The Daily Beast Podcast - Andrew Yang Will Shit-Talk Florida to Get Rich New Yorkers Back Home

Episode Date: April 20, 2021

Andrew Yang will do whatever it takes to get the New York City economy going again if he’s elected mayor. And by anything, we mean he will shit-talk Florida to get as many rich New Yorkers as he can to come home from the Sunshine State, he tells Molly Jong-Fast in this episode of The New Abnormal. Plus, Toure, host of the podcasts Democracy-ish and Toure Show, tells Molly why the current police system is more about making money than it is about protecting the people. If you haven't heard, every single week The New Abnormal does a special bonus episode for Beast Inside, the Daily Beast’s membership program. where Sometimes we interview Senators like Cory Booker or the folks who explain our world in media like Jim Acosta or Soledad O’Brien. Sometimes we just have fun and talk to our favorite comedians and actors like Busy Phillips or Billy Eichner and sometimes its just discussing the fuckery. You can get all of our episodes in your favorite podcast app of choice by becoming a Beast Inside member where you’ll support The Beast’s fearless journalism. Plus! You’ll also get full access to podcasts and articles. To become a member head to newabnormal.thedailybeast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Molly Jongfast and welcome to The Daily Beast, The New Abnormal. I'm a left-wing pundit and an editor at large at the Daily Beast. We're here to have fun, sharp conversations with some of the smartest people in media, politics, and science that help make what's happening in the country and the world clearer. Our world has been turned upside down. On the new abnormal, we'll talk about the people who got us into this mess and figure out how we get our out of it. And I'm producer Jesse Cannon, and I'm here to make sure everything doesn't go too far off the rails while we have fun discussions about our world gone mad. And while I take

that duty seriously, ourselves not so much. On today's episode, we have an interview with former presidential candidate and New York City mayoral candidate and frontrunner Andrew Yang. But first, we're going to talk to friend of the show, Toray, who hosts the podcast Democracy Ish and Toray show. And we're going to talk all about what's happening in the Derek Chauvin trial as well as what to do about police reform. Welcome, Toray, to the new abnormal. Thank you for having me, Molly. You and I met once in the 90s.

Who can recall such things? I cannot, but I know we did mean. What is going on? What's going on? Yes, I have a very kind of concise interview style. I mean, I've been watching the trial, the Chauvin trial all day. It's been a particularly, harrowing day of watching because we're in the closing argument.

So we're summing everything up. It's just been like, I forced myself to watch the defense because I didn't want to just watch the prosecution closing and just be like, yep, yep, yep, that's right. And, you know, I mean, I don't know. I was wondering if the defense attorney was secretly working for the Floyd family or something. I can think these are not good arguments for Chauvin And they kept showing pieces of the last nine minutes And I was like, this is not good for Derek.

This seems terrible. I mean, like, it's very harrowing, but it like, you know, Floyd is clearly not like fighting with police like, fuck you dirty cops. He's like, I'm dying. Can you guys help me? I cannot breathe. I'm claustrophobic.

Like, I'm saying cry to my children. And they're like, oh, you know, fuck this, fuck him. Yeah. It's very hard. It's very hard to watch, but it's just very difficult to deal with. It's so surprising in me, like, how much malfeasance. I mean, we know there's malfeasance on the part of cops, but this seems, you know, like, you watch that video and you're like, how did this person do this for nine minutes? Like, and he also had a history he had done it before, too.

I feel like he was, what was the opposite of egged on by the crowd? Yeah. Like because there was this crowd there, he was like, I'm going to show you guys. Like in the crowd's like, dude, get off of him. He's dying. What the fuck? And he's, I don't have to do what you say. And I'm a cop.

I can do whatever the fuck I want. I'm going to do the opposite of what you. Like a toddler, I'm going to do the opposite of what you say. And so, you know, which is not to just certainly have to blame. the crowd. I was 100% of the blame on Chauvin, but like, why is he there for nine and a half minutes? Because the crowd is telling him to get off. And he's like, I can, you know, I can do whatever I want. Nobody can make me do anything. Nobody can show me. Nobody can tell me. It did seem like I watched the prosecution. I can't watch the defense lawyer. I know that I have an

emotional reaction of this, but like he seems, I just want to punch him. He just is, it's infuriating to me. And I know that, like, you know, justice needs the, you know, that we're a democracy and we have people are given the right to a defense. But it just strikes me as particularly bad. I think he's doing a bad job. I mean, I'm not an attorney, but I don't think that he's doing a good job here, which is fine. I mean, ultimately fine by me. But, you know, look, there's a lot of skepticism and nervousness about what will happen. And, you know, later this week, either I'll sound really smart.

or really, you know, dumb or fooled. But, you know, we have a situation where several cops, including his boss, testified against him. That is extraordinarily unusual. We have a situation where it's a slow killing. Usually cops are put on trial for something that happened very rapidly, and juries give them the benefit of the doubt because they're like, wow, that moment unfolded so quickly.

