Andrew Schulz's Flagrant with Akaash Singh - Zohran Mamdani on Freezing Rent, Making NYC Affordable Again & Who’s Really Stopping Him

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

YERRR – Zohran Mamdani pulled up and the boys got political in the most Flagrant way possible. From NYC rent wars to taking on Albany, Mamdani’s not pulling punches.We’re talkin’:– NYC Cost of living crisis– Rent control, red tape, and housing as a human right– Opposition from the Dems, and the pressure to deliver– And of course, the bench press problemAll that and more on this week’s episode of FLAGRANT. INDULGE. 00:00 Zohran's number + NYC Olympics 1:08 Hopefully doesn't go wrong 1:30 Running for something + Cost of Living 6:10 This will be a war vs Albany 10:07 No-one's leaving NYC + Special interest groups 15:38 Does Mamdani want DOGE? 17:39 Rent freeze, control & stabilisation 21:29 How do we build more housing? Red Tape 27:58 HSTPA + Collecting from Landlords 38:50 Housing as a commodity + Mamdani wants to try 44:02 Mamdani's moments that broke through 45:45 Immense opposition + Case study 51:33 Indians kicked out of Uganda + London is ish 57:16 Pressure to deliver + Challenging status quo 1:03:55 Why haven't all Dems supported him? 1:06:40 The role of Islamophobia in this campaign 1:10:01 We hope Mamdani can deliver 1:12:05 Bench press problem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You should have come through we were at Maharaja Suites in Jackson Heights. Hey, dude. I would love to. All right, next time I'll let you know. I'm going to get your number because the Comsteen ducks me. So I'm going to get your direct number. Take it. Thank you.

I'm going to get it after this episode. I'll like you give you right now, bro. Because they'll probably yank me. Yeah, we got to start this immediately. Dar runs a tight ship. Yeah, dude, she don't around. She does not. Feel free you can share with everybody here.

Okay, beautiful. Socialism. I'm so social. Talk guys. Are we rolling? I'm so angry. You guys did the New York City Olympics. Because I hit that guy up.

I was watching Subway takes. And I'm forgetting the guy's name right now. My dad. But he goes, we should have like a New York City Olympics where the borough's compete. And I deemed, I didn't DM'd Kareem the guy. I go, let's make this happen. Like, I am down.

And he goes, how would we do that? And I go, we'll find a way. And then I see you a few weeks later like, we're doing it. Everybody comes out where? You far rock away or something? No, Colony Allent. It was Colony Allent.

Anyway, guys, we're here with the next mayor of New York City. Yes, my son. Let's go. 93% on Kalshi right now. Yes. Chances of victory. 93%. So, barring this doesn't go horribly.

I think you're kidding. This is how we bring the numbers down. We've got to get some parity. People understand the selection's not over, so I'm going to tank. If it's not an 85 by the end of this interview, we're going to work on it. It's not as a number. Dude, you've done, like, I want to give you, like, a few compliments here, but they're also, like, very validating because I think, you know, every week I'm talking to Charlotte, Maine, and we're talking with the boys here on the pods.

And it's like, we keep on saying, hey, Democrats, can you please just run for something and not against somebody? Yeah. And it is a very simple solution, but I think people, at their core, want to feel like their issues are addressed, you know, and their concerns are met. Not simply that guy bad. Yeah. And then you guys have done it masterfully. Obviously, you're a great talent. And your team is phenomenal.

Zara, I know you're listening. You're great. You're great. Give us a little more time. You're great. But it was like, it was really validating to see that. You know, it's like, wow, if you talk about the issues people care about and say that you're going to do something about it, they will support you.

What a fucking crazy idea. You know, it's also crazy. The things that I would say you inspire, change and hope. The last great Democrat, those were kind of his mantras or however you'd say. Change and hope. And that's what you inspire. Hillary Clinton. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, and I think that's been lost a little bit. I mean, I appreciate you guys. I think it's just, there's been a lot of lecturing and not much listening. And, you know, we saw a swing towards Trump here in New York City in the last general election. Whose responsibility was death? Who the hell made that? What the fuck are we even talking about? I did those guys.

I can't believe they did this. Christ. But, you know, it was, it was, there are a lot of caricatures of who Trump voters are. And in New York City, we saw the swing was actually in the heart of immigrant New York. And I went to Hillside Avenue in Queens. I went to Fordham Road in the Bronx. And I asked New Yorkers, who did you vote for and why? And I met the vast majority of them were Trump voters. And I asked them why. And it just came back to cost of living, cost of living, cost of living. And if I had spent that time lecturing them as to why they were wrong, as opposed to listening to

them as to how we could get right, then we would run a very different campaign. And this is one thing I said I wanted to talk about. I feel like establishment Democrats don't understand a pretty simple thing. We want to vote for someone who might make things better. Even if the risk is it will make things worse. A lot of people voted for Trump because he might make things better. And the other person is saying, I wouldn't change anything. Things are not good.

In New York, things are not good right now. It's the most expensive city of America. It's the same. It's a privilege to maintain the status quo. You know what I mean? Like, we're privileged. Like, it's very nice to know that we're going to be. Are you okay?

I see you? Delete this. Delete this. To hit the Jordan DSA link. No, we can't afford it. We're the same. So here's the thing. It's so funny because I saw

it was like Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk and they were talking about you. I don't know if you remember this. I didn't see this. But they were speaking and it was almost like the shoehorn theory. Have you ever seen that?

Like politically what happened? No horseshoe. Oh, sorry, sorry, horseshoe, yeah. So it's like, and I think that they were basically saying that you were meeting the moment in terms of what people are concerned with, right? And it's obviously a cost of living. And it's like, I think it's so specific. I think it's like it's a rent. And I think everything is derivative of rent.

Yeah. And it's the number one issue in the city. The number, is, bro. I started looking up numbers because like I, I think a two bedroom six years ago was the average two bedroom compared to right now, I think is. has gone up 90%. I mean, it's untenable, right? Like, and I think this is the thing that... 90% almost doubled in six years.

That's great. How are people supposed to keep up with this? And I think what's so kind of to what you guys were saying, if the politics on offer is right now is as good as it's ever going to get, that's not good enough for the vast majority of people. And I think it speaks to how out of touch a lot of them are. Yeah. And I think it's just you have, you know, I spoke to a number.

nurse who after she finishes her shift, she drives for an hour and a half, leaving the state of New York to get to where she can afford a place. Wow. That's what you're putting working people through. People are living in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Jersey City, commuting it. Dude, white people have to live in the outer borough. What you did fix this? What is what happens when you call him a socialist?

He got over there. It's just like, I'm going after a story. I'm going after she said. Come on. The Greeks are not white. But continue, please. It is absurd that in order to afford her life, you know, and there are obviously certain, like, circumstances that have created this situation.

What I want to talk about more is, because I looked at your plan to go fix it, and I would really like this to be able to happen. A lot of people are making this, like, impending war about you and Trump. I think it's going to be you and Albany, bro. Hmm. Can you speak a little bit more on that, like what you need Albany to essentially allow you to do? Yeah. There are restrictions in government. Like, there are systems in place that don't allow you to do what you want, even if you think it's in the best interest of people, and even if that's what the people want.

