Transcript: Mayor Bill de Blasio Appears Live on MSNBC'S Morning Joe

January 26, 2016

Joe Scarborough: That was an emotional moment we played for you earlier today from a Bernie Sanders event in Iowa, where he asked the audience for their stories about the struggle of living off about $10,000 a year. With us now, we’ve got the Democratic mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio. Mr. Mayor, great to have you here.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Joe.

Mika Brzezinski: Yeah, a lot of work – we’ll talk about the weather situation and how New York did in just a moment, but I want to talk about that moment earlier in the show. Just to be transparent, during the break, you all said Mika, Mika, come on, calm down – you feel – obviously, Hillary Clinton has worked all of her life tirelessly to help people. I think what I felt when I listened to that sound bite – and the question I would have for someone like you, who supports Hillary Clinton, is explain to me how that woman who struggles to get by on $10,000 a year can relate to a candidate who maybe has made $600,000 in one year from speeches at Goldman Sachs, and knew she was going to be running for president; who pushed her husband to veto a bankruptcy bill, and then voted for it as senator. Like, how does that woman relate when she’s struggling just to get by every day?

Scarborough: Yeah, how does Hillary relate to her?

Mayor: Look, last night you saw Hillary talk about – at the town hall – the fight for health insurance reform and taking on the big insurance companies. And I remember that vividly – maybe some people who are younger don’t remember just how dramatic that struggle was, when she had the entire American insurance industry against her, personally. Millions and millions of dollars in advertising –

Scarborough: Back in – back in ’93 and ’94. 

Brzezinski: I remember.

Mayor: ’93, ’94 – and that was to fight for tens of millions of people who didn’t have health insurance. I think when the Clinton administration put family and medical leave into place, which was unheard of previously – to actually acknowledge what working families were going through. The work Hillary did with the Children’s Defense Fund on behalf of mothers and children who didn’t have the kind of support they deserve. This has been her whole life –

Scarborough: Has she changed?

Mayor: I don’t think she’s changed. I think last night, she articulated that with real passion, which I appreciate, because that history’s clear. We’ve all seen it in front of our very eyes for decades. That woman – that struggling woman we just saw a moment ago needs someone in the White House who knows how to take on very powerful interests. 

Scarborough: So, why do you think Bernie Sanders is connecting more with these people than Hillary Clinton?

Mayor: Look, obviously the polls are very, very close in Iowa, and the national polls are actually more favorable to Hillary. Bottom line to me is that Hillary Clinton has a lifetime of working on working people’s issues. The platform she’s put forward – when she walks in the door January 20th, next year – it will be the most progressive platform of any president walking in the door.

Scarborough: But is she connecting the way she should connect, given her history?

Mayor: I think she has talked more about that history, more passionately, and I think that’s coming across. I think that’s important.

Scarborough: Why is she not connecting?

Mayor: I don’t think she – that’s the question? Look –

Brzezinski: I think the question was how can that woman relate to Hillary Clinton, especially in light of even the money that she raised from big banks in the year before she decided to run for president, knowing that she was going to run for president? How can that woman relate to her? That’s the question.

Mayor: That woman wants someone who’s going to fix the problem. Let’s be careful about this point – relating. 

Brzezinski: Okay.

Mayor: I understand what you’re trying to say, obviously. That woman needs a president who will fix the problem. That woman needs a president who is going to go into office, raise minimum wage, raise benefits for working families, paid family leave, paid sick leave – these type of things – and, bluntly, tax the wealthy more. Hillary Clinton’s platform says that. Hillary Clinton knows how to do that, and she’s devoted her life to those kind of struggles, including when she took on very powerful interest. So, I think the fact is, Hillary’s got both the vision and the history. More and more people, I believe, are going to see that. 

Michael Barnicle: So, what you’re saying in essence is that this is a fight – Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton – between the head and the heart – that Bernie Sanders is the heart, the emotion – Hillary Clinton is [inaudible] he’s got the emotion, I can do it, I can get it done. 