I don't know what I would have done if I had a millisecond to decide whether or not to shoot a black kid. of course, you know, of course, of course I would have done it. But like, you know, you'll only have a millisecond. What are you going to do? This is like, you know, this is a totally different situation where I feel like most people would look at that and go like, you could have gotten off him at like any point. He's not moving. And, you know, the defense team offered a plea, say, we'll do 10 years,

which says to me they're not very confident in the amount of evidence that they had this happened like four about four months ago that they're not very confident about what they have if they were offering if they thought let's just throw out 10 years and see if we can get that you clearly right and we clearly game theory you would clearly think that we're going to probably get more than that so that's just I mean they're not very confident looking at all the evidence but you know I think the the fairly extraordinary situation of cops testifying against him breaking the blue wall that is a very bad sign for him Yeah, it's interesting to me. I feel like, you know, this case is unusual in a lot of ways.

But, I mean, he seems like a really bad cop, like a really evil cop. We have a big problem with police killing African-American people and also, you know, in this, with this 13-year-old. And I think that it strikes me that we have this big problem. This seems like significantly worse. You know what I mean? Like this guy, like they all knew that this guy was like a ticking time bomb. Do you know what I mean? And like it feels like there's almost like that people feel they should have done more earlier.

Okay, stipulated. However, you know, I don't want to engage in any thought process that redounds to he was a bad cop. I think I don't believe in good cops and bad cops. There is a system of policing that puts people in situations where they will ultimately do things that we consider. bad policing or evil behavior and that you occasionally go play basketball with the kids, you know, occasionally smile at the people in the community. It doesn't mean you're a good cop. I think almost anybody listening to this, if you were to drop what you were doing and become a

police officer, within about five years, you would probably do something that current you would look at you and go, oh my God, I can't believe you just did that. because the system of policing is sending them into situations. And that doesn't mean to shoot a child. They are compelled to make arrests. That is one of the main ways that their superiors decide whether or not they're doing a good job. If you don't make, you know, they don't have quotas, but there is an expectation that you will keep up with the others around you and making a certain number of arrests and writing a certain number of citations. So you were also incentivized to make arrests and write citations because every time you go to,

to court. If you set foot in court, you're going to get between three and five hours of overtime depending on what department you're in. So you're getting paid extra overtime for every arrest and citation. And now that said, you also are encouraged by the department as well as by the law to have greater latitude to make arrests in the black community of black people rather than in white communities of white people. So you are being directed to making arrests of black people. You know, as an officer, you can't and generally don't stop violent crime. And the clearance of figuring out who committed a certain...

Pretty low. Very, very low. They spend a lot of their time as basically a sort of traveling bureaucracy. Like, you didn't pay your registration, your taillight is out. you have air freshener hanging from your your tint is too low you change lanes without i mean like i would argue and at alex fatale who's a very serious policing sociologist criminologist um has written just recently they should be out of the business of these low level uh traffic offenses like which is quite often the main the first reason why they're interacting with the public and leading to these insane situations if

somebody is speeding or if there is a reasonable expectation that somebody may be drunk driving, then they should absolutely interface with that citizen. But the myriad tickey tack things that they keep stopping us for, which are not even intended to create public safety, they are just excuses to look for drugs and guns to thus make money. Because the police force's main goal is not to create public safety. It's. to generate revenue for the city that they're in. So this, this is the entire model of policing is backwards

and putting people in position, you know, to say nothing of qualified immunity and the perception that the culture of policing, which says we are warriors, right? They are not, right? We have to protect sheep from the wolves and we must be the warriors to be able to do that.

And they understand if we are violent and don't deescalate, then that will send a message to other citizens to just like, lay down as quickly as possible. So, you know, all of this sort of creates a system where most people, if they put on a badge and a jacket or whatever, and went to the community, eventually they'd be like, oh, my God, what have I become? It's quite disgusting. You know, what we really need to do is, I mean, like, defund is a bad word, right?

Right. Even on the left, people are, like, mortified, like, oh, my God, defund. Because they feel like the cops are the last line preventing us from the purge. But like, if we actually that money and put it into things that actually prevent crime, which the police do not do, like anti-poverty, creating

jobs, dealing with mental health, things like that, then you would see a better society which would not need so many cops. So we certainly don't need people with keys to a prison cell and a handcuffs and a gun riding around the community dealing with parking,

mental health, domestic violence. We don't, that's not That's not valuable and helpful for society. Like, police go to mental health issues, and they are not the right people to solve them. Right. And where, you know, autistic, you know, you have an autistic person losing their mind. Like, the police are the worst person to send there. And so I do feel like there are, what you're saying is really, really true and important and something we need to focus on.

So, Maxine Waters called for people to be in the streets and protesting. Now Marjorie Taylor Green wants to expel her from Congress. Can you guys talk a little bit about that? That's the proper reaction. I mean, like, you know, Marjorie Taylor Green, we should take nothing that she says seriously. You know, I mean, look, we have every right to be protesting this sort of thing. Whether or not Chauvin goes to prison is not going to actually solve this police violence

situation that we have. You know, I mean, like, you know, just like last year when we were in the streets about George Floyd, and then suddenly we're talking about Brianna Taylor, this year, you know, we're here talking about the Floyd trial and suddenly we're talking about Dante Wright and Adam Toledo, you know. And, you know, it's sort of this ongoing cycle

of by the time you get to a trial, here comes a new video and a new case, that will be sort of like, you know, drag, they'll drag their feet on that one. By the time that gets to trial, there'll be a new one. And the thing I keep saying to people is, you know, I think last, Last year, I got really radicalized.

