Fox News host Tucker Carlson did not hold back while grilling New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio about the city smelling like urine, immigration and many other issues on Thursday night’s episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight.
De Blasio is running for the 2020 Democratic Party nomination — despite the fact that he isn’t even popular in his own city.
Carlson opened up the interview by admitting that his show has “always been consistent about from the first day until today is making fun of Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York, on every topic.”
The interview began cordially, despite Carlson’s long running mockery, with the men agreeing that jobs are going to be lost to automation and something needs to be done to help those who are impacted. The friendliness did not last long, though. The mood shifted as soon as Carlson began to question why the mayor is concerned about automation, but not immigration — which also takes American jobs.
“If you really believe that automation is a threat to low-skill jobs, why are you for mass immigration? What are all these people going to do that we’re importing with your help?” Carlson asked.
After a back and forth exchange about immigration, Carlson threw in that New York City is dirty, very dirty.
“I want, on that point, to transition to the city that you run, New York, where I was yesterday. The city is dirty. And it’s getting dirtier,” Carlson said. “One of my producers told me just yesterday that he was in a crowded subway car and a man dropped his trousers and defecated in the middle of the car. And no one did anything about it. And that’s a metaphor for what’s happening. I go there regularly. And I have my whole life and every time I go under your mayorship, it is dirtier. There is filth on the sidewalks. Do you notice any of that?”
De Blasio responded by acknowledging that the city has problems, but pivoted quickly to claiming that the economy is booming under his leadership.
“Tucker, look, here is what’s going on in New York City today. We have challenges, no doubt. And I don’t accept a situation like that. I’m someone who believes the quality of life has to be addressed aggressively. I believe in quality of life policing, I always have,” de Blasio said. “That kind of situation is unacceptable. But the big picture is, we are the safest big city in America. It is proven statistically time and time again. We have 500,000 new jobs since I became mayor — the largest number of jobs in our history right now, the strongest economy we’ve ever had.”
Carlson wasn’t about to let up on the filthiness of the city just yet though, telling de Blasio, “you endorse decriminalizing public urination.”
De Blasio claimed that Carlson’s statement was false, but the host held his ground. “No, it’s not false. I was living there when you did it,” he said. “You weakened the sanction against public urination and as a result, the city smells like urine.”
The debate continued as Carlson brought up the shocking increase in homelessness since de Blasio took office — and quickly went back to discussing the urine problem.
According to a poll by Sienna College only 29% of New York voters have a favorable view of de Blasio.