Mayor: I think it’s even more than that. It’s – the question is, for someone struggling in this country – and that’s tens of millions of people trying to make ends meet, that’s people who used to think they were middle class and now have seen their earning power decline and decline – they need someone who can actually fix the problem – that’s the bottom line. And, by the way, the American people are very practical. They see a system that’s absolutely unequal. They see more and more wealth, and power concentrated at the top. They need that change, fundamentally.  They need someone that actually knows how to achieve the change. Now, you saw, last night, Hillary clearly not only seemed presidential – the breadth of experience and understanding was presidential. 

Barnicle: Has the definition of the middle class changed in your mind over the last 10-15 years? 

Mayor: There’s no question that for people who thought they were solidly middle class 15 years ago, 20 years ago – they feel economically insecure. Many more feel economically insecure. The most simple measure of the American dream – that you children are going to do better than you – we now know many, many people who know fear their children will in fact do worse than them. That has to change, and that has to change starting in the White House. And I bluntly believe Hillary’s the only person who will know how to create that change, practically speaking. 

Brzezinski: So, I have heard this a few times – she can fix the problem. I think Bernie Sanders has the same – why can’t he fix the problem?

Mayor: Well, I have a lot of respect for Bernie, and I think he’s –

Brzezinski: I don’t understand what makes her –

Mayor: Look –

Brzezinski: – Differentiate her from him. 

Mayor: Bernie’s done a service to this nation by raising these issues very powerfully. Hillary Clinton’s done a service to the nation for decades at the highest level, achieving some of the things we care about. That health insurance fight in ’93, ’94, set the stage for what President Obama was able to achieve – family and medical leave changed the entire concept. The fact that we’re doing paid parental leave in New York City today is directly related to the fact that Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton did family medical leave when they were in office. One act of progress breeds the next. And the fact that she understands how to work with the Congress, the fact that she understands how to actually get things done in the executive branch – she’s lived it, no one can doubt that – means she is the best suited to hit the ground running, and address income inequality, and actually make the practical changes that middle class or working class Americans need. 

Willie Geist: Can I ask you about the snow really quick?

Mayor: Sure.

Geist: I do want to ask you though – don’t you feel like, as you look at the issues as a pure progressive, you line up better with Bernie Sanders than you do with Hillary Clinton? I mean, you’ve been held up as a model of progressivism –

Mayor: Why, thank you, sir. 

Geist: – On the municipal level, and Bernie Sanders on a national level. 

Scarborough: By the way, you can say yes to this because we all know it’s true. 

Mayor: Look, Bernie – again, I give him a lot of credit for some of the things he’s raised and they way he’s raised him. Hillary Clinton’s vision, her platform, is exactly what I want to see in the White House. She’ll know how to get it done, and that’s what we need. I care deeply about the debate, but I care more about the results for working people. 

Geist: Alright. So, let’s talk about what happened over the last few days here in New York City. I think, by most measures, there’s some areas of the city – in Queens, in particular – who have been frustrated by the snow cleanup. But, I think, compared to what we’ve seen in past years – not just under you, but under Mayor Bloomberg as well – it feels like the city did a pretty darn good job. You had a lot of people out working. What did you learn from 2014, where it was more frustrating for New Yorkers, that made it better this time?

Mayor: Get out there early; put a lot of personnel out, a lot of plows out, a lot of salt-spreaders out; get in position early; expect the worst, and expect it to come even earlier than it was projected to. And guess what happened? 

Scarborough: It came earlier.

Mayor: It came earlier. On Friday, we were hearing – I think the National Weather Service did a great job – and I understand this was a fast moving storm – on Friday, eight to 12 inches. When the smoke cleared – 27 inches of snow in Central Park –

[Laughter]

– 30.5 inches at JFK Airport. 

Brzezinski: And he showed up to put salt on your driveway. I just can’t believe that – Bill de Blasio. 

Scarborough: That was fantastic.

Brzezinski: So sweet.

Mayor: You deserve personal service. 

[Laughter]

Scarborough: That is personal service.

Brzezinski: Alright, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio –

Scarborough: I’ve got to say – seriously, it’s a shame he has a job already, because he would be the best spokesperson Hillary Clinton could ever have. It’s pretty remarkable. 

Mayor: You’re a good man. 

Scarborough: Bill de Blasio, we thank you so much for being with us –

Brzezinski: Thank you.

Scarborough: – And great job on the snow.