Like, I was highly critical police, but I think I continued to believe that we can reform the police department. And after last year, I was like, no, we cannot reform them. We need significant, like, radical change, which, you know, some people will call it to fund. You know, some people could call, like, you know, restructuring. I'm just like saying to people, you know, look, how many more George Floyd's and Adam Toledo's and Dante Wright's, and Eric Garner's, et cetera, do you need to see? Whatever number that is for you personally, we will get there. So just tell me what the number is.

Do you one more, 10 more, 20, like, we'll get there. So, you know, when you're ready to come and join the rational world, which is like, we need radical restructuring. You know, I don't think it's very, I mean, just as one piece of it all, I don't think it's as optimally effective to have 18,000 different police forces which operate under different rules. Yeah. Different everything. There should be some sort of nationalized, at least rules that we're all operating under, you know, some sort of nationalized understanding of like, this is how we're going to police people.

You know, but I mean, like, the police in general have far too much power to peer into our lives. You know, I mean, when I talk about legalizing marijuana, it's not because I want more people to get high. It's because I want the police to be less incentivized to want to peer into our pockets because they want to look in our pockets, hoping we got some weeds that can put us in the system because that makes money for the state.

Let's talk about how we would do that, because that's something I think about a lot. How would we reform policing? Like, how would that start? Because the way it is, it's so decentralized now, I wonder, right, does it mean that we go state by state. I mean, like, I think it starts at the top, obviously, but like, what is the top there?

I mean, I think the top is the biggest police departments in America. The LAPD, I believe that's like a $9 or $10 billion expenditure right there, those two. You know, if you made significant changes to them, you could start to see other changes. I mean, there's a myriad things that I would like to see. I would like to see, you know, national use of force and just a national conduct sort of a national conduct sort of guidelines. Like this is how we do policing in America. We don't have 18,000 different, I'd say 18,000 because there are literally 18,000

different police agencies in America. We don't have 18,000 different, you know, and, you know, there's sort of a national sort of registry or database so that we can understand. You know, if an officer does something horrible in one department, they can't just easily slink off and go to another one. Right. Well, that seems like a no-brainer. And I don't know why that's taking so long. Well, because there's one powerful union in America, and that is the police union. This sucks so bad way. As much as unions, they are using their power completely in the opposite way to defend the worst cop.

That's how you become a union chief that you say, if you get in trouble, we will be there for you. They don't, you know, they're not trying to make, they're not trying to help people who are bad be better. They're trying to say, we'll defend you if anything happens to you. Yeah. You know, I mean, like some way of defanging the unions would allow us to get to actual change. I like to be a lot fewer officers be armed. It seems like the only union that is really good at protecting people is the worst. want. I'd like to see a lot less of, like we're starting to talk about for-profit policing,

which is that they are trying to create writing tickets and citations of people so that the state can make more money. Right. I think that's a really good point that I hadn't even thought of, which is that this is like a for-profit industry. Absolutely it is. And it's quite often controlled by money-making opportunities. The chief or the lieutenant will come in and say, say, okay, this week we're arresting all homeless people who fuck with the garbage because we want to make sure that they don't screw with the garbage. Why? Why did we change to doing this? Because the city has a new relationship with a new waste management company. We need to be producing a certain amount of trash per week and the homeless are taking some of their trash.

Like, none of this has anything to do with public safety. Right. It's true. There's a lot of different ways that the police understand. And they could do things to create public safety, and they're not trying to do that. You know, why are the police in the business of parking enforcement? It doesn't have anything to do with creating public safety. You know, in some areas, it helps move traffic along so that local businesses can have a greater variety of people. But for the most part, it's not like cars and trucks are blocking our entrance into a business. Right. It's just about making money, you know, and they, and they definitely write tickets

in a, in a way, you know, they write street signs in New York City and write tickets in a way that's meant to confuse you. Yes. So, I mean, like, it's just a horrible way for, to have the police department relating to citizens. You know, I mean, I saw somebody, I'm not sure if this would work, but I saw somebody talking about police officers should have to have insurance against sort of claims against them, right? Now, if you have a certain number of complaints against you, then your insurance premiums would go up and have become harder to afford to become a cop. You know, I mean, we have more civilian review boards, so civilians had more power to say, hey, what's going on here? Like, this is not right. You know, that would be helpful. I mean,

there's a lot of different things that we need to do to create a modern police force. you know, it's just heartbreaking that just even getting to the conversation is so politicized because frankly, so many, mostly white people are scared to death of a world that doesn't have, you know, what they perceive as a private security force running around protecting them. Right. Can we talk for a minute? I really like Jonathan K. Pard's editorial about how exhausting and emotional it is to be black right now. Yeah, I mean, all the time, yes. But, like, yes, it has been higher lately in terms of dealing with the Chauvin trial.

And then the Dante Wright and the Toledo situations come in, like, one after another. And there's sort of, like, three massive news stories about police murder all at once. And, like, it's painful. It's a lot. It just weighs on your. soul. And in a way, I'm kind of numb to it because, like, you know,

we've been in this space for years. I mean, I think it feels like since Trayvon Martin, it's just been an endless string of one story looping into the next one, and one, before one story ends, the next story begins.

