Transcript: Mayor Bill de Blasio Appears Live On MSNBC's All in With Chris Hayes

March 16, 2016

Chris Hayes: Hillary Clinton ran the table last night as she picked up wins in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and Missouri. And with those victories, Clinton took a step closer to securing the Democratic nomination. But despite being at a serious disadvantage, with Clinton significantly adding to her delicate lead last night, Bernie Sanders vows to continue his political revolution all the way to the Democratic National Convention this summer in Philadelphia, saying, “with more than half the delegates yet to be chosen,” which is true, “and the calendar that favors us in the weeks and months to come, we remain confident our campaign is on a path to win the nomination.” 

But whatever the outcome and the nominee, one thing is clear, the center of gravity of the national Democratic Party has moved significantly to the left, not only since Bill Clinton was president, but, in some ways, even since President Obama took office just eight years ago. One prominent Democratic politician who sees that as welcome news, I’d imagine – New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

Joining me now is New York City Mayor, and Hillary Clinton supporter, Bill de Blasio. It’s always a pleasure to have you stop by.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Chris.

Hayes: So, your wife said something that caught by eye about conversations with your kids about this primary. And it has been striking to me – literally the biggest demographic divide of any demographic divide – Democrat or Republican – race, anything – is the generational divide. Under 30 – Sanders is winning 71 to 29. 60 or over – Clinton – it’s the inverse. What do you make of that?

Mayor: I think young people have experienced life during and after the Great Recession. And, you know, having been born to parents who were the Great Depression generation, I can see an interesting resonance when I talk to my kids, Chiara and Dante. They are exceedingly concerned about money. They’re scared to death of college debt. They do not think opportunity is easy to come by. There’s a sobriety and a sharpness to a lot of members of this generation because they were born into overt economic unfairness. Well – a different reality in the Great Depression, but the result is the same – a really sharp progressive impulse, and a dissatisfaction with the status quo that is visceral. 

I do think, to your previous point, the Democratic Party is moving to the left. I think the country is moving to the left. I think the next generation is already there, and I am very happy about those realities. The Democratic Party of the DLC days – the Democratic Leadership Council days – unfortunately was part of the problem, and that impulse had to be weeded out of the party, and it’s happening now, and a lot of that is coming from the next generation. 

Hayes: That is a better answer than they’re naive idealists, which is the answer I hear a lot, right? People say, well, sure, generationally, you know, you think these things and then you get knocked around by life.

Mayor: I think they’re very sober and realistic, I really do.

Hayes: Yeah, that’s in some ways the opposite, right? 

Mayor: Yeah, I actually think it’s based on lived-experience. And, by the way, do you know a lot of people who would say – do you a lot of folks in their 40s, 50s, 60s, who would say the next generation is going to have it better than me? That was a key concept of the American dream. I know – I know for a fact that the numbers say the next generation will have it worse than we had it, and will face much deeper challenges, and much more economic unfairness, and much more stratification of wealth. Well, they’re reacting very logically, and they’re saying this doesn’t work, we’re not going to continue this. 

Hayes: There was a moment in the debate where Clinton and Sanders were asked if Donald Trump is a racist, and they both gave answers that were – they basically said yes, but did not say the words Donald Trump’s a racist. You tweeted this: “I didn’t realize this was a question. Behaves like a racist, speaks like a racist…of course @RealDonaldTrump is a racist.”

Should they had just said that?

Mayor: Look, I get why people hesitate to make such a sharp accusation. 

Hayes: It’s like that word has this sort of status – it’s like, who are you to say this, right?

Mayor: There’s that reality, and, look, I understand it’s something you should say when you’re sure. Well, I’m sure, because I saw what he said about Mexicans, I saw what he said about Muslims, about the Klu Klux Klan. When presented with the question on whether he’d accept support from the Klu Klux Klan, white supremacist groups, David Duke – he hesitated. Now, if anything’s been invalidated in American history, it’s the Klu Klux Klan. If you have to hesitate on that question, you qualify right there for being a racist. But it’s on top of that I said the way he’s using his racial appeal is extraordinarily cynical. You know, we talk a lot lately about dog whistles and coded language – he’s gone way past that to overt language, and I think therefore we have to use overt language and call him the racist he is. 

Hayes: What do you – look, I grew up in New York City, right? I grew up in the Bronx in the 80s, and, you know, it was basically every day Donald Trump was on the cover of the tabloids. I’d go, you know, wait for the bus, catch the bus to school – Donald Trump, Leona Helmsley, Reverend Al Sharpton. What do you make of this, watching this person who came up through the City? Has this always been there? You know, the ad he took out about the Central Park Five, saying we needed to bring back the death penalty; his father’s accusations of racial discrimination in his developments – was this shocking to you? Something new?

Mayor: When you go back to the Central Park Five, who were later exonerated, you’re right, you could see the germ of this, you could see the origins, because there too he was making a racial appeal – maybe more coded, but still a racial appeal. But I would say in the years since, when we got to see him as, you know, a reality TV star, and sort of self-promoter, and not necessarily dangerous, and not scheming in this way – well, what’s happened in the last few months – maybe it was latent – you could call it whatever you want – but it’s perfectly plain now. I called it proto-fascism, and I’m very comfortable with that because –

Hayes: I’ve noticed.

Mayor: You look – look at the combination – xenophobia, racism, encouraging violence among his supporters, militarism – he didn’t get a lot of attention the other day when he said let’s go into the Middle East, clean out ISIS, we’ll be back really quickly – you know, that was his framing. We’ve heard that from militarist leaders for generations – the boys will be home by Christmas. So, all the component parts are there. When I see that, I know my history well enough to say – I take that very, very seriously. The good news is, I don’t think the majority of American voters believe in those ideas or are going to find them acceptable. The voting pool he’s dealt with so far is not just Republican, with some Independents and crossover voters thrown in, it happens to be very conservative, often militant Republican. Well, where this is going is to a whole lot of openminded people, and I think Hillary Clinton fairs a lot better when we get to that playing field. 

Hayes: We’re probably going to see that. Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City, it’s always a pleasure to have you.

Mayor: Thank you, Chris.

Hayes: Thank you very much.

Mayor: My pleasure.