senators, did not endorse Mamdani. 860 00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:36,080 And I get it. They don't want to be accused 861 00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,680 nationally. Hakeem Jeffries, who's the House 862 00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:42,920 Minority Leader, also from Brooklyn in New York, he gave a 863 00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:46,000 very tepid endorsement. And so I think that a lot of 864 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,040 Democrats are thinking nationally. 865 00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:52,680 So they have not endorsed Mum Donnie, but I think the message 866 00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:54,480 is clear. And I think that message 867 00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:57,120 resonates across the country. I mean, especially in New York 868 00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:01,000 in a place where if you make $40,000 or you make $400,000 or 869 00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:05,760 she'll put it in pounds, you make £40,000 or £400,000, right, 870 00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:08,920 you're feeling the squeeze. And I think that's a lot of 871 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:12,080 Americans across the country. And so the framing of the 872 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:14,880 message can work. I don't know if the package that 873 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:18,120 it comes in will be something that everyone accepts, but I do 874 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:23,160 think that the larger Democratic Party has to look at how this, 875 00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:26,960 these wins all crossed last night happened and really 876 00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:30,400 doubled down on the articulation of a message and not just trying 877 00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:33,480 to steamroll like, I'm working. Don't ask me what I need to do. 878 00:45:33,720 --> 00:45:35,240 Don't. I'm just working on your behalf. 879 00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:39,560 The Democrats have struggled with stopping to explain why it 880 00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:42,720 is that they're actually working to keep this democracy afloat, 881 00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:45,880 working to make sure healthcare isn't taken away from millions 882 00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:48,200 upon millions of Americans, working to make sure that there 883 00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:52,040 are jobs that exist. But the the articulation and the 884 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:55,120 explanation phase has always been like one of the weakest 885 00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:57,240 parts of the Democratic strategy. 886 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:01,440 Absolutely fascinating. Christina, thank you so much for 887 00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:04,000 joining us on Trump World. We really appreciate it. 888 00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:07,040 Thank you so much. And that is all we've got time 889 00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:10,360 for this week on Trump World. Next week I will be back in 890 00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:12,640 Washington, DC. I'll see you then. 891 00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:15,160 And I will still be in London. We'll see you then. 892 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:18,320 Thanks very much for joining us on this edition of Trump World 893 00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:21,680 after the election results in New York and elsewhere.