You know, I mean, I used to feel like I knew all the names now. It's like I can't know all the names. But, you know, I think about it all the time, about how, you know, I think most black people have about 20 police snuff films in their mind that they could call up at any second that I could just call out names and all the black people are like yeah I can see tamir rice getting killed yeah I can see philando castile as soon as you say that yeah I can see eric garner and on at least 20 and I'm like what kind of spiritual weight does that put on you that you have

all these black, you know, I mean, BLM folks will say to me, like, I'm taking a break from that stuff. Like, they're big on self-care, you know, I'm taking a break from watching videos this month or this year or whatever, because I can't, you know, like, I can't just live in that space all, all, all the time. I still haven't watched George Floyd from beginning to end because it was too hard. I'm sure with this bad, by this point, I've watched it all piecemeal, but it was too hard. hard, you know, but like, it's, it's very hard to see all these different videos. It's hard. You know, I mean, I think things about last year was that I thought that I was like really unapologetically black to where you don't care if you are making white people uncomfortable

with what you're saying. But I think last year I've recalibrated, like, no, I could go further. I know, I really don't give a fuck if I make you uncomfortable. And, you know, I think I would further into that. I think a lot of black people went further into that space. And like, you know, good, we should. It's helpful. You know, white people have to be made uncomfortable sometimes. It's hard for me to imagine you making anyone uncomfortable, but I do think there is merit to it, right, when we look at ourselves.

Hey, folks, if you haven't heard every single week, we do a special bonus episode for Beast Inside, the Daily Beast membership program. Sometimes we interview senators like Corey Booker or the folks who explain what's happening behind the scenes in media like Jim Acosta or Soladadobrian. Sometimes we just have fun and talk to our favorite comedians and actors like Busy Phillips or Billy Eichner and sometimes we just have friends around to analyze what's happening in the news.

You can get all of our episodes in your favorite podcast app of choice by becoming a Beast Inside member where you'll support the Beast fearless journalism as well as getting full access to podcasts and articles. To become a member, head to New York. Abnormal.thedailybeast.com. That's new abnormal. dot the dailybeast.com. Andrew Yang is a former presidential candidate

and the author of The War on Normal People is presently running for mayor of New York City. And today we're going to talk to him all about what's behind his campaign. And for this interview, we're joined by Harry Siegel, who's an editor at The Daily Beast as well as the host of the podcast, FAQ, NYC. Welcome Andrew Yang to the new abnormal.

Molly, it's great to be back. Oh my gosh. I have such fond memories of our last Congo. Oh, thank you. Well, I'm very excited to have you back. So, you know, I grew up here and my parents grew up here and actually some of my grandparents grew up here. So I'm very, uh, committed to my city. And, uh, one of the things I wanted to ask you was New York is like a very neighborhoody place. So I was hoping you could tell us, just vaguely what neighborhood you live in and why it's the best neighborhood, because you have to believe your neighborhood is the best

neighborhood. Wow. I love this. It's time for the neighborhood champion mode. Right. And what you would do to make it better if you were mayor. Well, thank you, Molly. I love this question. So I showed up in New York City in 1996 and a 21-year-old student at Columbia. And then I moved to Hell's Kitchen three years later and have been here ever since. So I've been in Hell's Kitchen, the best neighborhood in New York City, for 22 years. And let me count the reasons as to why it is so. awesome. It has the best food. Tons of Thai food, if you're into Thai food, come to our neighborhood, but it's not just Thai food. It's every kind of food. It's a very theater heavy area. There are a lot of my neighbors are gay in the theater industry, which was a source of

inspiration to me when I was in the gym and working out because everyone around me, I was like, wow, like everyone here's so, so in shape. But it's adjacency to the theater district really actually affects like the vibe where it's a very creative community, very friendly. It's proximate to everything. It's proximate to the Hudson River. So, you know, I bike on the west side highway. I can't speak highly enough about this neighborhood. And as to what I would do to make it better, unfortunately, the restaurants and bars and small businesses in Hell's Kitchen have largely been shut down for the better part of a year. And recently when I was walking through the neighborhood, someone recognized me and came up to me and said, we need help. And so I would try and help get our

businesses back open again. Unfortunately, you could say that about a lot of neighborhoods in New York as you as you all. So you would do that like with tax incentives or? We're going to need to be a little bit more aggressive than tax incentives. So I've owned and operated a small business in New York City for about seven years. And I understand what makes these businesses take and not tick. And so I've said we're going to have a moratorium on small business fines for a year. We're going to give them instead a cure period so that if there is some kind of violation instead of fining you, we're going to give you a chance to fix it. But a lot of businesses have shut down and will not reopen unless we get them

some serious help. And so I have proposed small business recoveries are and a people's bank that's going to start with $100 million to help get small businesses open again. And the minimum we can do is help various restaurants and bars manage whatever their rental obligations are, because many of them owe months and months of back rent, and no one precisely knows how much they're ultimately going to have to pay. A lot of the time, the landlord has just said, hey, you can stay in part because they can't get another tenant. We're not going to force you to pay rent. You can't. pay. But on the books, they owe in many cases tens of thousands of dollars in back rent. And many business owners have said to me, look, right now I'm not even working for myself. And I need some

kind of visibility on when or how we can clear up this back rent obligation. Hi, Andrew. So when you were running for president, you have this incredible universal basic income plan that I think resonated and connected with a lot of voters. In New York, you're offering a not at all universal basic income plan for some of the poorest New Yorkers that I think is something like $2,000 a year. But I'm hoping you can go through some of the specifics here, like how much this would actually cost, how much of the bill the city would pay. And I know you've talked about some of this coming from the private sector, like how that would work, like what wealthy people and institutions in particular, and how much money they would then be putting into this.

