supposed to but you can? why would a mayor need to carry a gun? think about that. don t we have enough guns in america? don t we have enough guns in the city of new york? haven t they done enough damage? let me ask you this question. i hear you. i ve been watching you since i was a little tyke in mississippi. why are you running as a republican? i don t get that. i was the chairman of the new york state reform party. i loved it. you get to deal with democrats, republicans, and independents. andrew cuomo decided he was going to go to war against all third parties, and he essentially knocked us off the ballot. not just the reform party, the green party, libertarians, independent party. it was a war against what they call the working families party. very liberal, progressive. all he did with his wrath is strengthen them and the conservative party, so now there are only two independent parties left. whereas before, there were multiple parties. i ve always been an independent. i want mo
people today are thee simple things. the cost of gas, bread, milk, things like that, and the fact they look to washington and what do they see? chaos. nothing getting done. that s beyond party. that s incompetence. with so much of it also having to do, as you said, with culture. you know, jonathan lemire, the famous 1992 sign-up in clinton campaign headquarters, it s the economy, stupid. right now, a macro look at the polls would suggest it s covid, stupid. but you really cut down. you go in deep. you try to figure out what drives a lot of these voters to vote for donald trump. economically, they re disadvantaged by his policies. it s the culture, stupid. you keep hearing about abortion because in republican politics, not only has conservatism been
just burst in here crying. i m a little distracted. i thought i heard that. so cute. i thought it was you, sam. okay, it was me. yeah, not that good either. to your point, joe, look at the historical trends. if you re the party in power, usually you have a tough time in these elections. just lack of enthusiasm, the opposition tends to be more united. in this case, there are some particulars playing into this. one, joe biden s popularity rating is an indicator of trouble for mcauliffe. democrats are not engaged. whatever momentum, legislative momentum may have been there early on that had generated so much enthusiasm and excitement among the facets of the democratic party, that s gone. that s been sapped. really, what you re seeing is a lingering sort of la maze,
joins us live in studio. good to see you. you re looking at the polls we re looking at, have you down by 30, 35 points. how do you change that in a few days? remember, i m also an independent party candidate, not just the republican candidate. i have gone into neighborhoods where the only republican they ve ever met is abraham lincoln on a $5 bill. that s where my strength is, the streets, the subways, having organized the guardian angels 42 years ago. it s expanded all over the world. 13 countries, 132 cities. it is almost a role reversal. the republican independent is in the subways and the streets, and eric adams is up in the suites, getting wined, dined, and pocket lined by the elite. we ve seen this in polling, an issue is quality of life. it is crime. it is going out in the subways, schools as well, but certainly quality of life issues. eric adams has said, that s my specialty. i was a cop in new york city for 24 years. i m going to come in and change that. what do you say to
facing on the campaign trail. republicans increased focus on culture pre-dates donald trump, but he certainly has accelerated it with his attacks on political correctness. his culture of grievance here. that plays into, indeed, as you said, some of the symbols. some artifacts of a confederacy. in the name of personal freedoms and states rights, opposed to things that americans care about in terms of their pocketbook, their bottom line, as mike said. the household staples that they really need. but that is what is driving the party right now. it s not about economic issues. it is not about policy. it is about posturing so very often. i think, joe, we re seeing the democrats struggle with this right now, too. where they have right now in washington a great debate over this reonciliation package. paid family leave, child care, it s popular. that s not what they re messaging about.