New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted Tuesday that as "mayor of the largest, toughest city in America" for six years, he's not bothered by people who ridicule his campaign for the Democratic nomination and that he's the person who is tough enough to take on fellow New Yorker President Donald Trump.
"I deal with really tough issues every single day," de Blasio told CNN's "New Day." "I deal with the toughest press core in America. I deal with, unfortunately, we're the number one terror target in America. Late-night comics don't bother me."
Trump, he said, does not play fair and "if you're not tough enough to be able to fight back, you're not going to win...I've watched him for decades, and I know how to beat him. A New Yorker is the one to take on the New Yorker in the White House that has to go."
De Blasio also brushed off a poll that shows 76% of New York voters think he should not run for president.
"I've been in ten elections and won them all," he said. "People in New York City have supported my vision."
He said the key to defeating Trump is in fighting back every time, pointing out that New York defeated the president's call to pull security funding away from the city over its being a sanctuary city.
"This is the pattern we have to understand about this guy," he said. "Confront him, be tough on him. Stay to the issues, always...put me on a debate stage with Donald Trump, and I'll know how to take him down. As simple as that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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