So how are you going to convince Hogle? How are you going to convince these people to allow you enact these policies? So New York City continues to be a creature of the state. New York City, if you have an ambition for the city that matches the scale of the crisis, you have to have an Albany agenda. Yeah. So when de Blasio wanted to deliver universal pre-K, he knew he would have to go to Albany to get that money. He actually overcame the objections of then-Governor Andrew Cuomo to get that money to make this a reality. Now it is one of the best examples of government actually meeting the needs of working people. And so when we talk about raising revenue, you know, raising taxes on the top 1% by 2%, the top corporate tax to match that of New Jersey, that's something we will do in Albany. And that's partially why the endorsements of government. Governor of, oh, Hockel, you almost said it. You almost said it. I'll never be taking that one.

You almost said it. Governor Hockel. He's posting out on Instagram immediately. You see the trauma is coming back. I mean, to deal with that man so much. Governor Hockel, an assembly speaker, Carl Hastey, you know, majority leader of the state, Senate, Andreus, Stewart, Cousins. These are endorsements, not just of me, but of the agenda.

Because in Albany, it's often spoken about as three men in a room. Now it's two women and a man who are in that room. and to have the endorsements of all of them. Huge. It's huge and it paves the way. I also think it's for this agenda. Your political momentum. Oh, thank you.

No, no, no. And I mean that, I don't even mean it as a compliment. I mean, like, I take that back. It's like, a guy once told me, America doesn't have allies that has interests. And I think that politicians are often that way. I can't speak about you,

but like, Hockel needs re-election. And she's going to, it's next year, right? I imagine she is thinking. thinking, okay, if I raise taxes like you would want, I might lose some of my constituents. But she's also probably thinking, if this guy is such a tsunami and I rebuke him, I could also lose people. So is your strategy to have so much support in a Trump-esque version, like he's The only other example I can see that has, like, found a way to completely transform his party. Is your, is your strategy get so much support that Hogle's political future is dependent on her connectivity to you?

My strategy is to build the political will such that Governor Hokel has a partner in delivering universal childhood. He's a good man, he's a politician. Look, look, Governor Hockel has spoken. You said, bend the knee. He said, bend the knee. Governor Hockel has said she wants to deliver universal child care. What she's had in the mayor we have right now is someone more focused on getting out of jail than actually funding these kinds of programs.

We're going to bring 11 to New York. That is a fire idea. You shouldn't even know what that is. I didn't know what it was until you posted the clip and I was like, and now you're like, let him run against crime. That's all he needs to me. You can still bring it down. That's still on the table.

Okay. You were saying, you were saying. So I think it's, what are you using your political capital for? Because the same people who will say, oh, we can't afford free buses. We can't afford $700 million a year in making the slowest buses in America fast and free. I don't agree with that. I think you can't. No, no, no, no.

But here's a thing like, I also, you can put that on the website? You can put whatever you want to do it. I also think this idea that, like, New Yorkers are going to flee because of a 2% increase. It's like, I've been everywhere else. You're not going anywhere. Bill Hackman's not going nowhere He's going to be in the Hampton's all fucking summer Only one place to write those tweets

That's it, New York City Exactly Every character you want AC goes out in July In Miami You're sweating writing tweets There's no way He's spending more money

Against me than I would even tax him Every day is like a million dollars I'm like I don't even want that You're going above and beyond Okay So I don't think anybody's moving And I honestly feel that way And like I'm in the

tax bracket we're going to tax more like dude if you're going to deliver all this shit for two percent give it i'm a hundred percent supportive it makes life easier for new yorkers this is my one identity in my entire life is a new yorker it's the thing i care the most about but what i what i will say is that i think that there are going to be people in government that are going to try to restrict you from doing that and i know that you're aware of that so i'm like how and there are people that might disagree on economic policy we can have like a philosophical discussion about like what economic policy works but i don't even know if i think that's like a waste of time what the fuck do you do when special interest groups are going to be lobbying like crazy they're going to say i want to be able 200,000 units and then the second you try they're going to be like well not in my neighborhood i don't

how do you do that you have to be ready to take on these fights you you cannot be naive to the right now special interest groups are but i mean it's i appreciate i appreciate the point because there is a reason why we haven't had progress right if you look for example at the department of education this is the agency we spend the most amount of money on and any agency in New York City. Of the $40 billion we spend, we spend about $10 billion on contracts and consultants. Those are a lot of people who are looking forward to the renewal of their contract. You know, it's to educate you nerds at Bronx Science.

You know, some of us dumb kids that went to regular public school. You know, we don't need all that money. Where did you go to high school? Baruch College Campus. What was your mascot? The Blue Devils. All right.

Yeah, yeah. Which we just chose. White devil. And that's funny. Who and you? I mean you. Let's talk about it. Get us back to Hockel.

Get us back to Hockel. Pivot. Get us back to Hockel. But here's my point. There are people making money off the status quo. And so there will be a lot of interest in retaining that status quo. Right now, the city of New York will pay McKinsey a few million dollars to design a trash can. McKinsey's not going to be happy when I say we don't need you to design that

anymore. Right. We can actually design that ourselves. The second avenue subway, which is the most recent expansion extension of New York City subway. Shut that shit down, bro. Okay, that's not where I'm going. You know, buddy, need a subway on second avenue. It's actually a beautiful same. Why are you so against the second avenue subway? You don't need it. You don't want to get to one 25th Street. You never go to Upper East Side. I grew up. I went to middle school there. I went to elementary school there. You don't go to. You don't go to there now. I know, but so I don't either. No, the

last way to use the subway is on the Upper East side, they're going to be okay, they're not leaving. Bring a subway down to Tribeca or somebody. Whatever you are, wherever you are. Connect the Q train to something. You don't take the subway subway. You don't take the subway.

So what? It's not about that. You know what I mean? I'm here giving my 2% but not to the 2% on the 2% on the 2% on the 2nd Avenue of the Subway. Tell them walk two more blocks and then take the six. I think we got to go from 96th Street to 1.203. Did you just hear what he says? No, it's wet.

That's why's eight blocks, mathematics? Why are you trying to build more white people subways, man? Look at this. Look at this. So you are fine with the second avenue subway, 70 seconds, 80 seconds, 86, 96, but you don't want to go to 125? I never wanted it at any of those stuff. Here's my point. I'm always getting against.

The 2nd Avenue of Subway. They want to live over there and make them walk. I dated a girl over there. That shit was horrible. I had to walk and they got to walk. I was walking at York Avenue in shorts. I feel like that's fucking in December. You know, bring an 11.

Put an 11 on the 2nd Avenue subway. Here's the polls. Here's his point. Here's my point, though. Is the people in Harlem were promised a subway to 1-25th Street on the 2nd Avenue decades ago. And it's taken us so long to even get to this. Why didn't we start with them?

We had to connect it. What is it? Well, you could connect it the other way, too. We could have started it up there. But where they got to take from? Once already fit to once. Did you start once in one? Is it 2-80-1-16?

I'm actually here to announce that the head of design at the MTA is about to be. Thank you. Thank you. I would have done that too. Now you're making some good decisions. Yeah. All right? I'm taking back my 2% if I'm going to work for that.

No, no, no, I hear what you're saying. You've got to connect to the 51st grade. I think the larger point here is, though, that, like, when they did the first phase of construction for the second Avenue subway, the MTA spent more money on consultants than construction. Yeah. So this is part of the issue is that you're right that we're going to have to transform the inner workings of government. And that means ending a patronage politics. There are a lot of people who have jobs more to do with who they know than what they do. Yeah.

