“American Nightmare!” Ron Paul + O’Leary vs de Blasio | Mamdani + Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill

22:55You can call me Bill. It's great.

22:57Piers Morgan:Now, look, I love New York. I go to New York a lot. I've lived in New York on and off over the last 20 years. What do you make of this furore surrounding the, well, as some put it, including Donald Trump, the looming possibility, if not probability, that a real-life communist may become mayor of this great city? Well, first of all, I think people should actually listen to what Zorhan Mandani is saying. the things he's talking about. I think you, as someone in the UK, would see as social democracy. You'd see it as very common in many countries of Europe. He's talking about things like making bus transportation affordable, because right now, too many people are struggling in this city and just can't make ends meet.

23:48You know, you love New York. It's one of the most expensive places on earth. It is. So when he talks about free buses, free buses is an idea that is spreading all over THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO UNITED STATES TO GET PEOPLE ON TO MASS TRANSIT WHICH IS ALREADY HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED AS YOU KNOW. HE'S TALKED ABOUT GROCERY STORES. THIS HAS BEEN A FASCINATING CONTROVERSY. PEOPLE ARE LIKE, OH, HE'S GOING TO SOCIALIZE THE GROCERIES. NO, HE'S NOT. WHAT HE'S SAYING IS WE 'VE ACTUALLY SEEN SUPERMARKETS CLOSING ALL OVER NEW YORK CITY. THEIR MARGINS ARE TOO THIN, ESPECIALLY IN LOWER INCOME ON WORKING CLASS COMMUNITIES.

24:14So he's saying maybe the government can step in and provide a service. Of course, people still have to buy food, but at an affordable rate, rather than not having fresh produce and having a supermarket in their neighborhood, which is really not consistent with a civilized country. I mean, these are very straightforward ideas. Also, if you listen to him, he's a very intelligent person. He's a sophisticated person. He's a reasonable person. It's not accidental that one parent of his is a noted filmmaker, Miraner, AND THE OTHER UNNOTED ACADEMIC, HE IS NOT FIRE-BREATHING. HE HAS VERY STRONG VIEWS.

24:49HE'S A PROGRESSIVE, UNQUESTIONABLY. BUT THIS EFFORT TO PAINT HIM AS AN EXTREMIST OR SOMEONE UNREASONABLE, I 'VE TALKED TO HIM MANY, MANY TIMES. AND I KNOW AN EXTREMIST WHEN I SEE ONE. THIS IS NOT AN EXTREMIST. THIS IS A SMART, RESPONSIBLE PERSON WHO HAPPENS TO HAVE VIEWS THAT ARE DIFFERENT. BUT I 'LL TELL YOU SOMETHING, PIERS, THIS IS THE EARTHQUAKE WE SAW IN NEW YORK CITY. I think we're going to see it all over the country. The younger generation has spoken here. The turnout among voters in their 20s and 30s was off the charts. We've never seen anything like it in terms of it surpassing the voter turnout levels of senior citizens.

25:23I mean, this is unprecedented. And I think what it says is for Gen Z and for younger millennials, what they're saying is, we can't make ends meet. We can't buy a house. We don't feel our incomes are stable. we can't pay off our loans we need something different and I think Azhar Han fully understood that people sort of got into a point of they need to see a different approach and he's offering a different vision and it captured the imagination and in many ways that's a very healthy thing.

25:51Piers Morgan:What was very interesting I thought about the the vote that came in for him is that on the one side you have a lot of people screaming about the fact that he's Muslim. Notable figures actually saying, have we learned nothing from 9-11? As if somehow every Muslim in New York is going to commit a terror attack, which is clearly racist in the way they express themselves about him there. But on the other hand, you had a lot of young Jewish people in New York City, which has more Jews living in it than any city outside of Tel Aviv in the world, queuing up, racing to vote for a Muslim candidate. I found that pretty extraordinary, but very telling.

