De Blasio: ‘Hillary Needs a Forceful Progressive’ Message to Beat Trump

‘Let me tell you, there’s a lot of people in New York City who are more angry at Donald Trump than ever for the way he’s tried to divide this country’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT: 

BRZEZINSKI: “Good to have you on the show.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Great to have you here. Willie and I have figured this out, though, right?”
BRZEZINSKI: “What’s that?”
GEIST: “What’s that?”
SCARBOROUGH: “He’s going to have to support, he’s going to have to represent the Manhattan candidate, not the candidate from the burbs. New York values, my man.”
DE BLASIO: “Let me tell you, there’s a lot of people in New York City who are more angry at Donald Trump than ever for the way he’s tried to divide this country and it does not fit the value of people in New York City. And it gets worse, Joe, I come the other day, when you said it was disqualifying for Donald Trump to have to think about whether to disavow David Duke and the KKK, it’s 2016. How do you have to think about that?”
SCARBOROUGH: “Can I ask you how it’s good for you or me you’re quoting me?”
DE BLASIO: “I’ve had to think about that. I consider myself a Scarborough Progressive Democrat.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Whoa, my god.”
DE BLASIO: “You can figure out that sentence and phrase.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Admission of guilt in some way.”
SCARBOROUGH: “I’m kind of circular. So you’re a great political analyst. I’m going to go to John Heilemann who talked to the mastermind of Barack Obama’s campaign who said anybody who thinks that running against Donald Trump is going to be a walk in the park is absolutely crazy, it scrambles everything. What would your advice be? First of all, the Republicans who are trying to stop him over the next couple weeks and then what does Hillary Clinton do when he comes with the type of attacks he’s used in the general election?”
DE BLASIO: “Hillary needs a forceful Progressive economic message, and that’s what she’s put together more and more over these last weeks. When you’ve heard her talk on these victory nights, it’s a clear, sharp message of economic pairness, economic change and that goes right to what people all over this country want. They want someone who will tax the wealthy, they want someone who will raise wages and benefits, that’s what she’s talking about and her message has gotten sharper and sharper. ‘S that’s the best way to counter trump. I think the Republican party establishment has lost touch with the anger and frustration people feel over economic unfairness, income inequality. And what can the Republican party say? We’ve been the party of the 1 percent. We’ve been the party of tax breaks for the wealthy and hedge funds? That’s not going to be a great message. Trump and his base has disconnected. So I would argue this. The Republican party is in a structural crisis. Democrats are seeing what could be the beginning of a sustained Progressive era and we see a lot of signs of that around the country. Democrats have to own that space, have to be bold, clear, Progressives on economic issues. If Hillary does that, I think she can do a great job across the country but don’t take Donald Trump lightly. As we say in New York City politics, don’t go to sleep on Donald Trump.”

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