And that's not specific to Eric Adams. It sounds like you want to create a Department of Government Efficiency. It kind of sounds like. It kind of sounds like the dogen. I said I was in favor. I was a liberal cuck when it was a Republican idea, he hated it. And now I'm in favor. Now look at him, nodding.

You're not going to judge people who like to watch others have sex with their wives. That is their. I bring it back to efficiency. Okay, sorry. I'm bringing it back to waste. Some people would say that as efficient and waste. You can wait for Andrew Cuomo to have these other conversations. But here's my point is that it is sad that we've let someone like Elon Musk take the words efficiency, fraud, as if they are right-wing concerns.

I agree. These are actually the concerns that should be at the heart of a progressive politics. Because I want to increase taxes on the top 1% by 2%. And I also want those same New Yorkers to be able to look at that increased revenue and say every single one of these dollars is being spent efficiently. It can't be in and of itself the reason why you do. It has to be what you deliver with that way. And I think like Doge was universally supported before it became what it was.

But the idea of the idea, it was never actually intended to fulfill the intentions. Got it. But the intentions are right. I think most people are great. Let's eliminate it. Okay, I love that. Guys, generational triumph tour.

First of all, San Jose, all the shows are sold out. We just added one Sunday. Australia, we had an Australia run. In February, most of those shows are sold out. We're going to add some more. And in Chicago Theater, the pre-sale went live. It went amazingly. keep buying tickets.

Akash Singh.com for all of the shows. We're coming to a city near you, I promise. I love you guys. God bless. Hey, what's up, guys? Miles, can we add music behind this as well? Thank you. Nashville, Tennessee, Denver, Colorado, Hoboken, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Fort Wayne, and Detroit, Michigan.

I'm coming to all these lovely cities, some of the greatest cities in this beautiful nation we call America. Can't wait to see you guys there. It's going to be one singular hour of stand-up comedy, no more, no less. I can't wait. Come out and shake my hand. We'll see you there. access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside so being a fan for life

turns into the trip of a lifetime that's the powerful backing of Amex pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and vary by race terms and conditions apply learn more at mx.ca.com slash y annex so if rent is the most important issue which I think we all agree it's like fucking absurd um the the rent freeze was like incredibly effective communication right this idea because everybody else is talking about we're going to build all these units when you're drowning you're not worried about like someone building you a boat you need a life vest i get that 100 i think that makes sense you correct me if i'm wrong but i think that you can do that to like about 50% of the units in new york yeah because those are apartments pretty much they're like the rent

stabilizer rent controlled units about two and a half million new yorkers live in these kinds of apartments got it yeah how do you offer relief to the other 50% and let me just clarify the people listening like those other 50% aren't necessary people who are wealthy they're just living in market rate units and i think they work here and it they just didn't have the ability to get one of these you know right control and and and so so i'd first say there's rent control which is a very small minority yeah the vast majority of what we're talking about is rent stabilization rent stabilization means there's a limit on how much your rent can increase every year it's not what your rent is what the increase will be and it's all determined by a board called the rank guidelines board

composed of nine people at the mayor appoints you can appoint them yes and but i think the pointing process might even take a little bit, right? It's not like day one to do it. It is, it's, each of these terms are on kind of a rotating basis. Got it. And there are a number of these terms that are open right now. Got it. So you can point some, and there might be some people that are empathetic to your philosophies

already. Because they actually did a study. That same board, under Eric Adams did a study. It found that landlord profits had increased 12% of those units in the same year that the median household income of tenants of those units was $60,000. And with that information, they decided. let's hike the rent again. So it actually doesn't have to do with the data.

Got it. But the point that you're making is right, which is that we have to have a housing policy for all eight and a half million people. And that's why you couple a rent freeze with construction of 200,000 truly affordable homes. The reason I say truly is because, like, I represent Steinway in Astoria, right?

I'll call a constituent. I'll say there's a new affordable housing development coming up. Do you want to apply? They'll say, how much do I have to make? I say $140,000 to hang up the phone. Yeah, affordable housing. Because how are they going to afford that, right? Yeah.

And so my point is thinking about affordability more with the median household income in New York City, which is $70,000 for a family afford. I love it. So you have to increase that and you have to make it easier for the private sector to also build. I agree with you 100%. Like I think Ezra Klein put out a great book that I think that he's been like unfairly maligned by a lot of people on the left. But like where he's just going, hey, I appreciate democratic policies.

I want to implement them. I think they're better for people. but there are certain things that we need to remove so that we can be competitive in an open market. And I think that there's a truth to that where, look, I'm somebody who believes in the public sector. I believe in regulation. I also believe that if I can't give you the reason for the regulation,

then it has no reason to exist. I cannot justify a restaurant giving the city every year $25 for the right to sell a frozen dessert. That doesn't make sense. That is something that should be a limit. I cannot justify someone who wants to open a barbershop filling out 24 forms going to seven agencies and then attending 12 in-person events. Yeah. That does not make sense to me. Right. So I think that there is a truth to some of the

regulations we've created have made it far more difficult to build housing. Yeah. And even the justifications we used back then are not the ones that have been born out today. I need to change those. So how do we, first of all, I completely agree. And as like someone who has someone renovating above me, please believe, I like the fact that there is regulation. Do you know what I mean? Like, I have a kid who's, you know, 21 months old. It's like, they want to sleep. And if somebody's just going to be doing it, 21, 21, 21. This guy's a rapper.

One months old. Yes. So, uh, and she'll never listen to 21stab. Oh. And, uh, and, um, so, so I guess my question is, like, how do we, how do we get those 200,000 units out? Because the real only thing that's going to solve this crisis, and it's a legitimate crisis, like, is more units.

You can freeze rent, you can do all these things. You have to do it with more. And some people, and I'm sure. you would probably acknowledge that said like even freezing rent within the controllable units that you have could cause like a surplus pressure in the non-controlled units and those might go up so while we protect those 50 percent the other people who are making the same amount of money as them because of those market pressures could have increased rent corporations are going to make their money and that's but that's why you have to take this as an opportunity to also tackle the cost that landlords are facing because when

I speak to landlords talk to me about that that's interesting I hear that the insurance of a affordable housing units has doubled in the last few years, right? And that cost is one that is driving so much of the pressure. That's interesting. And there's a number of those landlords that came together to create a different risk pool through something called Milford Street captive. And they've managed to depress that cost. What if the city invested in that kind of a mechanism to help those landlords address that? The other thing here is that... Are they gouging the affordable housing units because they know that their government backed? No, they're gouging them because there's money to be made. In the same way that like universities

can charge whatever they want for an education because they know the government will back the loans? Like, is that... To me, what this gouging more looks like is there are many providers who are now paying the cost of a number of bad landlords who have made insurance such a high part of doing business. Got it.

Right? And so you have better providers who are pooling their risk together. Got it, got it. And so my point here is, if you invested a significant amount of capital, you could assist that kind of an intervention. Got it.

The second thing is you have a property tax system that's broken in New York City, one that effectively penalizes rental apartments and the owners of those rental apartments. And if you had a system that incentivize the construction of rental apartments, you could have a very different landscape of housing. So to me, it's freeze the rent and take on the cost of insurance and fix a broken property tax system and streamline development and have the city produced 200,000 homes. And often when I've talked about 200,000 homes, that's just what I think the city should do. I think the private sector should be doing an immense amount of additional construction.