26:34Piers Morgan:What did they say to you? It's such a powerful point. I mean, look, the fact is he did get a very strong Jewish vote. And if you know the Jewish community, and I was honored to serve as mayor for eight years of that city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, what you know is it's an extremely diverse community. A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY RESPONDED TO HIS MESSAGE. OTHER PEOPLE ARE WORRIED AND I UNDERSTAND THEY'RE WORRIED BUT THAT'S I DON'T THINK THEY 'VE HEARD THE WHOLE MESSAGE. I DON'T THINK THEY 'VE GOTTEN TO KNOW HIM AS A PERSON. IF YOU LOOK AT THE SECOND DEBATE WHICH WAS DECISIVE WHICH IS REALLY WHEN I THINK ZORHAN TOOK OFF AND CUOMO REALLY STARTED TO FADE.

27:18I THOUGHT ZORHAN'S STATEMENTS ABOUT PROTECTING THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN NEW YORK DOING HIS JOB AS MAYOR BY MAKING SURE THAT COMMUNITY IS SAFE, FIGHTING anti-Semitism and fighting Islamophobia at the same time, I thought they were heartfelt and intense. I'm someone who believes in the state of Israel. I believe there's a need for a Jewish state. I know plenty of Jewish people who have a different vision, closer to Zor Hanz, which is a multicultural democracy in Israel. Those are legitimate questions. That's a legitimate conversation. But I think it's been, unfortunately, a bad trend lately when there's a policy difference, maybe a different vision of what peace will be in the Middle East or a different vision of whether the Netanyahu government is doing right or wrong in Gaza.

28:04Some people turn that into something deeper and throw the phrase anti-Semitism very lightly. It should not be thrown lightly. That is a profoundly troubling reality, and you should only put that label to someone who truly has earned it. It's not fair to say it about Zorchane and many other people. And when we're going to fight anti-Semitism, we need to really identify the true anti-Semites of all different ideologies. But here, I think what happened was people voted locally. It's funny, Andrew Cuomo, I think, thought the election could be about the Middle East. He disproportionately focused on that question, hoping, I think, that he could turn out a massive Jewish vote.

28:42But it doesn't matter if someone's Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, they're voting locally. The famous Tip O 'Neill quote that kind of defines America, all politics is local.

28:51Piers Morgan:Well, Tucker Carlson, Of all people, Tucker Carlson, who you would never imagine would say anything complimentary about a guy like Zahra Mamdani, he came out and said, you know what, he was the only candidate actually talking about New York City. And it was probably that which propelled him to win the primary, because actually he was engaged in exactly what you just said. And he wasn't taking a kind of global posturing position at all. You know, I don't often agree with Tucker, but I think he's got the right point here. And I'll tell you something. It was a fascinating moment in that second debate where they said, classic New York City question, which nation will you visit first as mayor?

29:36And this is, you know, we are the most diverse, ethnically diverse place on earth. The city of immigrants, people are very close to their homelands. It is natural for New York City mayors to go overseas. And each candidate talked about where they go. And then it got to Zorhan Mandani, and he said, I'm going to stay right here in New York. I'm going to focus on the neighborhoods. And that is the essence of why he won. He was ubiquitous. He was with people. Every time you saw him, all those videos he created, they were great videos. But more important than the quality of the video was, he was in neighborhoods with people.

30:09You know, on the last 48 hours before the election, he walked the length of Manhattan from one tip to the other. And just connected with people. And meanwhile, Cuomo was his leading, Andrew Cuomo was his leading competitor, rarely would be seen in anything but a very formal set piece event and only a few each day. That contrast, there's so many layers here, Piers, but one of them that's most profound is people are hurting. It's all about affordability at this point in New York City. And they wanted to know that the mayor felt it, understood it could connect with them. And the guy who did it, sure, he's 33.

30:43Sure, he's Muslim. Sure, he's a democratic socialist. People, in many ways, didn't care about any of that. They wanted to know who understood them and actually might do something about their challenges.

30:53Piers Morgan:When he talked about, you know, black and white neighborhoods and what he might do one comparative to the other, was he being naive there? Did he do anything wrong? Should he have phrased it differently? Or was he simply actually calling out the reality? You know, having just listened to Ron Paul on your show, I WAS IMPRESSED BY THE REFRESHING TRUTH TELLING. AND I THINK IT CROSSES THE IDEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM. I THINK WE'RE IN THE AGE OF AUTHENTICITY. TO MANY VOTERS AND JUST EVERYDAY PEOPLE, IT IS MUCH LESS ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC IDEOLOGY AND MUCH MORE ABOUT ARE YOU SPEAKING FROM THE HEART, ARE YOU CALLING IT AS YOU SEE IT.

