Astead Herndon

where folks can ask him direct questions.

Now, I think the interesting part of this thing is in these private meetings, he was willing to kind of present a, I would say, more pragmatic part of himself.

Not necessarily as a Jekyll and Hyde from the primary, but I really think as an evolution that took place for him over time.

By the time he was running for mayor, he was willing to make these compromises, and he was telling folks in public and private.

I think that includes things like being willing to step away from the millionaire's tax if he could find money and resources other places.

He also importantly said, and I think I heard this repeatedly, that he would not have litmus tests for the people he surrounds himself with, that he wanted a sort of team of rivals, and that even issues like his pro-Palestinian advocacy would not be make or breaks for people in city halls.

And so those were the kind of pivots he was willing to do to tell people, I understand the role that I am stepping into and I am willing to kind of make my values fit into that role.

Well, for the, you know, Trump feels a personal ownership of New York, not just a personal investment in New York City.

This is someone who's a Florida resident in name and taxes only.

But his heart is still in Manhattan.

And I think he sees Bumdani as a worthy foe.

I think he sees him as someone who has represented the ways the city changes.

And Donald Trump, I think, more than a Republican Party at large, is personally invested in pushing back against them.

And so when you see Mamdani yesterday in that speech, you know, turn and talk directly to Donald Trump and say, you know, you're going to have to go through all of us.

When you see him speak directly to Trump on Fox News, that is because he is inviting a fight that they are preparing for.

And a fight that they frankly feel is inevitable.

I think there's several.

You know, I was really up close to the Democratic Party's retreat from working class Americans.

I saw it.

I felt it.