Mayor de Blasio said his progressive political message appeals to voters across the country and his brand of New York campaigning has enough heft to unseat President Trump.
“You can tell this guy is a bully who needs to be confronted,” the mayor told MSNBC in an interview on Sunday. “Who better than a fellow New Yorker running the biggest toughest city in the country to take on Trump.”
“I’m a New Yorker. I know Trump. I know his tricks. I know his strategies. I know how to go at him,” Hizzoner said during a campaign stop in South Carolina.
“I came out of the gate and gave him a nickname ‘Con Don’ that immediately got under his skin. He countered with a tweet and a video,” said de Blasio, who announced his run for the Democratic presidential nomination last Thursday.
He said pre-K education, guaranteed health care and support for the working class are issues that appeal to voters not only in New York but across the country.
“I found the same message resonated everywhere. And one of the things I say is a very blunt truth about this country. I say there’s plenty of money in this country, it’s just in the wrong hands. I talk about the government’s on the side of the 1 percent, not working people,” de Blasio said.
“I have six years of evidence that change can happen for working people, we’ve shown what it looks like when the government is actually on the side of the working people and willing to take on the 1 percent,” the mayor continued. “That message resonates in rural areas, urban areas.”
Asked whether going after the president with nicknames contributes to the deteriorating political discourse in the country, de Blasio dismissed the suggestion.
“What I hear from my fellow Democrats all over this country, they want to see a fight. They are sick of the Democratic Party not standing up for working people and not fighting for everyday Americans,” he said, adding “Let’s call like we see it. Let’s go right at him.”