Bill de Blasio on Principles & Values NYC Mayor; Democratic Presidential Challenger (withdrawn)

Restructure society: tax the hell out of the wealthy

When I became the mayor of the nation's largest city, I set us on a path of bold change. They said it couldn't be done, but we gave pre-K to every child for free. We got rid of stop-and-frisk and we lowered crime. We raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Yes, it can be done.

For 40 years, working people have taken it on the chin in this country. For 40 years, the rich have gotten richer and they've paid less and less in taxes. It cannot go on this way. When I'm president, we will even up the score and we will tax the hell out of the wealthy to make this a fairer country and to make sure it's a country that puts working people first.

If you agree that we can stand up to Donald Trump and we can stand up to the wealthy, then go to TaxTheHell.com and join us, so we can build a country that puts working people first.

Impeach Trump, but Dems should talk about working people

We need more talk about working people and their lives. For example, are we really ready -- and I ask people on this stage this question -- are we ready to make sure that the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes? That's something every American wants to know about. That's something they want answers to right now.

So, yeah, move for impeachment, but don't forget to do the people's business and to stand up for working people, because that's how we're actually going to beat Donald Trump. The best impeachment is beating him in the election of 2020.

Restructure society: tax the hell out of the wealthy

When I became the mayor of the nation's largest city, I set us on a path of bold change. They said it couldn't be done, but we gave pre-K to every child for free. We got rid of stop-and-frisk and we lowered crime. We raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Yes, it can be done.

For 40 years, working people have taken it on the chin in this country. For 40 years, the rich have gotten richer and they've paid less and less in taxes. It cannot go on this way. When I'm president, we will even up the score and we will tax the hell out of the wealthy to make this a fairer country and to make sure it's a country that puts working people first.

If you agree that we can stand up to Donald Trump and we can stand up to the wealthy, then go to TaxTheHell.com and join us, so we can build a country that puts working people first.

Talk about day-to-day issues, not impeachment

A: Democrats for many years have not done a great job of speaking to people's everyday lives. So I would say let's get that part right. A focus on making health care affordable, being clear that the Trump tax cuts were a giveaway to the wealthy--those issues actually resonated in the 2018 Congressional elections, because they got to folks in their day to day life. There's a lot more to do in that vein.

Q: And on impeachment?

A: You know, I understand there is so much in the Mueller report that literally could lead to impeachment. It's a very real option. But while we don't know the future of the impeachment proceedings, we do know there is a scheduled election and it's real soon. And if Democrats are not and speaking every day to people's lives, then don't be surprised if we get the wrong result.

People are looking for bold, progressive change

A: How do you cut through? The point is to speak about clear, bold, progressive change, and prove you can do it. That's where it really comes down--that's what people are looking for.

A progressive who wants to change things

No, no. He's up to something bigger, he says. Obviously. "There's a lot of people in the political media and the political class who can only think through the prism of elections and only the very next elections, rather than understanding that social change is made in a variety of fashions. It's the electoral process. It's what happens at the local level as well as the national level. It is through issue-organizing," de Blasio argued, describing his trip as the natural outgrowth of being "a progressive who wants to change things" - and therefore "needs to work with people who are trying to create that change all over the country."

We lost our identity in trap of triangulation & moderation

"Part of why we're in the mess we're in is because we fell into a trap of triangulation and moderation, lost a lot of our identity and became unappealing to the very people who had been our support base," he said in the interview.

The problem for de Blasio is that many progressives, Democrats and other mayors say they also don't want HIM in this role--which adds up to a sort of national version of the public advocate job he held for four years in New York before becoming mayor. They're already fed up with his pledge to make Iowa the first of many stops traveling the country to talk about progressive politics and progressive candidates.

Religious identity: spiritual but not religious

Mayor Bill de Blasio is now perhaps the nation's most visible "none," an icon of one of the nation's fastest-growing religious groups--those without any formal religious identification.

His election could reflect a new kind of American politician--one who is shaped by religion and religious values but is not expected to talk about or bow to religion as in years past.

[His transition team's spiritual advisor says], "What drives him are his fundamental beliefs about liberation theology when it comes to social justice, our responsibility to care for all who are on this earth. I heard him on several occasions say 'Amen' when he felt very strongly about something."