They're going to need incentive structures as well, right? Like there was that program forgetting what it was, was it? 421A, then 485A? I think that you're talking about the H-TPSA that just sunset recently? You're speaking about the... That's the extension of 421A. No, these are separate things. Oh, okay.

You're talking about 2019 rent laws. Yes, but that's not what I was referencing. Then there's the tax incentive. 421A, now 45X or 45W. I'm talking about the one that basically allow developers over a 35-year period. So essentially the idea is there was like a tax abatement for 35 years For the first 25 years they didn't pay the last 10 they started increasing 10% every year And at the end of the 35 the all the units were now free market

But I think at a certain point in time 30% of them were like rent controlled There's there's stabilization and there's a set aside for affordability And again I don't know like what metrics work and I'm not like an economist and I'm not a developer But to me just from talking to some people in development they said that like Since this I think what was at the HTTP say since that, or if it was this program, was this affordable New York? HSTP is the Housing Stabilization Tendant Protection Act. That was the DuBlasio thing.

That's not this thing that I'm talking about. Yeah, you're basically, well, I'll kind of step back first. Please, yeah. You'll hear from developers that the HSTPA passed in 2019 made it more difficult for them to maintain a lot of housing units because it put limitations on what they could do with regards to profit and how they could push many tenants out of those same tenant buildings. At the same time, there's the incentive through 421A that has since been renewed to become something called 485, which is a tax incentive for the construction of new housing.

Is that the New York yes or whatever? Then there's a city of yes. City of yes. These are three different things. Oh, my God. Okay. Okay. But I think here's the thing is that most New Yorkers don't have time to know every single set of numbers and letters.

single one, right? But that's representative of more New Yorkers than those who know. And that's our job to break this down, right? What City of Yes does is it makes it easier to construct more housing across New York City. It changes zoning regulations. It's estimated to allow for the additional construction of a little less than 90,000 new units. We have to build on top of that. It has to be even more than that.

My point here is that when I speak to developers, you know, we'll have disagreements about labor. We'll have disagreements about maybe materials and the cost of it. One place we have a real agreement about is the cost of waiting. Many of these developers will tell me one of the most expensive things they have to deal with is the wait. They'll put it in an application, they'll put forward a bid, and then they'll have to wait and wait and wait. And we know time is money. Because you're not just waiting, you're also paying other people who are waiting with you. And there's an environmental law at the state level called CECRA.

CECRA requires you when you're putting forward an application to estimate the traffic flows of 10 to 15 years from now. So when they did the Williamsburg rezoning, they were asked people to estimate these traffic flows before Lyft and Uber existed in New York City. And so now obviously their presence in New York City makes a mockery of any estimate that was made prior to that.

And yet that estimate is still one you could be held liable for in court, saying you said it would be this and now it's this. And so to me, these are examples of what you were bringing up earlier of how do we bring these regulations more in line with reality and how do we ensure

that we are able to build the immense amount of housing we need so that we can actually have New Yorkers stay here. That's the goal because we're building four homes per thousand people. Jersey City is at seven. Tokyo is at nearly 10. What is Houston at? Tell me. They're doing an unbelievable amount because there's just no regulation.

Now there's different circumstances. There's a lot of land. There's a lot more land. I understand it. And I don't like those comparisons generally because New York is such a specific city. We're letting on top of each other and next to each other. and there's different considerations that we have to make. Okay, the H-T-PSA.

H-S-T-P-A. H-S-T-P-A. My boy might say HSBC. Bro, I don't know. I almost said it. I feel like I'm on the airport, just walking through the... You know, they always got the ads. Yeah, yeah.

So, like, some people would say, and I think you just mentioned it, that, like, this was a progressive policy that had a really good idea. It's like, how do we protect these people that are in these rent-stabilized units from being pushed out? And then obviously what landlords would say is you've created a situation because you can, once something is rent-stabilized, it can no longer be brought to free market rent, that it doesn't incentivize them to renovate the spaces. And now they have these, like, zombie apartments or ghost apartments.

And I saw that one of your policies was to, like, impose punitive damages on, like, these, these, you know, big conglomerates like Black Rock that own all these, you know, that could be anything from brownstones of buildings that have these vacant units, right? And I have different theories on that, but do you think that that policy did lend itself to making these zombie apartments from a perspective of it's not worth it as a landlord to reinvest in this unit because I can't extract the rent that would justify that? So I think the HSCPA was a good thing. I think it was a good thing because what you had prior to it was many landlords taking units out of rent stabilization. using a vacancy bonus that they could receive when you pushed out a tenant as the reason they would continue to harass.

Yeah, I think it was like a 20% bonus that you could get on. Yeah. And obviously, you can imagine how many tenants were having to face that kind of harassment. So put it in perspective, like my friend Carlos growing up, like his, he was in a red control building, and they literally just stopped accepting his family's rent. And he had to put the rent in escrow during like a multiple year process where they were just trying to get him out of the building because they're obviously trying to flip the building. So, and I, and I say that to say that, like, I 100% empathize with that, and that is a real issue.

Yes. But sometimes protecting real issues can cause other ones that are unintended. And that's where I think that, you know, the policies I put forward that you're referring to, there's two separate things. One is ensuring that we're actually holding bad landlords accountable. This is about violations of housing code. Because right now, the city of New York has owed $800 million by landlords who have violated housing codes that the city has not collected a dollar of it's just sitting there

why the lack of political will is it all is it lobbying is it like is it black rock going I'm going to fight this the same the same landlords who are saying we can't afford a rent freeze drop two million dollars against me in the primary so my point being is that

there is money and and I think you're right that we have to take all of these concerns seriously and what I've actually proposed with vacant units is having an actual study being done on the number of them and the reason for why they are currently being held off the market and finding what is the cost of bringing them back online?

Because there's a lot of discourse, a lot of anecdote, we want to get to the facts of it. Because there's like a circumstance where you look at, and I'm sure it happens in New York City as well, but like Vancouver, for example, where there's a lot of foreign investment in apartment buildings out there, and then the people of Vancouver just couldn't afford to buy in to their own city that they lived their whole life.

And I was a foreclosure prevention housing counselor before I was an assembly member. And when I was running for assembly, at that point, one third of all homes purchased in Queens were being purchased by unnamed LLCs. One third. And what would that mean? Is that somebody trying to be sneaking on taxes or is that somebody that is an outside? There's a lot of hollowing out of neighborhoods where you're purchasing it oftentimes for the intent of flipping it, where you're purchasing it.

And this is part of the issue where so much of what has been the foundation of stability for so many New Yorkers has become seen as an opportunity for something like private equity. All right, guys, let's take a break from this communist trash for one second. We need to talk about unbridled capitalism. Why, we still have some money. While we still have a couple bucks, while you guys still have a couple bucks before this guy convinced us to give it all away. Well, no, I'm not Zoron. Yeah. I don't know if you can't.

Holy shit. What the hell? Oh, fuck. Now, I'm not running for anything. Oh, thank you. You never ran. You never went to. I was saying it because I thought it was here.

Now the disrespect for what Mark just said. No, what you said. No, what you said. You said it was like he ate Zoran. I was fucked up. I said that. Did I really? Yeah.

I didn't even remember saying that. From the top. Come on. Can we do this from the top? Did I really say that stuff? You said that stuff. You said this. Ah gosh, you're racist, bro.

