Join us for an engaging conversation that traverses the bustling streets of New York City to the corridors of media powerhouses. We discuss the implications of potential political shifts, scrutinizing the strategic endorsements and alliances that may alter New York’s political future. The candid insights shared at the Barrett Media Summit set the stage for our deep dive into the societal and ethical questions raised by New York’s new academic offerings. The episode also unveils personal anecdotes and real-world observations about the daily life challenges faced by New Yorkers, from navigating subways to the pervasive issue of turnstile jumping.
First of all, this is kind of funny. We were talking about if this were me. If I’m in a clinic with chest pain, I think I’m kind of hanging out and streaming shows for the rest of the day by the time I get home. You, mere hours later, were on a talk show panel slinging hot wisdom about our industry in front of an audience there in Manhattan.
SPEAKER 03 :
Which was great fun. It was the Barrett Media Summit. I was on stage with Eric Erickson, Sid Rosenberg, Mark Simone. Mark and Sid are New York-based hosts, and you’ve seen Sid before. He’s this real great guy, bombastic. He’s the bald-headed guy who’s real tight with Trump. And I got some insight on Trump, and I got some insight on the mayoral race from Sid, which I want to share with you here. But they’re all great guys. And Eric, you know, sometimes Eric is kind of an establishment, you know, not really on board with Trump.
SPEAKER 02 :
Just these contrarian things that he thinks helps him score points as an independent thinker.
SPEAKER 03 :
But a good guy. I mean, I liked him. Absolutely. And they were all great guys. And we had Glenn Beck was there and Scott Jennings was there. Our boss, Bill Boyce, was there. So it was a lot of fun and got to catch up with some old friends. Sid made an interesting point. He said, look, Trump doesn’t really know Curtis. He knows who he is. He goes, he’s a Cuomo guy. Trump knows Cuomo. He thinks Cuomo has got the only chops to win. But now Sid disagrees with that because Sid’s a Curtis fan.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, duh, as any Republican-leaning person should be. Thank you. Can you hear listeners in your earpiece and my headphones right now going… OK, that’s lovely that Trump is familiar with Cuomo, but Cuomo is a Democrat. Trump is a Republican. Shouldn’t he move heaven and earth to help Curtis?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, but he’s probably not. And I think I suspect he doesn’t think Curtis is electable. And he believes Cuomo is not unreasonable. And he believes Cuomo has the best path to beat and to stop Zoran Mamdani.
SPEAKER 02 :
Isn’t that the goal? Because our ultimate goal should be elect Republicans, elect Republicans, elect Republicans. Understood. It does remain, however, New York City. So then maybe our plan B, if you want to call it that, is prevent a communist Islamist from becoming mayor. That would be just A, B, M, anybody but Mamdani. Well, I said that. If Cuomo’s the best solution there, then maybe that’s what you do.
SPEAKER 03 :
I said that to Sid, and Sid said, oh, really, Mike? So you want to throw all your conservative principles out the window? He said, Curtis, he goes, Curtis breathes and lives New York and loves New York. He’d be a great mayor. And he would be, by the way. He would be terrific. And I said, but Sid, is he electable? He said, that doesn’t come into the equation. You’ve got to fight, fight, fight till the bitter end. And here’s what Sid said. May the best man win.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know, and I admire that so much, and he’s not wrong to have that instinct, and I don’t want to suppress that instinct in anybody.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, I don’t either, because I get it. And you’ve actually said that to me before over the years. There’s been situations like this before where you say, look, you can’t abandon your principles, but on the other hand… Look, this is an Armageddon-like possibility, a scenario. This guy, and he’s getting everybody lining up behind him. Kathy Hochul, Tish James, Big Tish, they’re all lining up behind Zoran Mamdani. They’re all lining up.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know what people are talking about? Two things on Trump. If Trump were to come out today, both feet all in and back every day, Curtis Lewa, I’d love to think that that’s it. Race is over because it’s Trump. But again, it’s New York City. No, no, no, no. Where a Trump endorsement is only so powerful.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let me point out why that’s a mistake. Because even Mondami, who now knows – he knows that Trump really – his pick is Cuomo. And now Mondami on the campaign trail is using that as a weapon. He’s saying – Cuomo is Trump’s hand-picked candidate. He’s the chosen one, and he’s trying to look at New York. He knows that works. He knows what works in New York. He knows telling a bunch of bratty, entitled, young Gen Zers, I’m going to freeze rent, is going to fly. He knows that telling them you’re going to get free bus rides is going to fly. City groceries. He knows city grocery stores goes over well with entitled, struggling young people who do think that the man is sticking it to them.
