‘I say there’s plenty of money in this world, and there’s plenty of money in this country. It’s just in the wrong hands…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) According to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, one particular set of left-leaning voters needs to be held above the rest.
“I want to say, as a Democrat, all black women should be praised and appreciated for being the backbone of this party, for being the difference makers, and this is the year where I think that’s going to come into full focus,” de Blasio said during a recent interview at the Essence Festival in New Orleans.
“Democrats need to not pay lip service and not be occasional—occasionally respectful of black women but every single day,” he said in the Essence interview, published Thursday.
De Blasio may have been trying to score points with his wife, who is black, by addressing the group as the Democratic Party’s “No. 1 voting base,” or perhaps he was simply pandering to the lifestyle magazine’s target readership demographic.
“In so many ways, black women have been disrespected in our society when, in fact, they need to be put on a pedestal to thank them for the contributions they make,” he said.
But in a race that includes an actual black-identifying woman, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, as one of the front-running candidates, it is no surprise that de Blasio remains mired in the gutter.
While directing his appeal at a very narrow niche of Americans, de Blasio’s popular support has topped out at 1 percent in most polls, and he has been begging for $1 donations in order to meet the threshold of 130,000 donors to qualify for the third set of debates in September.
As far as outlining his actual agenda, de Blasio hoped to cast himself as a left-wing populist in contrast with the elitist faction of his party.
“I am very concerned—I wanna make this point bluntly on the political level—the Democratic Party, to too many Americans, to too many African Americans, to too many Americans of all backgrounds, doesn’t always seem like the party of working people,” he told Essence.
“It doesn’t always seem like it’s on the side of the everyday person who’s struggling to make ends meet—and that’s the vast majority of Americans,” he said.
While conservative populists like President Donald Trump have sought to appeal to working-class Americans by promising to “drain the swamp,” de Blasio said that the country needed more government, not less, to enact a massive wealth re-distribution program.
“In New York we put that in reverse,” he said. “We show that you can actually put money back in the hands of working people.”
He pointed to his past policies, including “free” healthcare and pre-school, which he claimed helped right the wrongs of systemic racism and economic disparity.
“These are the kinds of things that go at those structural problems,” he said, “that help folks, particularly in underserved communities, to have not only real possibility, real opportunity, but to have hope.”
Of course, some may beg to differ, he noted.
“There’s a lot of folks who are doing very well who would like to keep things the way they are,” de Blasio said.
“There’s a lot of folks who say—when you talk about investing in everyday people—they say, ‘There’s not enough money, we can’t afford that.’ And I’m very blunt about that,” he continued. “I say there’s plenty of money in this world, and there’s plenty of money in this country. It’s just in the wrong hands.”
De Blasio also came out strongly in favor of the controversial Green New Deal, referring to global warming as “the existential threat.”
He said New York already had begun to implement many of its eco-conscious proposals, such as retrofitting old buildings, promoting electric cars and setting requirements for renewable energy.
However, some have pointed to the strain on the electric grid due to New York’s demanding “green friendly” policies as the prime reason for the city’s massive recent blackouts.
De Blasio continues to face harsh criticism from many those who work with him.
On Monday, New York’s former chief of police, Louis Anemone, sharply savaged the mayor’s “disgraceful” anti-law-enforcement rhetoric and policies, which he said posed a danger to officers, following a spate of water-throwing incidents.
Trump also weighed in last week, attacking de Blasio for his encouragement of the disrespectful conduct.
We love our Law Enforcement Officers all around this great Country. What took place in NYC with water being tossed on NYPD officers was a total disgrace. It is time for @NYCMayor @BilldeBlasio to STAND UP for those who protect our lives and serve us all so well…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2019
Meanwhile, members of de Blasio’s own staff in New York’s City Hall have dismissed his presidential run as a vanity project and criticized the mayor’s constant absenteeism.
But despite the derision, he continues to tout his record on the 2020 presidential campaign trail.
“What I have been doing as mayor of New York City is what I want to do as president, which is to recognize we need a redistribution in this country, and we need to be honest about it,” de Blasio said.