Michael Barbaro (host)

Clearly, you're inspired at this phase by Senator Bernie Sanders, this movement, this campaign he's created.

You run for state assembly in 2020, a really big year in American civil discourse politics.

And I wonder if you'd agree with this.

It feels to me, looking back at that period—

that you're very much straddling the line still between activist, political candidate.

People who may someday run for mayor of New York City, for instance, tend not to go on social media and write things.

And you know this tweet, and I know it gets brought up.

I think it's fair game.

When you wrote in 2020, we don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer, a major threat to public safety.

You call for defunding the NYPD.

People who think they may run for mayor tend not to describe themselves ever as anti-Zionists.

Those things in the past would be seen potentially as disqualifying.

That clearly didn't happen in this case with you.

But I am curious what prompted you to express those views, especially about the police at that time.

Let me fast forward a little bit to June, the primary, where you blow everyone away, all your opponents.

And it seems like even on the night of that victory, you start to confront those who are skeptical of you and who you want to win over.

And since we were just talking about police, let's talk about what you have said since the primary victory.

I think it was actually at the Times.

where my colleagues asked you about how you're going to be thinking about the police.

And I was struck that you said you were prepared to apologize to the NYPD for some of the things you had said, defund the allegation that the department is racist.