31:38THIS IS BLUNTLY PART OF WHY TRUMP BEAT KAMALA HARRIS IN 2024. And I didn't agree with him. I don't think his message was necessarily sincere, but people heard him willing to say whatever came to mind. And he is authentic, Trump.

31:52Piers Morgan:I mean, I've known Trump a long time. He says what he thinks in the moment. Now, what he thinks may change from day to day, but there is a real unvarnished authenticity about him. And in a way, Mamdani does remind me a bit of Trump, but on the progressive left side. And it may be he's exactly what they've needed. Of course, the big question becomes, you know, if this, as you say, has a ripple effect across America, can a progressive left Democrat national candidate actually beat, say, for argument's sake, another MAGA candidate, say it's J.D. Vance or whoever it may be in the next election, could a progressive left Democrat candidate actually win?

32:32Piers Morgan:Because that, I think, is a bigger question for the Democrats on the national stage. I think based on the evidence we've seen in 2016 and 2020 in the Democratic primaries, in both instances, Bernie Sanders came quite close to winning the nomination, especially 2020. And what was fascinating, Piers, was how many people who ultimately became Trump voters were attracted to Bernie Sanders' message. He was an outsider. He was speaking authentically. no one doubts that about Bernie. And he was going, everything was economics. Everything was kitchen table issues, health care, wages, really core things that people could relate to.

33:14By the way, that is what the 2024 election was all about. It was all about economics. Donald Trump understood that a lot better than Kamala Harris. Well, Zarhan understood that lesson so deeply in New York. And the combination of the authenticity, the ubiquitousness, the focus, the relentless focus on economic issues. That could work for a national Democrat and actually could peel off some of those Trump Democrats. You know, the fascinating thing, you know America well, fascinating reality, five elections, and there are a number of counties in America that did this. They did Obama, Obama, Trump, Biden, Trump.

33:53This is a fascinating phenomenon, individual voters, but also counties that are crucial counties in swing states. That pattern over five elections. What does that tell you? It tells you that those voters could go either way. And what they're looking for is someone who gets what they're going through is going to do something about it. I think this model could be persuasive on a national level, but only if the person who is the nominee is willing to be that unvarnished, speak from the heart, tell it like it is person, and sometimes say things that are not popular. To your earlier point, sometimes Zoran says something that no political consultant would ever approve of, but the public hears it as, you know what, he's willing to say the thing he actually thinks and we may not even have to agree with it but we don't think he's editing himself or spinning us.

34:37We think he's actually talking with us.

34:40Piers Morgan:Okay, well joining us now to probably not agree with everything you've just said is the chairman of O 'Leary Ventures and Shark Tank star Kevin O 'Leary. Brussels clean up nicely at Sweet Green. Maple glazed, roasted and edges perfectly caramelized. Sweet Green's fall harvest is back on the menu, and the season's most overlooked little green vegetable is dressed to be devoured. You know what to do. Order on the Sweet Green app. So, Kevin, I know you've just joined us. You may have missed some of the eulogy we heard there from former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to Zaram Amandani. But in a nutshell, this is the great hope that New York has been waiting for.

35:24Piers Morgan:The young in particular are energized by this dynamic young Muslim. He's not a communist. He's just a guy who cares about New York, and he's going to make their lives better with free buses and the rest of his agenda. Your thoughts?

35:39Kevin O'Leary:Well, I did hear his comments, and I respect them, but I, of course, don't agree with him at all. There's a reason that these young people in New York are despondent and looking for relief. New York is in economic collapse because of policies like these that were put in previously and now even accelerated or magnified with what he's proposing. The problem New York has, just pragmatically speaking, what this mayor has is the states, this was put in place by the founding fathers, compete with each other for capital and ideas and tax rates and policy. And New York is at the bottom of the barrel on all of those.