You're right. I apologize. I meant to say Alex. Alex, you're racist, bro. I said it. All right, but for real, today's episode of Flager is brought to you by Cracken. Yeah. The app you actually want when you're trading crypto or stocks.

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That's not bad. Is Bitcoin taxable? How does that happen with taxes? If we put all our money here, we can hide it? The Jewish Business Collective charges $100. 20%, so I'm actually down. Oh, God.

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and is offered to U.S. customers, including Washington, New York and Maine through Payward Interactive, Inc. Let's just take a break for a second. Okay. It's me and Zoron here. Yeah. We are. Oh, gosh. Did you notice when the thigh was so fat? Did you realize it? He thought Zoro took a blue shoe. This is crazy. Did you just keep popping up over here?

My lord. I feel like the joke will get worse throughout the ads, but then eventually maybe we'll get better. Well, we have four ads. So we could keep on doing it. We're not leaving. So guys, blue chew, man. It's just the greatest, bro.

It's just the greatest. Guys, you deserve, you deserve to have the hardest dick you've ever had in your life. You deserve that. Okay? You deserve that. It's a human right. It's a human right.

Housing might be a human right. Getting that dick house in a wet pussy. We can do that for homelessness, bro. We could just pitch tents and let him hide in there. That's a great idea. That's great. Give them someplace to live. Yeah, I love it.

Y'all are really disrespectful to our guest. Wait, what do you know? You're disrespecting our guest. He's not here anymore. He's not. No. He's going to bring that up the second we got back from commercial. I was going to, what do you think we should do about? Okay, in all seriousness, blue two, though, man.

I mean, it's your best dick you've ever given anyone in your entire life, and you're going to get it for free, it's $5 shipping. Like, I just don't understand. This is such a no-brainer, okay? It's such a no-brainer. You're just going to have the biggest, strongest. I can just imagine all of Zornets fans that are watching this interview. They're like, this is really interesting.

These guys are getting it. somewhere. It's just like, you want a huge con? This is what capitalism is all about. Yeah, dude. That shit probably feels fire if you're, you know. It feels good if you're getting it, probably. Right? No. Say what David said. I know. Say what he said. For her, or if you're gay. Say what he said. For her, if you're getting in it, for her, as a woman, it feels gay as hell. David said, just why I'm going to let you guys know, David said, I don't know if it was today or another day, but at one point in time, he said to Mark in private, He goes, yo, Dick must be feel so good for a woman. What the hell are you doing, though?

What the hell are you even doing, David? How do you even agree with that? I didn't know what I didn't even know what just happened. He hit me with it. Listen, we're getting back to this. Blue Choo is delivering that Dick Davis talking about. That thing you just want to bounce all along. David was like, you know how they're bouncing on it?

I need some of that. I mean, they must love that. They must love it, though. It shows fire. Right now, you're going to get your bluechew. You just go to bluechew.com slash flagrant. All right, you know, David already got it. For her.

For her, no. For her. Anyway, bluechew.com slash flagrant. Use a promo go flagrant. Let's get back to the show. This is where we get into, like, the philosophy of, like, what is housing? Like, is housing? No, like, and this is where it's like, I have empathy for both sides.

It's like, I have empathy for the Puerto Rican family that worked their entire life and they were able to, like, buy this brownstone and they were told that, like, real estate is the only thing. Like, my parents were financially illiterate. They got lucky. They bought an artisan residence loft in a neighborhood that was too fucking dangerous for us to live and that ended up getting flipped around by NYU. It's like pure luck, you know? So it's like, so I have empathy for these people that put everything in it, right? And then at the same time, I also see there are people that are kind of holding hostage. an asset class that we maybe should look more at as like, I don't want to say a utility,

but like there can be a little bit more restriction when it comes to like a roof over your head. So, so I have empathy for your communist position. I was getting nervous in his own thoughts. I see you. I see you. He said, he said, I got to get out of what you. I got here. There's you.

I don't think, it's like, it's like, no, but I hear you. This is, I mean, this is, you can probably articulate what I'm saying. No, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a, you have something which is a necessity for people's lives. Yeah, and it's tricky. So it's like, what if somebody invested in water. It's been treated. Exactly. And it's been treated as a means by which to make profit. Yeah. And so I know that there are many who bought into this system with the promise of unrestricted profit. That's what it was before the HSTPA. Yeah. And one of the issues you're hearing from a lot of landlords is they entered into loans with banks that could only be paid back if they evicted a majority of the, tenants who were paying the rent at the time they purchased the building. Yeah. And that's also why I have empathy when we're hearing about insurance costs and water bills and Con Ed and property taxes because those are also costs that are skyrocketing. Yeah. And so for me, it's how do we create a city where we understand housing as a human right and

also ensure that our affordability agenda is universal. It's tenants, homeowners, landlords. I think in order to do it, I think in order to do it, like it's, in order to do it, like it's, in to do it with rent stabilization or rent control, it's going to be need to be government funded because I don't think any private developers are going to see the incentive structure that they need to put that kind of capital in. And if you're going to do it, you're going to have to raise money. And I saw on one of your things was you were considering, you know, selling mutiny bonds, right? And I think you want to raise like $100 billion over 10 years, right? So we're looking

at like, I think 70% of that was coming from the muni bonds. So it's like we're looking at, let's say on average. We're saying we're at $30 million. We've got to get, yeah, 30 billion. But like, and like, it's, it's an ambitious endeavor, you know, there are some limitations, as I'm sure you looked at. And this is where we go back to Albany. It's like, I looked into this. It's like, you got to raise the debt ceiling in order to be able to do that. Like, you got to ask Kathy to do that. Or if Kathy loses, you got to ask, what is it, Stefanik?

We're not even talking about Stephanic. No, but like, then that's not going to happen. They're going to fight you tooth in there. We're not going to have to worry about that hypothetical. Okay. Okay. But, but, but, but you look, the, what do you do in that scenario? Right. And I think this is, you know, we're talking about, right, the current law is 10% of the five-year valuation of real estate in New York City, right? And having to change that. And I think this is where politicians don't get to decide the scale of the crisis they're facing. They get to decide how they want to respond to it. And so this is an ambitious agenda. No question about it. But this is a time where if we don't match that crisis with that ambition, we're going to lose people.

But you are held hostage by their will to match. That's what I'm saying. And what I would argue is that I've been in Albany. I've seen legislators and legislative leaders who have had a vision of a city where you tax the wealthiest a little bit more to provide for everyone. And they haven't had a partner and a mayor. It's not to say it's going to be easy. But my point is that we haven't even tried.

Oh, this is interesting. Like Andrew Cuomo is an example of not trying. He had 10 years of running the state. He had some deaths to cover up. Poor guy. You know what I mean? He got his hands full, groping some people. He's busy.

Hands are full, literally. Slewa had a bar, dude. Killing grannies and grabbing fannies is on the bar. Slewa had some bars on the next stage. You love his hat. You want that shit. I can't believe, I can't believe that I'm being called a communist and the Republican nominees are in the ring.

I keep, I keep calling him Emily and Paris. Shout out of courage. But, yes. So what you're saying is. You're like shouting out a sponsor of the show. Yeah. Netflix show. But shout out Kalshi.

You're in 80%. It's going well. So what you're saying is that there might be people in Albany that are more sympathetic, but because they've been up against a mayor in New York that has maybe no sympathy because they've been put in power by people who do not want this change, that they're not willing to. That's an interesting perspective, that they do not have the political capital. The coalition.