Thanks, Harry. It's good to see you again. Good to see you. So I think most, People know that if I had my way, we'd all be getting $1,000 a month. And that'd be happening everywhere. And I have to say that at this point, a majority of Americans believe in cash relief in some form, in part because so many of us received $1,200 and $600 and $1,400 checks. And there's this new child tax credit that is going to end hundreds of dollars a month to millions of families. New York City has a different operating set of constraints than federal government. And so in New York City, we're not going to be able to have a universal basic income in that way.

So as you described, Harry, we've committed to a billion dollars and cash relief for the people that are in extreme poverty in New York City. There are approximately half a million of those individuals. So if we were to somehow reach all those individuals, which frankly would be impossible, then it would be about $2,000 a year with the goal of lifting everyone up to a level where they're not in extreme poverty, a lot of these people are going to be undocumented. And one of the experiences I've had is that it's actually quite difficult to give people money. Now, at this level, you're not interfacing with any existing aid programs because someone in extreme poverty is not at that point. But a lot of folks who are in extreme poverty are completely disconnected from the formal

economy or any systems, especially if they're undocumented. And when my organization gave a million dollars to a thousand families in the Bronx, we struggled. We had to find a partner, which in that case was an organization called Neighborhood Trust, that was a credit union and financial services provider to the working poor. So we're committing a billion dollars in city resources in cash relief for the folks who are struggling the worst in New York City. And we are hoping to augment that with private and philanthropic commitments. I have been having conversations with those people.

but the billion dollars we're talking about would be public money, and that's where we're going to start. Wouldn't you have to tax a rich to do that? Well, we have a municipal budget of 90 billion or so, and it's 90 billion in part because we're getting federal aid for two years. And so if you have a budget of $90 billion, and you do make some changes in terms of some of your current expenditures or in some cases potentially maybe closing a tax loophole

on some major landowners in New York City. You don't necessarily need resources outside of the city budget, but one of the calling cards of my administration will be public-private partnerships whenever possible. I'm not someone who thinks that the city can do everything on its own in terms of the government. The city budget of $90 billion, it sounds like a lot of money, it is a lot of money.

But that's only about 9% of the entire city's economy. And the 91% of the city's economy is badly wounded. Like one of the frustrations I have is that some people in the public sector are like, great, like, you know, we got this federal aid. We're going to be fine. And I was like, well, we have a massive, massive challenge ahead of us because the job is to recatalize and reignite the 91% of the city's economy that is on its back right now. And we have two years. So we have to act as aggressively and ambitiously and quickly as possible because every day is going to count. The rich people I know are like if they raise the taxes anymore, we're going to leave.

But obviously need to raise taxes. So how do you thread that needle? Well, Molly, I have some of the same conversations. And the city itself does not control most of the taxes that the people you're describing are talking about. The municipal government controls property taxes. And there are issues of the property taxes that I would like to change and reform. But most of what you're describing is happening in Albany, where they're talking about higher state income taxes. And the gap between New York City and, let's say, Florida is very wide.

It's about 13 percent. And it threatens to get wider still. So the goal has to be to try to justify the premium that organizations and individuals have paid to be in New York City because the opportunities here are better, the culture is better. and the quality of life is better. It's a very tough sell when your costs are much higher and you can't really make those arguments as compellingly. But my perspective running New York City is that we're going to need the private sector to be a huge part of the recovery. And we have lost approximately 300,000 New Yorkers, some of whom were very high earners and high taxpayers, in part because of what you just described, where they decided to go someplace like Florida because they thought they could save a lot of money on taxes. And that's something that we should be aware of and trying to

counteract. You know, like I'm going to be calling people saying, look, Florida's boring. Like you had a good time there, but come on back. And by the way, the schools are open, the shows are open. Your friends are here. And, you know, you can pay a premium as long as we can make a case that New York City is back. So, Andrew, though, there is a balance here. Like, we were going to give away $3 billion in tax breaks to Amazon. And then we did it. And they still came here and did a ton of business, you've been running a lot on that you're going to be giving away this. How do you balance it so you don't give too much away and we don't have a crumbling infrastructure in the city that you're saying you want to rebuild? So, Jesse, there are a couple of thoughts packed in there. We have to

invest wisely. We have to use public money again to activate this 91% of the economy. And you can include a lot of things in that category of it being wise. I'm going to throw out sanitation. Like that to me is a very wise investment because if you have a lot of dirt and trash on the streets, then it's bad for families. It's bad for businesses. So you have to be judicious. You have to try and be effective. We do have this massive opportunity of essentially two years of financial wholeness and flexibility because of the federal aid. Thank you, Chuck Schumer. And I think most, I think you all know that I'm particularly excited in part because I was down in Georgia trying to help win the Senate. And the fact is we needed every single one of those votes.

