Elizabeth Warren Praises Zohran Mamdani, Insists that Socialism Will Work in NYC

HOST: “Well, then who’s the leadership from the Democratic side that you think —”
Warren: “All 47 — “
HOST: “— is —”
Warren: “— of us. All 47 of us in the United States —”
FABER: “It’s not working.”
HOST: “Right.”
Warren: “Really?”
FABER: “Well, I mean, you’re not managing to change anything in terms of convincing some of your colleagues to think differently.” [crosstalk]
Warren: “Actually, I disagree with you. What we’re doing is we’re driving a single message now. This is — and this is why I’m in New York City today to meet with Zohran Mamdani. And that is it’s all about affordability. Remember, Donald Trump ran for office saying he would lower costs on day one. Cost of groceries are up.”
Cost of housing is up. Cost of health care is up. And where is Donald Trump? He’s passing a signature bill to throw people off their health care so he can do tax cuts for billionaires. Democrats are the people who say billionaires actually should pay their fair share and that we need to focus on affordability for American families. And that’s what we’re out there fighting for.”
FABER: “You mentioned Mamdani and you are in New York sort of talking — speaking on behalf of him to a certain extent. You know, I wonder, though, often we see this and this is a local election. New York does not operate in a vacuum. It competes with other cities. And so this idea of somehow raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, who, by the way, would point out pay roughly 15 percent their income right now between city and state, raising taxes on them will simply drive them away. Shouldn’t the focus of a mayor be on delivering services to the constituents of the city and doing that by raising the most revenue as possible without chasing businesses and the high income taxpayers out of the city? Because they can go to Austin. They can go to Dallas. They can go to Atlanta. They can go to Nashville. This is your issue. It’s a national issue, not a local issue.”
Warren: “The issue is affordability. Do you know how many working families are chased out of New York City every day because they can’t afford housing, they can’t afford groceries, they can’t afford childcare? What Zohran is saying is I want people to be able to afford to live in New York City. That’s what keeps it a vibrant city. That’s what makes people want to live here.”
FABER: “Nobody disagrees with that, senator. But raising taxes in order to do it. Why is that the answer?”
Warren: “Oh, my goodness! Oh, dear! Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry?”
FABER: “No, I’m worried that they’re going to leave and spend their money elsewhere.”
Warren: “You know, they’ve threatened to do that over and over and over.”
FABER: “And they have. They’ve left.”
Warren: “But here’s the thing. You — you —”
FABER: “And Goldman Sachs, when they create new jobs, they do it in Dallas. And Blackstone won’t build a new headquarters. I can go on and on.”
Warren: “You want to have a workable city. You want to have a city that’s vibrant. You want to have a city where streets are full, where there are things for sale 24 hours a day, then you need people who can live here and work here.” [crosstalk]
FABER: “We’ve got that right now, by the way. I would point out New York is — New York is thriving. So right now it’s doing pretty well, actually.”
Warren: “Well, people — I’m glad you think they’re doing well, because a lot of people are struggling to pay for housing, a lot of people are struggling to pay for groceries. And I got to tell you, mommies and daddies who are facing $25,000 a year to pay for child care, a lot of them they end up —”
FABER: “Those are national issues.”
Warren: “They are an issue right here in New York City.”
FABER: “I mean, I know they are the local state, but you can’t — yes. But if you deal with them in that way, by what is always your backup, just tax them more. They will leave.”
Warren: “No. The backup is make this city and make this country work for everyone. I get that the Republican point of view is make this country and make every city in this country work better and better for a handful of billionaires and let everybody else eat dirt. But what Mamdani won on in a Democratic primary is he said, I’m going to address affordability. And he didn’t win by one vote.”
FABER: “No, he won by a lot. It’s very much unclear he has the ability to actually do it, by the way, based on the laws and what the governor has to say and what he would actually have to do.”
Warren: “You know, I love that is the fallback position. And that is he’s fighting for the right thing. But maybe, maybe the billionaires have —“ [crosstalk]
FABER: “Well, everybody wants a more affordable city. There’s no doubt about that. The question is how you build more housing.”
Warren: “The billionaires should pay their part on this.”
FABER: “You build more housing. You do try to make it more affordable. But it is a very difficult thing to do.”
You know that around the country. This is not an issue that just here in New York, it’s everywhere.”
Warren: “Yeah. But it’s not an issue that Eric Adams was fighting for. It’s certainly not an issue that Andrew Cuomo was fighting for.”
FABER: “I think the mayor would say they have been trying to focus on building as many new —”
Warren: “Mamdani is the one who said, I will make this a priority. And you know what he said? He said, I’m really going to lean in on child care. I’m really going to lean in on housing. And I’m even going to try some new things to bring down the cost of groceries.”
FABER: “So it doesn’t concern you that he is —”
Warren: “I’m not going to sit around and pretend, oh, it’s a federal problem. Let the federal government fix this.”
FABER: “I mean, you can — you can say all these things. But again, I think many people would disagree to the extent that by raising taxes and making it more owners for business that create the jobs, that create the revenues on which taxes are — tax revenues come from, that you’d ultimately be dealing with a smaller pie. He may succeed by driving everybody out. Rents will go down.”
Warren: “If you think that the best way to run city government or national government is to start with the billionaires and say, what will work best for you? Vote Republican.”
FABER: “I don’t think anybody in New York is talking about doing that.”
Warren: “But if you don’t — if you don’t then let’s make the city more affordable. Let’s make the country more affordable. And the way we do that, let’s focus on housing. Let’s focus on groceries. Let’s focus on child care. Donald Trump ran —”
FABER: “These are your issues.”
Warren: “Donald —”
FABER: “These are national issues.”
Warren: “Dondal Trump ran for —”
FABER: “You deal with that.”
Warren: “Oh, and New York should just say —”
FABER: “No.”
Warren: “— all we want is the billioners pay whatever you want you want to pay.”
FABER: “The mayor of New York to focus on delivering the most services to the citizens of the city and make it make it a point of improving life for them.”
Warren: “I’m sorry. Your fellow New Yorkers have said he should focus on affordability. This is why they have voted for Mamdani. And that’s why today I will be here to talk about his plans on child care. People are talking about his plans. He’s going to experiment to try to bring down grocery costs and food deserts. God bless him on that. He’s going to try something. When is the last time you saw a mayor say, I’m going to try something for families and he’s going to bring —”
FABER: “You think somebody who has absolutely no experience, 33 year old socialist, is going to succeed as the mayor of New York?”
Warren: “Yes, I do.”
FABER: “With no real experience whatsoever in city government?”
Warren: “I think he’s going to do a lot more for working families than someone like Cuomo who says, how many billions of dollars can we get into my campaign so that I can try to beat this guy back? Look, this is democracy at work. People want to see someone who’s on their side. And that is Zohran Mamdani.”