36:22Kevin O'Leary:And so quietly, wealthy people who pay all the taxes are leaving New York and going to states like Tennessee, Florida, Texas. They still keep their residences in New York, but they only live there six months less a day by the billions of dollars, billions, billions of dollars. And then developers like me, I'm just one, when we choose to put work or money to work, sovereign wealth funds, we quietly fly over New York. New York should be competing right now in AI because it has low cost power behind Niagara Falls. But quietly, we don't put money there because of policy like this and politicians like this, because we can do it with much less risk in North Dakota, West Virginia, Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, Texas, you name it.

37:15Kevin O'Leary:So quietly, all this money by the billions is leaving. And so the only thing you can do to people who can't find meaningful jobs with politicians like him and AOC and all the rest of it is say, give me free stuff. Give me free bus rides. Give me free subway. Give me free food. Don't make me work. Just like we did in the Soviet Union and in North Korea. Well, we know how that ends very, very badly. And I think that's going to happen in New York, a slow decay of economic wealth.

37:51Piers Morgan:Okay. Bill de Blasio, apparently we're heading towards North Korea if this progressive socialist gets into power. I AM NOT GOING TO START LEARNING KOREAN. KOREAN. SORRY, PIERS. IT'S NOT COMING OUR WAY. HERE'S THE DEAL. SINCE THE PANDEMIC, YOU 'LL REMEMBER WE WERE THE EPICENTER OF THE PANDEMIC IN THE UNITED STATES. RIGHT BEFORE THE PANDEMIC, I'M PROUD TO SAY AS MAYOR, WE GOT TO OUR HIGHEST JOB TOTAL EVER IN OUR HISTORY, 4.5 MILLION JOBS. WELL, WE LOST SOME JOBS BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC, AND GUESS WHAT? THEY HAVE COME BACK AND THEN SOME. SO I'M SORRY THAT THE FACTS ARE THE FACT IS NEW YORK CITY IS BOOMING.

38:31WE ARE PRODUCING NEW MILLIONAIRES ALL THE TIME. NOW, I AGREE. I THINK IN THE SPIRIT OF ZOR HAN, IT'S GOOD TO BE TRUTH TELLING. YEAH, SOME PEOPLE HAVE LEFT FOR FLORIDA. THAT IS A TRUE STATEMENT. AND SOME OF THAT IS PHILOSOPHICAL FOR SURE. BUT OUR ECONOMY IS STRONG ENOUGH AND OUR HISTORY IS BEING A CENTER OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CREATIVITY AND UNPARALLELED ENERGY. IF YOU'RE ACTIVE IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY, YOU HAVE TO BE IN NEW YORK. That is a reality, and that's how businesses comport themselves. So I disagree that policies that would be common in Western Europe to make transportation affordable, to make sure people have supermarkets in their neighborhoods, we're only talking about trying to make sure basic human needs are met.

39:16That actually makes for a stronger city and a more sustainable city. We are the global capital of capitalism. That's not changing. IT IS A PART OF THE PEOPLE WE HAVE TO BE A PLACE THAT PEOPLE CAN AFFORD. BY THE WAY, I TALK TO YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ALL THE TIME. I DID FREE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION, PRE-K FOR ALL. AND I TALKED TO YOUNG PROFESSIONALS WHO SAY IF IT WERE NOT FOR THAT BENEFIT, THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO STAY IN NEW YORK AND CONTRIBUTE TO OUR ECONOMY AND OUR GROWTH. SO PEOPLE IN THE MOST EXPENSIVE CITY IN AMERICA, THEY DO NEED SOME SPECIAL SUPPORTS. BUT WHAT DO THEY GIVE BACK FOR

39:54YOU CAN'T FIND A SINGLE CITY WITH OVER 4.5 MILLION JOBS ANYPLACE ELSE. AND SO I JUST THINK THE SKY IS FALLING MENTALITY. WE HEARD IT AFTER 9-11. WE HEARD IT AFTER THE RECESSION. WE HEARD IT AS COVID HIT THAT NEW YORK CITY WAS GOING TO BE OVER AND WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? BUT GUESS WHAT? PROPERTY, LOOK AT RENTS. LOOK AT PROPERTY VALUES. HIGHER THAN EVER. DOESN'T THAT SAY SOMETHING ABOUT HOW MUCH PEOPLE WANT TO BE here. Okay, Kevin.

