Mika Brzezinski: As Democrats prepare to take control of Congress, our next guest knows what it's like to work with the president from across the political aisle. Joining us now, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Good to have you on the set.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Lovely to be back.
Brzezinski: Advice for Democrats on working with the president, and can you really work with the president? Does he really come through?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think you can. And I think what it requires is both being honest about the fact that there are significant policy disagreements the president and I have with each other, and looking for a place of shared purpose. For the two of us, it's the welfare of New York City. And in the meetings that we've had, we've been able to free a New Yorker from ICE detention, secure a visa for a mother who would otherwise have to grieve her son from thousands of miles away, and take the steps toward building more housing in a development than this city has seen since the early 1970s. And I think that, at the end of the day, is what politics has to be: finding a way to work with whomever you can to deliver something for the people who trust.
Joe Scarborough: Claire, it's easy to work with somebody you agree with all the time, right? It's hard to work with somebody you agree with 5% of the time, right?
Claire McCaskill: Well, and I got to hand it to the mayor, because I guarantee you he took some flack for going and meeting with Donald Trump.
Scarborough: You think so? It's funny because Mika and I did and nobody said a word.
McCaskill: Yeah, oh yeah, nobody even noticed, right?
Scarborough: No, they didn't. No.
Mayor Mamdani: I was inspired. I said, I'll have what he's having.
Scarborough: Exactly. I'm glad I can lead as sort of a John the Baptist for you.
McCaskill: Exactly. So, him going there, I think, is part of the whole deal, is being able to say, "Hey, I need to talk to this guy because I need housing in New York for people who can't afford housing." It is a crisis for him. So, he puts aside all the stuff and focuses like a laser on things that will help New Yorkers. And that's what we've got to do as Democrats now. We've got to focus like a laser on the things that help the American people and try - I mean, not that we don't want to hold people accountable, not that we don't want to go after the graft and corruption. But if we don't focus like a laser, like the mayor has shown us, you end up just talking past each other for another two years, and this will be all for now.
Scarborough: And also, Mr. Mayor, talk about the importance of just, like, you know, filtering out the noise. So, people are going to criticize you. So what? You get somebody out of detention. You get a housing program that's going to impact generations of New Yorkers. I mean, talk to the importance of just, like, filtering that out and just doing what you know is right.
Mayor Mamdani: I think it comes back to the fact that we all know that we will be, and we should be, judged by the results that we deliver. And it is one thing to look at Tuesday night and see the fact that Americans said that they were tired, tired of being told that their needs were unrealistic by the very politicians bought by the wealthiest people in the country. They will also be tired of being told for the next few years that they have to wait further. And that's what they said to J.D. Vance when he asked for a couple more years. Because rent can't wait. It's due the first of the month.
So, for me, as the mayor of our city, as you said, the number one crisis in the city is the housing crisis. We have an opportunity to build 12,000 homes in a neighborhood that today is just a railyard. And we have to take every opportunity. And that doesn't mean you paper over your differences. That doesn't mean that you start to subscribe to a politics that isn't yours. You still say that you want an end to ICE operations in this city because it threatens public safety. And you can do that while also saying that if there's a way to work together to deliver for the benefit of others, you do it.
Willie Geist: Right. Mr. Mayor, I was going to ask you about ICE, because clearly, listening to voters as they came out of the polls the other night, this was a really important issue. Three-quarters of voters said that this was critical, that the conduct of ICE and the deportation regime of this administration influenced their vote. How are you managing that here in New York City? Because for the most part, while they're here, we haven't seen those ugly scenes in the streets of New York City. What's the balance you've struck with ICE, with the NYPD, with this administration around that?
Mayor Mamdani: Well, I think it continues to be a tension with federal policy, because we've made clear to them that we are never going to assist them in civil immigration enforcement. We are not going to be a part of a deportation agenda in the way that they've built this administration. And what that means is we don't allow city property, we don't allow city agencies to be used in that fashion. We have executive orders we've put forward to that end. And we're also letting businesses know who own parking lots that we want them to stop letting those parking lots be sites where ICE is staging their locations and staging their enforcement, because, again, what we're talking about is a federal agency that is willing to open fire on a moving car in broad daylight right after school's let out. They're willing to shoot at somebody despite the fact that there's a 5-year-old child in that same car.
And what you're seeing from Americans across the country is that the very politics we were told could only succeed in New York City is actually succeeding from Astoria to Albuquerque to Allentown, across this country. And what we're seeing is that working-class Americans are tired of a corruption of their politics and a corruption of their prices.
Jonathan Lemire: So, you were talking about that shooting in the Bronx, at that moment you called for President Trump to cease ICE operations in the city. He has not. So, speak to us, though, about what is the next step of your relationship with President Trump, who now is, of course - yesterday in some ways - should be humble because his party was dealt a significant rebuke in the House and the Senate. Do you feel like you and your fellow Democrats - is there an opportunity there?
Mayor Mamdani: I think there's always an opportunity. And you always have to make the ask, because our job is to exhaust every single option, right? We have Americans who are unable to afford their rent, their groceries, their child care. Our responsibility is to try everything to deliver change that they can feel in their wallets, and that means taking every possible avenue. The president and I still disagree about ICE operations in New York City, but I will still call the president if there's something else that can help New Yorkers.
Brzezinski: Right. That's good advice.
Scarborough: First of all, paper of record in the New York Post, for Morning Joe is our paper of record. We enjoy every day it going after you every day.
[Crosstalk.]
Number two, when I'm out with the working people on the golf course, sharing Grey Poupon and Pimm's Cups, they'll always say, "Oh, it must be awful in New York City." And I'll go, "Yeah, really, it is horrible, the socialists. We have the lowest crime rate ever, I think, for the first half of the year. And you can't get an apartment there, vacancies at an all-time low." I mean, it is crazy what people see through social media. Talk about the state of New York, not only the great things, but also what you feel like you really have to work on in the next couple of years.
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I really appreciate that because for so much of the year, and even before that, there's been this sense of a dystopia if you watch right-wing Twitter or right-wing news. But then, right before the election, Vice President Vance put out a statement looking to take credit for the state of New York.
McCaskill: By the way, the subway meme was the best.
Scarborough: Mika and I, as we were going into the subway, we were looking at the meme. It was hilarious.
Mayor Mamdani: I think it's a reflection of the fact that, look, when they actually look at what's happening in our city, it's as you said: We have the lowest recorded murders in history, lowest recorded shootings, shooting victims. We are proud of the fact that out of every state in the country, our economy grew the most in the last year. And this is a reflection of the fact that it's the greatest city in the world. It's a place people want to be, and that's not just because the Knicks won their first championship.
Scarborough: We have to let you go, but there was a tragedy last night that you need to get out to right now. Tell us about it.
Mayor Mamdani: You know, we are currently tracking this fire that has claimed the lives of six New Yorkers. And it is devastating, and it is a reflection of a number of things. One, I want to just always acknowledge the courage of our firefighters, who go in every single day, no matter what the level of danger is, looking to save people's lives. And two, the importance of fire safety in this time. We're investigating what the cause of this fire is, but I can tell you that e-bike fires as a whole have increased to more than 400 fires this year. And they are something that can cause people to lose their lives as well as their livelihoods. And so, we are really looking at every avenue we have to keep them safe.
Brzezinski: Ok, all right. We know you're headed there. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani thank you very much for stopping by.
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Scarborough: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good luck out there in that dystopian hell. All-time low crime.
Brzezinski: We thank you for coming on.