So we're getting billions and billions of dollars of federal aid. I think it's like eight billion to the city itself, more in the $50 billion range for the entire state, if you include all the different measures. So we have a bit of time. And then we have to try and invest that money effectively and quickly and judiciously. But that's the challenge. I'm excited to take this challenge on in part because I think that this two-year window genuinely is going to determine the trajectory of New York City. And if you have someone who understands that we need all hands on deck, including the private sector, the philanthropic sector, even the tech sector, then I think we've got a much better shot at it than if you have someone who thinks that the city economy

is comprised only of city government. Do you have regrets when you laughed and walked away from the comedian who asked you that question about choking bitches? You said you were being friendly, and I understand the impetus to want to laugh because it's embarrassing. But Maya Wiley then held the press conference to say it wasn't funny. you know, how do you feel about that situation? I agree that it wasn't funny. You know, I initially was trying to be friendly because is the streets of New York

and I have these kinds of interactions routinely. But then after being shocked and surprised, I ended the interaction as quickly as I could. I think that just ending the interaction without saying anything, rebuking someone who said that was the right thing to do that. Well, again, you know, you're shocked and surprised

that a conversation headed that direction. And so in that case, I did what felt natural to me at the time, which was just to end the interaction as quickly as I could. So as you think I know, I wrote a pretty skeptical column about you this week. I just wanted to ask you a couple questions about that while we have you to fairly get your perspective. First of all, like the polls say that you were clearly right about this. Is your way ahead in the polls right now? You campaigned in person through the pandemic as aggressively as anyone in the field.

And I know in the course of that, you first had to isolate yourself. after a staffer tested positive. And then after you returned, you pretty quickly caught the virus yourself and had to go off the trail again. Do you think that the way you handled that was right? You sent the right message there in terms of public health

and how you would be as a mayor and just showing up and talking to New Yorkers in the midst of this? Well, thanks, Harry. You know, the perspective I had oftentimes is that when I was out and about campaigning, I was running into mayors who were out and about as well. And I think that we've asked a lot

of different people and different walks of life in New York City. And as mayor, I felt like, you know, I should hold myself to the same kind of standard, that it's harder to lead remotely, frankly. So going out and about when we've asked tens hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to be out and about in order for a city to continue functioning, seemed like the right approach to me. And, you know, we adhere to guidelines at all times, you know, any event, we had was outdoors. Yeah, like, you know, I still don't know how I got COVID given, like, the precautions. But you were really set.

Well, you know, when you get COVID, it's very unpleasant. And, you know, I'm grateful that there haven't been any long-term effects. But it's a devastating illness. And, you know, it's claimed over 32,000 New Yorkers' lives. Having that brush with it was not something I'd wish on anyone. But it did give me a more personal sense of what so many families have gone through, even the act of being isolated from my family for a couple weeks and having food slid, you know, not under the door, because I don't have doors that have, you know, like,

giant apertures, but having the door open and then having food slid in, you know, it's a very lonely time, particularly when you're fluid in, essentially, and lose your sense of taste and the rest of it. So, yeah, it was a difficult time, but so many New Yorkers have been through that or worse. Going from West 77th Street to 7th Avenue and Park Slope, how would you get there? From West 77th Street to Park Slope? Yeah. Like the Natural History Museum subway station. I think you'd take the two downtown and then you would switch to the R at like 42nd Street, Times Square.

That would take you down. That's right, right? I think you'd have to walk across from time. Harry, am I right? I don't think you guys are right here, but straight up, I would have to, the first thing I would do in this instance is consult the math. You all should know that Times Square is my subway stop. So I've walked that tunnel hundreds, thousands of times. You know, like it's a much longer tunnel if you're going from the ACE to the NR. From the two, it's actually right there. And then there's a shuttle to Times Square, or not not Time Square.

square to Grand Central that, you know, like I actually also used to ride occasionally. But yeah, like that tunnel, it's primarily between 7th and 8th Avenue. So the 7th Avenue, you're pretty much on top of it. If you become mayor, you'll live in Gracie Mansion, right? Oh, it's a massive upgrade over my current apartment. Well, no, I feel, you know, as someone who lives in that neighborhood, I get very offended. I got very offended when Bloomberg didn't live there. Oh, what, Molly?

I could be your neighbor. One more reason for trying to do the thing. That's right. I'm coming over. So, Andrew, you're talking a lot about changing the city in a lot of ways. And since we've had a mayor who's basically been asleep at the job for some time, a lot of people want to see that change in action. But not just like any change in action, I feel like.

In the past, you've seemed to be swayed very easily on some issues like anti-circumcision. We've had so many mayors do have terrible job. How do we trust your moral compass when we haven't had you govern before a NOAA record? Wow, Jesse. So interesting. First, let me say that there's a difference between having a particular point of view on an issue, like let's call it, circumcision, and then thinking that the government should dictate families' decisions in that arena. So that's an example of something. Like, I still believe the exact same thing.

I just don't think that our government should have a role in very intimate personal family decisions. And I think that New Yorker sense that we need a different approach, a different form of leadership. We don't think that our agencies and our government have been serving our needs terribly well over this past period of time. And I agree with you that you have someone like me who you're like, oh, this guy, like he's got some good ideas. There's some things he says that I like. But if he were to get the role, would he understand that you know, you can't pivot a giant agency with tens of thousands of employees on a dime, that there are a lot of overlapping regulations coming from the state level

that maybe the city doesn't have direct control over? And that's something that I'm very happy to demonstrate in any way I can during this period, knowing full well that if you have someone like me as mayor, I would need to be surrounded by people who have very deep agency experience, either in New York or in other environments. And the truth of it is just that I'm like a practical, competent operator and manager and leader and not someone who's going to stand there and make, you know, proclamations and expect them all to magically happen.

