Independent New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday that politics in the United States is more “polarizing” than he’s ever seen before, adding that people’s views boil down to “good versus bad” when engaging in political discourse.
Cuomo appeared on the imPaulsive podcast to discuss his campaign, after which co-host Mike Majlak invited Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani to come on the show and offer a counterargument. Co-host Logan Paul said this interview reminded him of how he had then-former President Donald Trump on the show last year, and the host received backlash from people even though he invited “the opposing side.”
Cuomo said the division over the imPaulsive interview with Trump is part of a larger dilemma of growing “intensity” in U.S. politics.
“It’s just nasty! There’s no discussion, ‘you’re bad! You disagree with me, you’re bad!’ It’s like good versus bad. The Trump election, during COVID, there were doctors who treated Trump who got criticized for treating Trump during COVID! How crazy!” Cuomo said on the imPaulsive podcast.
Cuomo said this division in Trump’s election has spilled into the New York City mayoral election next month.
Cuomo also said Mamdani has taken his place as the “crazy liberal” in New York. He explained that his legalization of same-sex marriage as governor, which he said was his biggest win in politics, was “a crazy liberal idea” in 2011. Since then, the world “shifted on its axis,” and he is being viewed as “a moderate” compared to Mamdani.
THERE’S LEFT AND FURTHER LEFT, AND THEN THERE’S MAMDANI
“I didn’t change; the planet shifted. The planet shifted, now they’re socialists! Yeah, well, that’s a different game. That’s not the Democratic Party, that’s the Socialist Party, and that’s not who I am,” Cuomo said.
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa is also running for mayor and is adamantly opposed to dropping out. Top Republicans from New York City‘s five boroughs are also reiterating their support for Sliwa.