New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, the man who credited his gun control policies for the rise in Big Apple knife attacks because criminals couldn’t get guns, has joined the Democrat race for the 2020 nomination, prompting the perennially irreverent New York Post to publish a cover depicting people laughing at the idea of a de Blasio candidacy.
Sometimes criticized as clueless, the far-left de Blasio is the 23rd Democrat to enter the White House race. He has opened his campaign with the slogan, “It’s time we put working people first.”
“As president,” de Blasio says in his three-minute video announcement, “I will take on the wealthy. I will take on the big corporations.”
But isn’t it those same big money donors upon whom de Blasio’s campaign must depend if it hopes to compete with nearly two dozen competitors for attention and support? Maybe he just didn’t think that through, as underscored by the New York Post with this: “The opening shots include de Blasio zipping around the city in the back of an SUV — his gas-guzzling choice of transportation for the 11-mile jaunt from Gracie Mansion to the gym in Park Slope.”
He was criticized at TownHall for planning to not only come after guns, but also private property.
What de Blasio certainly has thought about is guns and how to get rid of them. He’s advocated for gun control throughout his term as mayor, but when in 2016 he told reporters that “guns are being taken off the street in an unprecedented way,” he unintentionally admitted that the criminal element isn’t deterred by restrictive gun laws.
“Some people, unfortunately, are turning to a different weapon,” he said with a straight face, oblivious to the fact that he had just created a “Well, DUH” moment for his critics.
At one point in the video, de Blasio declares that he’s “a New Yorker. I’ve known (Donald) Trump’s a bully for a long time.” And, he adds, “I know how to take him on.”
What a de Blasio candidacy offers is more of the liberal same with a different wrapper. His vow to not rest until the government serves the working people is eerily reminiscent of an old “Twilight Zone” episode titled “To Serve Man.” That was the translated title of a book left to Earthlings by visiting aliens. It turned out to be a cook book.
The mayor, who apparently is term-limited out and may be doing this as a way to remain relevant and in a campaign mode, also acknowledges in his video, “Good thing about New Yorkers is they look the same whether they’re really pissed off at you or they like you.”
If that’s the case, de Blasio just might want to re-think the amount of support he believes he is getting from constituents to run. Maybe they just can’t wait to be rid of him.