And I think this is the other thing is that we, from the beginning of this race, we wanted to break out of the bubble of New York City politics and get into the world of New York City. I thought you just didn't want to go to Israel. I thought that's what this was about. Go on, go on.

One of the best moments, number. It was that moment, and then the one in the debate recently where fucking Cuomo couldn't say whether he was going to go to the Mets game or the Nix game. He said he wanted to go to both. And like, you'll have moments where... Just pick one. Exactly. Just pick it.

Exactly. You'll have moments where, like, you cut through like political fraudulence and he's just like I would do half and half and you go this guy when they asked the question

in my mind I was like there's no wrong answer here and then he created the wrong answer and it's like it is a five-year-old answer

how are you going to do both of them it's the next game he's like come on because you're so poised you're so articulate and he said it and you're just like

this freaking you put your hands you're creating that Anyway, I mean, it's, it's, but look, I, I grew up in the city, and I've often seen the city that our politics cares about, and then the rest of the city. And there's that divide. And when I actually spoke to Trump voters, you know, in Queens and in the Bronx, it felt like here was a campaign that was bridging that divide, that was getting beyond that bubble. Right. And we have to, if we want to actually have people believe in democracy, we have to show the democracy can deliver on their needs.

Like, I can't go and knock on somebody's door and say, Help me fight for the ideal or the value of democracy. I have to go to that door and say, this is how this democracy is going to make it easier for you to afford your apartment. This is how this democracy is going to make it easier for you to afford your groceries. I mean, Firola Liguardia said you can't preach liberty to a starving land. And that's what we've been doing for so many years. So what do you do?

And this is like my concern. What do you do if you get strung up by the bureaucracy in the system? Because after talking to you, and even before talking to you, I genuinely think you believe this stuff. I don't think you're somebody who's, like, selling a dream that you don't believe in. And I don't think it's possible to communicate in the way that you've communicated and, like, touch people. Without authenticity. Without the authenticity. But, like, I'm worried about entrenched politics.

Yeah. And I'm worried about the people that fund them because they're the same people that have been fundraising against you. no okay and i'm worried about them bending to their whim and what scares me a little bit is they're going to be people that are incentivized for you to fail and then if that pendulum swings all the way the other way how many more people get hurt and i guess my question is like do you ever worry about that or do you have to be so blinders on the joke going to win like i love this city more than anything and it is something that I consider like what if we get the complete opposite of you that has like no care about the tenants

no care about what people are paying rent some guy who comes in and just goes hey this is a free market welcome to New York it's capitalism talking about Andrew Cuomo but like I think you can be crazier than that and I think my point here is that there is going to be immense opposition there are incredible incentives to to fight our agenda what gives me hope is that the billionaire against me right now, they're not doing so because they're afraid my plans won't work. They're doing so because they're afraid that they will.

And how would that not incentivize to them in some way? If people in the city have more money, they have more money to spend on whatever business. That's my point. If you look at the actual studies of free buses, it costs $700 million, it generates more than double that in economic benefit. Put a bus on 2nd Avenue. You're a one-issue voter?

I was asking myself, who is courtesy what talking to? I'm not extending the second half in some way, and it's this guy. Gerdes, I love you, baby. I love you, comrades. It's Mr. Housing is a human right, but I don't want trains to one 20-fifth Street. I do feel like it's a human-in-right housing. I do. I do.

No, no, I do it. To my wife. Andrew Schultz. Like, I literally. We got a much. We did it. No, not a human right in terms. Well, yeah.

Yeah. No, yeah. I don't think anybody should share in the house. I do feel that way. Come on. You got the mission accomplished manner? Yes. You bring it out?

I don't think anybody who knows him would know this is, he's been fairly liberal most of his life. These are things he would believe. I think what we worry about is that it won't work. And then my larger worry, if you, you are a kind of like a, you are a test for all of America. You are a case study. Whether you realize this or not. Yep. And if you promise all these things and he deliver 40% of it, 40% of it, 40% is a, New York will be better off.

but people will look at you nationwide, maybe worldwide, and say, you know what, that shit didn't work. Look at all the things he accomplished and look at what he couldn't get done. And yeah, they're spending millions. Billioners are spending millions to stop you now. My fear, they're spending millions so just so they don't have to spend tens of millions later.

Oh, that's a great one. I'm going to get, I'm going to block everything he wants to get done. I just want to save a little money. It's just have him lose so I don't to spend more later. That's my fear. And I root for you because it feels authentic. I actually trust you more because you're not born in America. And I mean that.

No, no, no. Let me say it because he cannot be president. That's a part I dislike that. I know, right? No, no, hold on, because you cannot be president. So many politicians, what do they aspire to? You're a star. I would look at that guy and go, he could be president one day.

With you, that's not even an option. So I trust your incentives more. I just care about the city. What do I want to be governor of the state who gives a fuck? Your start of me extended. Yeah. It is, though, right? I'm looking forward to working with the governor.

Be honest, growing up in New York. Did you ever work with the governor? I'm looking forward to work with the governor. No, no, no, no. Right now. I just found out we had a female governor. I had no clue. I thought it was the blind guy. I thought it was the blind guy. In terms of

Star Power? He was a great, he was a great governor. It was the governor Patterson was fantastic. He was like a fillet. They put him on the first base. They put him on first base in the Yankee game, the poor guy. In terms of Star Power, he's right. We've had Bloomberg was a celebrity that became Mayor of New York. He didn't try to be fucking Governor in New York. Nobody cares. Star Power Rise, this is the peak.

The second most powerful position in the world. And you can't be president. So that makes me trust you more. I just worry that you can't get down. I can't get down. Every time an uncle takes a photo with me, they whisper in my head. President next.

I'm like, it's illegal. It's illegal. No, tell them to vote for Vic. It's efficiency. I'm going to connect to him. Y'all have more in common than you realize. That's my guy. I like, the more I got to know.

The more I got to know, the more of the big. You got more Your doge This is a new partition We don't need more Hindu-Muslim beef We don't need more Hindu-Muslim meat Yes we do

Yes we do Yes we do My son Oh my God is one word Don't let me get my fucking Indian Bro Direct a camera hit it

You're from Uganda Yes You're from Uganda You're barely even India You're barely even India Oh wow You're barely even Indian You ever heard of migration?

Didn't they migrate? Can I be honest, the Indians in Africa are like, the Indians in America assimilated a lot more. He's more Indian than most Indians born here. But listen, but I was looking up a little bit of history. Didn't they actually remove? We were expelled in 1970. My family was one of the...

Idiot mean, right? My family is one of the very few families that went back after the expulsion. Wait back to Uganda? Went back to Uganda. That's why I was born there in 91. So my family in 1972 were, expelled, they became refugees in London

and lived in a refugee camp and then after the fall of Amin, they returned to Kampala. And so that's where I was born. Ninety-one. Shit on that. Yeah. I'll just say, how how shitty is London?

You're so bad. You know what I mean? Like, how shitty is London? Two winter in London. You stayed in public housing for a few weeks and you're like, we're going to go back to Africa. I can't do Whoever built that camp don't hire them

to build the 200,000 units in New York. That's all I'm saying. I was wondering where you were going to go. I was wondering where you were going to go. You were like, this is pretty sad. I got a shit on London. London's like London. London's my favorite city.

