Transcript: Mayor de Blasio on CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello

July 24, 2015

PART 1

Carol Costello: …Trump went on to say that despite the controversy swirling around his remarks about Mexico, he thinks he will win the Hispanic vote handily.

I sat down with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to talk about his visit to the Vatican and climate change, and I’ll share that with you in the next hour, but I was also compelled to ask the mayor about New York’s own Donald Trump. Let’s just say if Mayor de Blasio had his wish, New York would never do business with the Donald again.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Yeah, I don’t think he represents the values of New York City. You know, he’s from here, but he doesn’t represent our values, because this is the ultimate city of immigrants and a place that believes in including every kind of people in our society.

Costello: But he says he loves Hispanics – he’s had thousands who work for him.

Mayor: Yeah, I mean obviously his comments about Mexican Americans were derogatory and inappropriate, and there’s been moral outrage all over the country about them. So I would simply say he’s gone very far from his roots here, because this is a city where we would never tolerate that kind of language.

Costello: Will you do business with Donald Trump in the future?

Mayor: Not if I can help it. Look, I think he has set a very negative tone – and that’s even before what he said about Senator McCain. And you don’t have to agree with Senator McCain politically to think that that was outrageous and inappropriate. I think Senator McCain is a war hero, period. There’s nothing else to discuss and he should be respected as such. I think Donald Trump has invalidated himself as a public figure. We will not seek out business with him and his companies. You know, we will certainly look for other options, and I hope there’s to have to do business.

Costello: So I know that your office is reviewing contracts –

Mayor: Correct.

Costello: – to see if you can get out of them. Is that review complete?

Mayor: It’s not quite complete. I don’t think, from what we’ve seen so far, there is a construct to get out of those contracts, but we’ll certainly look for every option.

Costello: Why do you think so many people are attracted to Donald Trump? What is it about him?

Mayor: Well, I would differentiate him from some of the things he’s saying. I think there is a subset of the American people that are very frustrated about some of the reality we face and unfortunately try to blame immigrants who are not the root of the problem. And I think we need to have a better conversation in this country. The best thing that we can do for our economy would be comprehensive immigration reform. It would not only be morally right, it would be economically strengthening for our nation.

Costello: Not – not building a wall between –

Mayor: Not building a wall – not in the least. And so the conversation needs to address the fact that many Americans are economically very, very frustrated. They have seen themselves and their families fall behind economically. They legitimately are looking for answers and looking for someone to blame. Immigrants are not the problem. The problem is income inequality. The problem is the concentration of wealth and power in this country and the fact that too many of our government policies don’t help working people. That’s where our energy should go. Unfortunately, someone like Trump tries to whip people up and blame the immigrants as the root of the problem. They’re not the root of the problem.

Costello: Well, he also blames politicians, because he says, you know, I have enough money to do things – nobody can buy me, I’m worth $10 billion – everybody should be grateful because I’m an independent person and I’ll do what I want – I’m not controlled by the lobbyists. And a lot of people really like when he says stuff like that.

Mayor: I don’t know how many. I’m sure some people find that appealing. I think giving more power to an extraordinarily wealthy person would take us backwards.

Costello: Even though he says his wealth gives him independence?

Mayor: His wealth gives him a perspective to continue policies that have failed for the American people. Let’s face it – I mean, he’s the ultimate example of trickle-down economics, right? He believes that someone like him having a lot of wealth is the best thing for the economy in general. Well, the reverse is true. We’ve seen wealth concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. It’s had a very negative impact on how many people are employed and what kind of wages they have. Trickle-down economics has failed, and what we actually need is a government that understands that for most working people, they’ve lost ground in the last quarter-century or so. There needs to be an investment in our economy – things like education, research, infrastructure. We need to raise wages and benefits. We need to focus on working families. You know, we need to guarantee things like paid family leave and paid sick leave. This is what we’ve been working on through an effort we call the Progressive Agenda, which can be seen at progressiveagenda.us. And it’s a platform that progressives all across the country have put forward to say these are the building blocks of a more fair economy and a more inclusive economy, and a way to address what’s become rampant inequality in this country. It’s very interesting – the American people – you saw the poll a little over a month ago that pointed out that income inequality is deeply on the minds of people in this country. Across region and across party, they want to see a more fair economy. We who believe in a more progressive option have to make clear that folks like Trump are just going to take a bad situation and make it worse.

Costello: If he runs as a third party candidate, will you applaud?

Mayor: You know, I don’t – I don’t practice punditry. I would say the fact is we need a progressive candidate who will talk about the changes this country really needs economically.