40:20Piers Morgan:So, Kevin, you're a doom monger painting an apocalyptic picture, which many people have done over the years that never materializes.

40:29Kevin O'Leary:No, no, no. I'm not a doom monger. I'm just dealing with facts. What's the highest tax rate you can possibly get in the United States of America? New York City. Where is the lowest value for your taxes? New York City. And in terms of being the only place on earth where capital is flowing to. Au contraire, Mozambique. Let's go to Abu Dhabi. Let's go to Doha. Let's go to London, England. Let's go to Switzerland and Zurich, where all the competitions occurring. New York is not the only place you can put money to work. And look, I love New York City. I have family there. I choose not to live there.

41:05Kevin O'Leary:I choose not to pay taxes there. I choose to see the Rockettes and just think about what this means when people sail up the Hudson years and years decades ago to be free from abuse of taxation only to find her there in the most heavily taxed most difficult policy most anti-business environment in the United States that is not the American dream the Statue of Liberty represents the American dream and now she's dealing with the American nightmare in terms of policy. I am not the only person that feels this way. I am not a do-monger, but I'm saying watch out, New York. There's plenty of competition domestically in states like Texas and Florida and internationally as we digitize the economy.

41:54Kevin O'Leary:I would be very concerned if I were in New York City watching this kind of policy. I have no qualm about the success this politicians had he's played it perfectly but there is a cost to bad policy i'm not i don't make money with politicians i don't care they come and go this guy's going to be gone soon too but the slow erosion of the competitiveness of new york state and new york city is evident to capital from all around the world and i'm just one voice pointing it out i don't see doom i'm going back to new york next week i love it i'll make damn sure i'm not there six months and a day, though.

42:34Piers Morgan:Kevin, just quickly, on the question of the fact that he's a Muslim, it does seem to have brought out the worst in certain people, talking about 9-11 and all this kind of thing. And yet, as I was talking to Bill earlier, it was very striking that in the stampede of young people who raced to vote for Mamdani, many of them were young Jewish people. So they clearly don't have any problem with him being a Muslim. What do you make of the attention around his religion?

43:06Kevin O'Leary:Listen, I believe every... One of the reasons America is so successful is we allow every religion. You can pray to any god you wish, and that's so valuable. You only realise how much you want that when you go to a place where you can't do it. But I don't... Look, he can be any religion he wants. It's his policy I care about. And I have lots of Muslim friends and lots of Muslims working for me. I respect that religion. I really do, as I do the Jewish religion, as I do the Catholic religion, of which I'm a member, Irish Catholic. It doesn't get any tougher than that. And so, you know, to me, that is not what we're talking about here.

43:42Kevin O'Leary:It may have some resonance in terms of people's concern, or if there's some way don't like him because of it, that's just wrong. That's un-American. But the policy is not right. And so I would, you know, I'm probably going to have to deal with this mayor at some point. I will tell him how I feel about his policies and why he should think about them a little bit more. Because I like to bring the generalist view, the competitive view. I invest all around the world and I represent economies everywhere. You know, and I think that's important. I do not want to see the city where my daughter lives turn into, I don't know, Los Angeles.

44:20Kevin O'Leary:That's a pretty bad place. That's another example of bad policy. All right, Bill. Yeah. First of all, the folks who came up the Hudson River long ago were seeking religious freedom, not freedom from taxation. And I want to say, picking up, and I thought Kevin was very heartfelt, and I agree with him, on the beauty of a society, the necessity of a society that allows for all religions and beliefs. New York City is the exemplar of that, which is why we have attracted the greatest talent from all over the world. And this is the X factor. I'm not saying there aren't other places to invest. I understand that.

44:55But what we have that is absolutely beyond compare, the greatest pool of talent, certainly anywhere in the country, I would say anywhere in the world, because people are attracted to the culture, to the vibrancy, to the entrepreneurship, to the creativity. And that has not changed one iota, regardless of every crisis. In fact, COVID, great example. We faced an incredible crisis. The city came together. We showed our strength and resiliency. It made people believe in us more. Point one. Point two. Kevin, with all due respect. the value proposition when you pay your taxes in New York City, the finest police force on earth, the finest firefighters on earth, the finest health department on earth.