But yeah, no. I'd bet. No, no. No, no. Brigadier's better. The shoam, fine. Jim Kana, it's great for white people. That's...

The shoam, fine. My man likes Vivien. You don't like Deschum. Did it, did it? You're really going to love Jim Kana. You're going to love it. I tried Jim Kana. In London?

Oh, it's a food plant. I thought it was yoga. It's one of my closest friends. I got it with Jim Kana. Shout out Bungalow. We love you. Bungalow fire. They got another one.

Have you been to bungal yet? I haven't been to bungal. You have it? Oh, wow. Let's go. Let's go to Kabbuk. Wow. Kabobkin I've done many times.

Come on. I think it fell off a bit. But what we'll go to. Daisy Galaxy because all the good Indian food is in New Jersey. Honestly, Edison. Yeah, Daisy Galaxy. That's my spot. All right, guys, let's take a break for a second. Listen, have you ever noticed how

two news outlets can cover the exact same story and make it sound like we live in two different realities? Have we ever noticed that? We've noticed that. We talk about it often. Sometimes we do that every podcast. But yes, this happened. One headline says the economy is booming under strong leadership.

The other economy says Americans can't afford eggs. Who's telling the truth? We don't know anymore. That's why we've been checking out Straight Arrow News to actually show how every side covers the same story. So you can see the bias for yourself.

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lips i mean it was i mean you saw them those girls were just with all the respect a lot of humidity in the panics you know just saying let's get back to the show if you cannot all these things you set out to. Are you aware the pressure that's on you or you where the domino effect that potentially comes with that? Look, I think some fear there. I know there's definitely a lot of pressure.

There's a lot of responsibility. I think oftentimes though the position of mayor, it's spoken about like it's a burden. There's also an immense opportunity. In fulfilling this agenda, you make it clear that politics can be more than choose between now

and worse than now as opposed to something that's better. And so to me, when I talk about freezing the rent, when I talk about making buses fast and free, delivering universal child care, these are not slogans. These are, they're not just slogans. They're commitments. And I know there's going to be immense pressure. But I also believe that once you start to succeed in your delivery of these things, the way you will see people's political imagination expand. We made five bus routes free in New York City. I went on them on the first day that that program started. the one in the Bronx is the BX-18A. And I got on the bus. I was talking to the driver. He was like, today's been better because all I have to do is get from point A to point B.

Don't have to talk about the fair. I'm just driving. And then a nurse got on. And she reached for her metro card in her purse. The driver was like, I got you, boo. It's free. Look at your ass, man.

Look at this guy. I'm just saying. You don't think he was trying to flex like he was like, he was like, oh, he's not trying to like, it's all me today, boo. It's all me. Take it safe. Hey, beautiful, go, go, go, go, go, go.

What was she wearing? You got the wrong thing. You want to clap for 7 p.m. I can't do that. Clap it. You know, she's reaching for her metro card. And he's like, it's free. And she's like, what do you mean?

It's free. And he's like, no, no, no, don't. Just, they've made this one bus route free. And then she starts dancing down the aisle to her seat. And to me, this is an image of someone going to work at a hospital who has, for the first time in a long time had government actually look out for her. And people said that we wouldn't be able to deliver that. They said that we wouldn't be able to have more riders. We wouldn't have a decline in assaults on bus drivers. That there would be more homeless people on the buses.

None of those things were true. And that's what I see is that every time we succeed, it builds the coalition even more for the next success. Yeah, I just worry some of the larger things won't happen, and that's what you'll get jotted. Which ones are you worried? I think the housing, the rent freeze is going to be tough. I think raising minimum wage to $30 an hour is great in theory. I would love it. But I think we often forget the corporations, just like you try to tax a billionaire they find a loophole you make minimum wage $30 an hour watch how much we automate these jobs and I'm not saying that's good but that's my fear and then if suddenly these two like major things don't happen do we look at even getting free bus rises yeah

but that wasn't that's who gives a fuck it's free bus rides they already had five free routes it's still sucked I I think I don't think you have much to worry about because Trump ran on building a wall and cleaning the swamp and look he's back being president so it's like if you don't get everything done I don't think it's the end for his, you know... I disagree, but I don't want to get caught in that. But I think, you know, both of you are debating a premise that we can't accomplish these things. And my point to you is that it's an ambitious agenda, but it's one that I'm really confident in delivering. The history of America's relationship with government is a very antagonistic one, right?

Like, the inception of America is fuck government. Fuck people telling us what to do. The reason why I hope you can succeed is because I would love us to have more faith in government. If you've spent time abroad, like, you know, you live in Europe and it's like, yeah, they're annoyed at their government. But at the same time, they're kind of like, that's cool, I get health care. There's a little bit more faith and trust. And then you go to like Scandinavia and they're like, the government can do no wrong. You know what I mean?

They could literally just, they could kill like 400 people and the government would be like, the people would be like, ah, it probably did something bad. Like, there's just so trusting of the government. I think Americans need to see government working for them. Yeah. And if that actually works, I think it would be a really beautiful thing where we can start believing instead of being skeptical of every single thing. Yeah.

And I think the point here is that there will be many New Yorkers for whom I will have to deliver first to earn their trust. And I understand that. White people. No. No. No. No.

A-L-D Not white people Don't do it for white people Don't do it for Hawaii Soho's gone Just a little bit Just a little bit of white You're gonna get my Frodo Cabbage

Okay Zara we're having fun Zara Zara's gonna make so much money It's unbelievable I mean like I know she's got to work with you and like build a camp But when it's done it's like I told it there's going to be like Warlords in the Third World that are going to give

her chests of gold to just come run their campaigns This is a woman is talented She's a brilliant campaign. Yeah, you're doing great, Sarah. We're going to keep going to go for a little longer. Is anything standing in your way? Like, you make it seem like, you know,

Albany's excited to, you know, work with us, and, you know, there's so much momentum and people are excited. So if things don't get done, I mean, the status quo is standing in our way. And the reason that I'm excited is, I think we have all of the ingredients to change that status quo. But the same people who've spent millions of dollars

will still have an immense amount of money that they could use to try and spend an opposition once we're in government as well. And that's why, to me, the speed at which we deliver on a wide variety of things is critically important. That's why it's not just a plan to deliver universal child care. It's also how do we take down scaffolding across New York City, right? I love this point.

But my point is, you want some specific shit. You're like, halal cheaper and get the rid of the scaffoldings. And New Yorkers are like, yo, he's spanned. It's like, how could I begrudge someone refusing to believe in the ability for us to deliver universal child care if their interaction with government is government's inability to deliver on removing one sidewalk shift. This is what we're talking about. That's like, you have to build faith.

Find every single interaction where government has failed New Yorkers and say, this is an opportunity for me to do better. And, you know, the city has an opportunity to say, not just to building owners, what you should do, we have hundreds of sidewalk sheds at city-owned properties that have been up for more than three years. We could take those down ourselves. So we don't have to wait on anybody. And my point is, let's be the example.

Let's show that efficiency and waste and actually falling through our commitments is not an Elon Musk idea. It's actually for us to do it. It is a for that guy. And you wanted to do it the real way. But anyway, go on, go on. You have the support of Hockel in Albany. How come the other establishment Democrats like Kakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer haven't endorsed you?