I'm not that person. Like, not that guy. Like, I'm a person who will surround myself with a battery of people who have a combination of experiences, but fairly. A lot of them are going to be people who are veterans of city government because our job has to be to get stuff done. And I'm not so much communications guy as I am someone who wants to get into the nitty-gritty details and help move services in a better direction. To give you a sense of this, I've run like a private company as an example. Yes.

And if you run a private company, you understand that most of the value gets delivered at the ground level or at the customer interaction. And so your goal, if you're the head of that kind of company, is trying to improve customer experiences, try and hire and build a team that can deliver. You know, I think that's the kind of thing that we're going to need in city government is someone who has a sense of, frankly, like, the user-friendliness or unfriendliness of government. And we'll try and evaluate the value we're delivering in the same way that, like, our citizens are experiencing it, rather than thinking that if I have a press conference, then that's the job. You're saying you're not a messaging guy, and I hear that, but I also hearing you say that you have this shift because of the role you're in about circumcision, which when you message it broadly, sounds like just sort of a big abstract issue. But in New York, has hampered the last couple of mayors and has played into much bigger public health issues because the Orthodox Jewish community and Brooklyn in particular doesn't want any public health interference, even when this has created larger health issues. This was true with coronavirus. It was true with herpes related to circumcision and Mitsutza-Bapé.

So it does sound to me like you're saying you held one position, you're running from mayor, you're looking at this block of boots, and suddenly you're saying you want nothing to do with that issue. Harry, that's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is that I have and had a personal viewpoint on circumcision that is constant and is the same as it ever was. But there is no point at which I thought that the government should be dictating what is again a very, and I'm a parent, you know, I've got two boys. Like, I think it's completely up to the family.

So I can have my own. Even if babies are getting herpes. So I can have my own viewpoint on what people's decision should be. But I also recognize that it's not my job to have my viewpoint somehow dictate policy, you know, to influence other families' decisions at that level. So, Andrea, and to address what you said to me, I read both your books. You were my second choice in the presidential campaign. You know, there wasn't ranked choice like there is here.

But the thing I do say is like you say that you're happy to show people that you'll be the right decision maker in this time. But you've had two decisions. You could have stayed in New York during COVID and you haven't voted before in New York according to some reports. What do you say when people say you've had opportunities to show us that and you haven't done them? Well, Jesse, I ran for president and then after that campaign ended, I went directly to becoming a surrogate for Joe and Kamala. And I was an official surrogate for the campaign. I campaigned in Pennsylvania and other places. And I was very busy doing that for months,

helped raise millions of dollars for the campaign. And then I went down to Georgia and helped win those Senate races, raise millions of dollars for Reverend Warnock and John Ossoff. And can you imagine a world if we had not won both of those races? And Mitch McConnell was still the Senate majority leader and the tens of billions of dollars that were flowing to New York were not coming because Mitch McConnell thought it was a bad idea. So I'm proud of the contributions I've made, and I've been working my hardest to try and help people that entire time, distributed a million dollars in direct cash relief

to 1,000 families in the Bronx just because I thought that it would spur some positive movement. And on the voting side, I would definitely include myself in the 76 percent of registered Democratic voters of New York City who have voted in presidential and gubernatorial elections, but did not involve myself in mayoral elections. And I think that many New Yorkers who are in that bucket know that our city is in a very tough spot right now and we need to step up. And that's what I'm trying to do. You describe yourself as a fun mayor. This gets me very excited because I love fun, even though I don't have much of it, I feel like. But how would you make New York fun? Oh, Molly, what's interesting is that being fun actually is key to our recovery.

And let me explain what I mean by that. In our last pre-COVID year, New York City drew in 66 million tourists who generated $46 billion in hospitality revenue and supported 300,000 jobs, about half of the jobs we're missing. And so when I say that I want to have the biggest post-COVID celebration in the country here in New York City, that sounds like a good time. but it's also a key driver to try and get back some of those 66 million tourists. If you're going to help restore the 600,000 jobs we're missing, the most direct path there is to get millions of people to come to New York City, to see a show, to get dinner, to stay overnight, to visit friends and family.

That's the most direct path. And so you could look at it and say, well, Andrew Yang's a fun guy and he wants to be a fun mayor because it'll make us feel good, you know, fantastic. but it's actually integral to our recovery. Like someone has to make the case to everyone that New York City is back. It's still the most exciting place in the world to celebrate, to create art, to experience culture. And so I'm very happy to make that case.

And if it makes people feel good in the meantime, fantastic. But it happens to be pivotal to whether our city recovers on the pace that we needed to. So you have been running a relentlessly positive, cheerful campaign and offering yourself with someone who could celebrate New York, and you're talking about why that matters for the city. And I really agree. At the same time, there have been concerns about the aggressiveness of the gang gang of various points. We actually talked about this a few months ago. Pristina Greer brought it up, and you said you were very surprised to hear that.

But over this campaign, I know that you and your senior staff have asked support because you behave better and abide by a code of conduct. And talking with other reporters in New York, women in particular, they don't feel like they get the same virulence in response to their work from other campaigns. I wonder if you can talk about that for a bit and what it is about your campaign that seems to draw some of this energy and make it necessary for you

and your campaign manager and others to keep asking people to be respectful and stay online when you yourself very much do that. Well, thank you, Harry, and I want anyone listening to this who supports me that we need to represent our values. And journalists are just doing their jobs. It's a very difficult job.