45:34When you saw how the health apparatus of this city fought back against COVID and we went from epicenter to a place that was highly vaccinated and one of health wise, one of the safest places in the country in less than a year. The capacity of the public service of New York City to serve people is extraordinary, unparalleled. Yes, it costs money, there's no doubt. But the product is there. I will guarantee you what the NYPD does every day, worth its weight in gold, worth every tax dollar.

46:03Piers Morgan:Bill, let me ask you. I think, please. I'm going to make a point. If Mamdani is the great hope now for the Democrats, and he's going to transform New York and so on, why has the House minority I THINK THAT'S A HUGE MISTAKE. I THINK THAT'S A HUGE MISTAKE. I HAVE A LOT OF RESPECT FOR HAKIM JEFFRIES. I KNOW HIM WELL. I THINK IT'S A MISTAKE. BECAUSE HERE WE HAVE SOMEONE NOW THE FULL COUNT OF THE PRIMARY IS IN. HE WON 56 % OF THE VOTE. AGAINST A FORMER GOVERNOR 100 % KNOWN TO THE PEOPLE OF THIS CITY. OBVIOUSLY SOMEONE WON WITH MANY SCANDALS, TOO. BUT THE POINT IS THERE WAS INTENSE COMPETITION. AND MAMDANI WON 56 % OF THE VOTE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY IN A CITY THAT IS 6-1 DEMOCRATIC REGISTRATION.

46:58SO I THINK IT'S TIME FOR DEMOCRATIC LEADERS TO RECOGNIZE NOT ONLY DID THEY WIN FAIR AND SQUARE, HE'S SAYING THE THINGS THAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT. HE'S NOT SAYING THEM INSINCERELY. HE'S SAYING THEM FROM THE HEART. IT'S ALL ABOUT AFFORDABILITY. IF DEMOCRATS IN 2024 HAD RUN a campaign closer to mom Donnie's campaign, we could have beaten Donald Trump. It's as simple as that. We would have the House of Representatives right now if we spoke as relentlessly about the cost of living and what we were going to do about it. And if we were out with the people and connected to the people, not fancy concerts with celebrities, but actually connecting to the people.

47:34So I think all Democrats should recognize here's someone who has actually shown us what our THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE FDR AND TRUMAN AND KENNEDY AND JOHNSON COMING TO LIFE AGAIN IN THIS TIME. THAT IS THE PARTY THAT HAD THE BIG TEN COALITION THAT HAD WORKING PEOPLE OF ALL DIFFERENT ETHNICITIES. I THINK ZORHAN HAS DONE A FAVOR TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY TO REMIND US WHAT WORKS AND WHAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT. Kevin?

48:03Kevin O'Leary:No, I don't agree. I think he's far too extreme to get a platform that could compete with the Republicans. And I'm very concerned about this. I think democracy works when both parties are strong and bring middle to the center ideas forward. That's how you win the presidency. And I don't think getting this far stretched in any direction, in this case claims of communism and socialism and redistribution of wealth. You know, these are not platforms that are going to work everywhere in America because this is not what the American dream is about. The American dream is the number one export of America.

48:40Kevin O'Leary:It's not energy or technology. People come here for religious freedom, for the ability to support their families, to be entrepreneurial. I mean, that's what it's all about. And some of the messaging he's putting out doesn't fit with that. And, you know, to the former mayor, I would say I totally agree with him. NYPD is one of the finest forces on earth, and the way they deal with it, same with the state troopers. I support them too. And why? Because in order to have entrepreneurship, in order to start a 1 ,200-square-foot hardware store, you need the police. Those are my people. I support American entrepreneurship.

49:14Kevin O'Leary:Five to 500 employee companies is my base. I support them. That's what I do in every state. job creation and law is is bipartisan you can't have a business operating without good security good police work at the street level at the state level at the municipal level everywhere and New York has the finest there's no question about it but the policy itself you can't tell me it can't be improved New York should remain the number one epicenter of capital on earth but it won't be with these policies because there's too much competition that is much easier to work with, particularly on permitting for real estate or permitting for AI or data centers or some of these new technologies.