SPEAKER 02 :
And so affordability, it’s all affordability, like equity should have something to do with affordability. The second Trump thing is, have you heard the notion that in order to thin the field and I guess give Cuomo a better chance that Trump may be about to offer sitting mayor Eric Adams a post in the administration?
SPEAKER 03 :
Correct. But I’ve also heard that he’s also saying that about Curtis Lewa as well. And Curtis said, I’m interested in one job that’s mayor of New York. And that’s what Sid said. He said he’ll tell him to stick it in his ear. There’s no way he’s going to run for mayor. And according to Sid, nothing, nothing is going to remove Curtis from the race.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good for him for that. But what about Eric Adams? He knows if there’s anybody that cannot win, it’s Eric Adams, which is weird because he’s the sitting mayor of New York. And he fell from grace because he was too reasonable. He became too reasonable, too Trump tolerant. And so he is just a marked man. He is spoiled on the shelf. So why not accept a gig in the Trump administration? He may. He may do that.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, we always say it’s New York. There’s a story out about the new school here in New York. They’ve got a new course they’re going to roll out. How to steal. It’s the name of a course, How to Steal. It’s in the sociology department. I’m reading from the curriculum here. This is the actual curriculum at a New York City-based school, college. This field-based seminar explores the politics, ethics, and aesthetics of theft in a world where accumulation is sacred, dispossession is routine, and the line between private property and public good is drawn in blood. Students will critically examine what it means to steal, from whom, for whom, and why. through site visits and field work in places where capital is… Field work?
SPEAKER 02 :
Today we’re robbing a jewelry store. Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Today we’re going to jump over the turnstile. Where capital is hoarded and value is contested. Corporate storefronts, grocery chains, museums… So… You know, it brings me to an example I’ve told you before, and it happened again this week. I know you get mad at me, but I’ve taken the subway a lot. Look, the subway isn’t easy.
SPEAKER 02 :
Haven’t you learned I don’t want you to die? I got it. That’s my concern over your chest pain yesterday and my admonition that you maybe do some Uber since you can’t.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s the best way to get around New York. Uber takes forever. You get car sick. Anyway, but look, here’s what happens every single time I get on the subway. Every single time I witness somebody jumping the turnstile. Every single time. Not occasionally, Mark. Every time. And generally, it’s people fairly well-dressed. It’s often black people. Sometimes it’s white people. But the point is, this is theft. Here we go back to the Zoran Mamdani mindset. Well, you’re taking back what’s yours. Maybe I’m owed reparations. Maybe I’m owed – and today I saw an NYPD officer. I got on the subway, as I always do when I head down to get my hit with the M&M experience. I’m getting on the A or the C train, and there’s a guy right ahead of me, young black guy, well-dressed. He even had a briefcase. jumped right over the turnstile, stole, you know, right in front of me. Committed a crime. And then I’m going down the way and there’s a cop. And so I go up to the NYPD officer. I said, look, I don’t mean to bother you. I said, but tell me what your mindset is when you guys see these turnstile jumpers. Because I said, every time I come here, that’s all I see. He says, yeah. He says, you have to understand that. There’s a mindset in the city that it’s kind of like, let’s look the other way. He said if we see somebody, we probably will stop them. We might give them a summons, or we might just kick them out of the subway station. But he says now the value to it is many times when we interrogate them, we find out they’re wanted for something else. They’ve committed other crimes, and then we can lock them up. And I got to thinking about that. I thought, yeah, if you’re brazen enough in front of God and everybody to jump over a turnstile and steal, what else have you done in your miserable life? And these are miserable. I wish I had the guts to go up to these people and say, what the heck’s wrong with you?
SPEAKER 01 :
Download the podcast and hear all of Mike and Mark’s conversations at MikeOnline.com for the Eminem experience.
SPEAKER 03 :
The Eminem Experience. Subscribe to the Mike Gallagher Show podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for joining us. Have a great day. Be safe. Keep fighting the good fight. I’m Mike Gallagher. God bless America.