Talk that shit, though. Talk that real shit. Talk that real shit. I have appreciated the conversation. I've had with them. And the reason I've appreciated it is a lot of the talk in our politics is just about what's in two weeks, the election. But to me, one of the most important dates is not just November 4th, so you should sign up, register to vote by October 25th. You got a little bit of time left. It's January 1st. And I'm going to be working with Congressman Jeffries, with

Senator Schumer, on delivering this affordability agenda. And that's something that I'm looking forward to. Are there specific political answer? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that real shit. Like the party You got the party energized right now You got the party energized right now You're the Democratic nominee for For New York

Like why wouldn't they get Why is the party running against you That shit is crazy To come together And I think that's another reason why Like many lifelong Democrats Like myself have been disillusioned by the party Because it's like

Why aren't you accepting the will of the people They did it to Bernie They did to Bernie twice Right? They try to do it again during this election. It's like when do we get to take part in the Democratic process? And when we do get to take part of the democracies, when do you respect that? They might disagree with you, but it's not up to them. This is the will of the people. So if the people want to see this through, why are they spending millions of dollars to stop it? It's very frustrating. I think it undermines democracy. I think if you look at Andrew Cuomo and I, in the primary now in the general, it is in many ways of battle for the soul of the Democratic Party. right it's two very different visions and the things that we like to say are exclusively republican problems we saw a lot of them in the democratic primary it wasn't a republican that sent a mailer that artificially lengthened my beard it wasn't a republican that called me i appreciate them man you just look so handsome with a big beard you just you know it was my photoshop man i thought

what you went through is unbelievable but my point is that that's from a man that at one point was being spoken about as being the next president in this country. Yeah. Like, it's easy to forget now that we watch Andrew Cuomo on stage. Yeah. But not that long ago, people were saying he should be the next president of this country. He was a fucking idiot. Who? When I say that?

You said that early in COVID. Before he murdered everybody. Run the tape. Run the tape. Before he murdered everybody, we loved him. There was a private conversation in America in public. We loved the meatball talking. It was a good meatball talk every night with him and his brother. It was fun. We're locked in. We're waiting for the last dance.

I might ask you a question. You might not want to answer this, but this is something I see, brown guy to brown guy. A lot of people, a lot of people like, there's a lot, there's an anti-Semitic label.

Anti-Semitic label that happens. Do you think that happens if you're not Muslim? Because I've looked into what you said, it seems like you denounce anti-Semitism. I do. You criticize Israel. A lot of times it gets conflated,

but the label won't stick unless there's another outside factor. I do think that Andrew Cuomo there are a number of things that he has said and done. He would not have done if I weren't a Muslim candidate. And it is all too familiar for a lot of Muslim New Yorkers grew up in this city to see the speaking up for Palestinian human rights to then be labeled as if it is bigotry against the Jewish faith.

And what I've appreciated is that for all of the fear mongering that he's done, there are so many Jewish New Yorkers who are able to see through that and that I can look through his fear-mongering and still reckon with anti-Semitism in this city and talk about the real ways that will actually root it out. It's not how Andrew Cuomo wants to weaponize it. It's are you going to increase funding for hate crime prevention programs? Are you going to ensure that the NYPD are outside of synagogues and temples

on the Jewish High Holy Days? Are you going to actually have a curriculum like hidden voices taught in schools that celebrates the breath and the beauty of Jewish life. And you will do all of these things. All of these things. And that's what's been so frustrating is that this is a real concern that many Jewish New Yorkers have. And here's a guy who's just using it for political. And I think we all laughed at the Israel moment and it was ridiculous to watch.

But I knew the reason everyone was hammering you on it on that stage. It was like, it was pretty obvious. There was another thing that I thought was hilarious. Like the picture with you with the Imam and the New York Post put in the front page. And I'm like, holy shit, this looks bad. and then I look him up and like Bloomberg campaigned with him and Mayor Adams campaigned. I'm like, wait, okay, so what exactly is going on here? And then I think Cuomo said something

where he goes, look at him standing with this guy who's homophobic. Like he even detached himself from the World Trade Center bombing thing because he knows it was a food crazy. Well, unindicted co-conspirator is translation for man who is not found guilty of anything. It's like I obviously object to a number of things that the Imam has said about queer New Yorkers and I am able to still stand there and speak to him while having a platform to defend those same queer New Yorkers,

celebrate and cherish them in the city. And Andrew Cuomo is always looking to distract from the fact that he has no plan for that. I'm not asking you if you justify yourself. I'm just showing you that there are these campaigns that are put out there and people will twist the truth. It doesn't only happen to the politicians. It happens like anybody famous.

You know what I mean? So it's like, and you're getting the brunt of it. And I think you've handled it with a lot of class, to be honest with you. Like, I know what it's like for the internet to say something about me that is completely false and then people just believe it. And you are existing in this. And you're lucky enough to have a message that resonates with people where they can refute those lies that people say about you. I don't know if that's luck. I think that might be like talent.

Like you earned it. But it is fortunate that there are people that will be vocal despite the criticism that they might endure. Like, yeah, that's pretty awesome that you're touching people like that. I genuinely hope that, like, what you're presenting can be executed. I mean that sincerely. I mean that sincerely. I appreciate it. And I know that there's going to be a lot of opposition.

You know that more than anything. You've been in government. And, yeah, I just hope you have the political capital to push it through. And I hope that these decisions actually make life better for New Yorkers. And I hope if you find that they don't, that you won't be caught up in your ego and you will be able to pick. it for the best in New York. It always has to be for the city. Okay.

Because sometimes we make decisions and we have the best intentions behind those decisions and they don't work out. And the politicians or the leaders in general that are willing to go, that wasn't the right thing. We can make that better. You can actually grow. Dude, we'll like you even more for acknowledging it. And we'll feel even safer.

And I also think this is, it's a human, it's a part of being human, right? To be able to reflect and to be committed more to a mission than it is. is to yourself. And look, like, I came on this show for me. It was bad for New York. I'm learning that. I'm not going to come back because there's a selfish decision. I can learn that.

It's an expensive lesson. It's an expensive lesson. What's the odds at right now? 51. 51%. You have to win because I bet him $1,000 that you would win. He bet against you. That's crazy.

I had a guy who had him spoke to. the people. I hadn't spoken to this in high school. Text me like five days before the election goes, yo, bro, I just put a thousand on you. Like, please, don't let me down. Okay, Zara is trying to get you at it. Where do you have to go next? What does that mean? What does that mean?

What are you procuring? Yeah. We're talking about how to cut down on waste. I love this. You want to cut? I will, we are on the potter. Oh, whoa. I got a procure. You know what's about the sufficiency.

No, we're gonna go to bungalow and we're gonna talk and then I'll be there, I'll be there with you. Come up, okay, okay. Before you go, Joey, bring in the bench press because he has to know. Every year, every year, I'm gonna do one pound more. Next year, 136. Let's kill more.

As soon as you got any more. You fucked up, dude. Let me tell you. You shouldn't have done it. I knew I fucked up when I said that. You think I thought, you thought I was gonna kill it? I don't know it was a problem. And this guy was like, you gotta do it.

It was like, I really don't. You should have put the big 10 pound weights on. You know the big 10 pound weights on? No, you got it. I was trying to, but next year, 136. Okay. Watch you're gammises I can keep. 136.

136. You didn't keep 135. You got to get there. Strike that from the editor. Thank you very much for taking the time. I appreciate it. Thank you so much.