49:59Kevin O'Leary:I am evidence of that. I'm just one of these people doing it all over the world. And I'm telling you, New York is not open for business in this very important area. And I'm one of the only people willing to speak out about it because I want New York to be fixed. I want it to win, but not with this kind of policy. Bill de Blasio, before I... Piers, just very quickly, I heard Kevin say, and I think I interpreted it right, he's going to come back to New York, he's going to stay more than half a year and pay those taxes so we can have that best police force in the country. I think Kevin just had a conversion experience here on the Piers Morgan show.

50:36And that's beautiful, we've all come together here. It happens to the best of all I've sensed.

50:40Kevin O'Leary:Bill de Blasio... I love I can work with this guy. I love him. Of course I did not say that.

50:46Piers Morgan:I was going to ask you Bill. I was going to ask you Bill just finally. I mean you were mayor of New York for eight years a long time running one of the greatest cities of the world. What was your biggest regret when you finish when you look back. What's the thing you wished you'd been able to achieve you didn't achieve. YOU KNOW, IT COMES FROM SOMETHING THAT BILL BRATTON SAID TO ME. AND BILL BRATTON WAS MY FIRST POLICE COMMISSIONER AND DID AN EXTRAORDINARY JOB. I'M VERY PROUD TO SAY WE DROVE DOWN CRIME FOR SIX YEARS IN A ROW BEFORE THE PANDEMIC TO LEVELS WE HADN'T SEEN LITERALLY SINCE THE 1950s IN NEW YORK.

51:21BILL BRATTON SAID TO ME, AND I THINK ALL PUBLIC SERVANTS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THIS, THERE IS CRIME ITSELF AND THEN THERE'S DISORDER. AND PEOPLE ARE WORRIED ABOUT BOTH. You can bring down crime, but if there's an atmosphere of disorder, that's still problematic to how people feel in their everyday lives. Just everyday people, working class people, middle class people. On the issue of homelessness, I did not understand some of the things we needed to do to turn that around. We did figure it out after several years. We started to put better policies in place to reduce street homelessness. But I did not understand well enough both some of the policies that we could use, but also how people were receiving that as a feeling of disorder, even while we were making them safer in general, you know, much less violence, thank God, less shootings, fewer murders, etc.

52:10But if they saw something on the street that was unsettling, it was almost the equivalent. DIFFICULT. NOW I UNDERSTAND THAT. I'M CERTAINLY GOING TO COUNSEL WHEN THIS ELECTION IS OVER AND A NEW MAYOR IS CHOSEN, I'M GOING TO COUNSEL THAT FEELING AND THAT NEED TO ADDRESS BOTH VIOLENCE AND CONCERNS ABOUT DISORDER HAVE TO BE FRONT AND CENTER.

52:32Piers Morgan:WELL SAID. BILL DE BLASIO, GREAT TO HAVE YOU ON OUR SENSE. KEVIN, GREAT TO HAVE YOU BACK ON OUR SENSE. I really enjoyed that debate. Kevin, you always conduct your debates in such a civilised manner. I wish all my guests were like you.

52:42Kevin O'Leary:Can I just add one comment? You want me to help solve the homelessness problem at affordable rates? You can't put rent control there. I would love to get a permit to build in New York. Nobody can. And they're certainly not going to do it with rent control proposed by this new mayor. That's policy. That's the problem right there, Mr Mayor. Deal with that. Very quick response. Very quick response. Kevin, come to New York City, join us, buy me dinner, and we'll have this discussion. I love that. Well, the good news is I can still afford it, and I'll do that. I'd love to talk to you. I want a piece of this dinner.

53:22Piers Morgan:Guys, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Take care. Piers Morgan on Sensor is proudly independent. The only boss around here is me. If you enjoy our show, we ask for only one simple thing. Hit subscribe on YouTube and follow Piers Morgan Uncensored on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. And in return, we will continue our mission to inform, irritate and entertain. And we'll do it all for free. Independent, uncensored media has never been more critical and we couldn't do it without you.

53:59Brussels clean up nicely at Sweetgreen. maple glazed roasted and edges perfectly caramelized sweet greens fall harvest is back on the menu and the season's most overlooked little green vegetable is dressed to be devoured you know what to do order on the sweet green app