And we need to treat them like human beings. You know, I mean, it just, people doing work. And if we disagree with someone, we can present why we disagree with them in a respectful way. And that goes doubly true, frankly, if you were dealing with someone who, you know, like, may feel singled out based upon their gender or identity in some way. Like, you have to be even more respectful of the fact that something you say that's negative could be taken as some sort of personal attack. I couldn't agree more that, you know, that's not right. I apologize to any journalist who's experienced that from my supporters or anyone else. And, you know, when you ask why this is, Harry, you know, I think some of the context is that, you know, I came up running for president and it was a very unlikely campaign. And there were a lot of people who supported me that felt like it was kind of like, you know, us against the world, like sort of a little bit of like a contrarian movement. And then now I'm running for mayor. And in some ways, the campaign's going phenomenally well. And I'm super grateful to all the New Yorkers that.

are supporting me and are excited about the campaign. And then my supporters, I think are, you know, and I'm just projecting because I haven't had conversations onto this effect, but I think some of them are very sensitive to what they perceive as mistreatment. And you should know, I don't see it that way. Like, you know, I think, again, journalists have difficult jobs to do and they're just, you know, like doing their best. But I think that may be the backdrop and it doesn't excuse anything.

But, you know, like that's at least how I would try and understand it. Thank you so much for joining us, Andrew. This was amazing. We really appreciate it. I hope you will come back soon. Molly, I hope I'm your neighbor. Jesse. I know, me too. What's crazier than QAnon, more outlandish than Pizza Gate, and scarier than a Mexican getaway with Ted Cruz? The answer is what the American right wing has planned next. Be one of the first to listen to fever dreams, new podcasts from the Daily Beast tracking the conspiracy slingers, orange acolytes, and straight-up grifters pushing to retake power. Every Wednesday hosts Swin Subisang and Will Summer, checking in on the movement of the radical right.

Head to the DailyBeast.com slash podcasts or your favorite podcast player to catch the first episode and get subscribed. That's Fever Dreams, which you can subscribe to wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, Jesse Cannon. Hi, Molly. How you doing today? I'm great. I just am great.

I'm so great. Instead of being great, let's ruin the mood by talking about some of the worst people in the world. Fucking assholes. Well, so this weekend, I think your fuck that guy is going to run next to my fuck that guy. Because this weekend, you know, some Republican congresspeople decided that there was a group worse. There was this sort of opening. There was room in the world for a caucus that was worse than the Freedom Caucus. Yes, yes. That's a good way of putting it.

Right. Can you believe it? Well, no one thought it could get worse. They find a way to do it. So now we are talking about the America First caucus. It's a caucus that is more racist and more insane than the Freedom Caucus, more stupid and more ridiculous. And it was crafted by a woman who has quite a bit of free time on her hands. That's one Marjorie Taylor. I was kicked off my committee assignments because of my racism and sexism.

Well, she's not a sexist. She's a racist. Transphobia. Transphobia. Nancy Pelosi, et cetera, et cetera. Yes, exactly. And then Congressman Dentist, your favorite. Yes, Representative Dentist. That's right. Representative Dentist was part of this. And you'll remember he's also been part of the Stop the Steel rally. He's kind of famous for being in the most white supremacist place at all times. And Representative Dentist was also involved. in this. It was given to the folks over at Punchball

News. Soon after Marjorie Taylor Green disavowed it and said that they were a communist and out to destroy her and that they were lying. As always. It's funny how Marjorie Taylor Greed is able

to turn into Joe McCarthy with just one litmus test. Someone's criticized her. Yes. But the thing I found particularly hilarious about this was that they said, and I quote, They wanted to bring on the progeny of European architecture. And I do know that there's this one thing that if you're mentioning progeny, there's only two ways it's ever mentioned.

One, you're on an episode of True Blood where they say it way too much. Or two, you're a fucking white supremacist. And these totally gross assholes say this over and over, and you know this is because they are actually saying all these nasty white supremacist things behind the scenes. And that's why they know this language. But I will say this. This misstep did give me some relief because I used to think Marjorie Taylor Green may be the next Donald Trump.

But now I'm realizing she's just 2021's Michelle Bachman. Michelle Bachman. Who could forget? Crazy-eyed Bachman. Yes. So I think that's right. So my fuck that guy is yet again, Marjorie Taylor Green, MTG, the most unhinged member of Congress. Also, by the way, I feel like this is just a brilliant footnote.

when this whole thing was cooking up and before Marjorie Taylor Green had disavowed it by the way Representative Dentist did not disavow it Louis Gohmert as you'll remember the dumbest member of Congress said he was considering joining so I wonder if they'll ever tell Louie

that they're not going to do it after all or if he'll be there like alone waiting for the first meeting to happen on that note we'll wrap this episode of the new abnormal from the Daily Beast In future episodes, we'll be talking to smart folks from The Daily Beast and beyond from media, culture, politics and science. We'll help us understand what's happening to our country and the world.

We hope you'll subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app and share the show on social media. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll see you again on the next episode. Want more great listens? Check out our comedy podcast, The Last Laugh, and our star-studded The Daily Beast podcast at thedailybeast.com slash podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, consider becoming a Daily Bees subscriber. Subscribing is the best way to feed the beast and support all of your podcasts as we cover what might become the darkest timeline. Head to the dailybeast.com slash membership slash podcast and sign up today.