00:00One thing I have to say about the tariffs is that it is focused back on manufacturing jobs, on creating
00:08a level playing field with respect to trade.
00:11So I think that having the president put the spotlight on the uneven and unfair tariffs that we have with
00:20other countries is an important thing.
00:22I haven't read the decision of the Supreme Court as of yet, but my understanding is that the decision says
00:30that Congress should be the governmental entity that provides for tariffs and fixes tariffs rather than the executive branch.
00:40So I haven't seen their reasoning on that yet.
00:43But one of the things that is interesting about it is that the president can decide not to do business
00:50with a foreign entity.
00:52But what this decision is saying, he has that power, but he doesn't have the power to regulate that in
00:58the form of the amount of tariffs that go each way.
01:01So I'll be curious to see what the decision says once I read it.
01:06Well, of course, the president has made it very clear, and I think this is why we've had a bit
01:10of a muted reaction in the financial markets,
01:12that he's simply going to seek a different authority and they're going to continue pressing ahead with tariffs.
01:17But that's going to take some time, right?
01:19They have to do an investigation that could take months and then there'll be some further implementation.
01:24Does that delay potentially help Republicans like yourself who are running for office in this off election year?
01:32No, this election here in New York State is going to be decided upon issues such as affordability.
01:38This is the most overtaxed, overregulated state in the United States.
01:43Will tariffs play into affordability?
01:45We are at the bottom of the list of economic development. Excuse me?
01:49Don't tariffs play into affordability?
01:51I think they play a minor role compared to the policies of Kathy Hochul that have made this a state
01:58that's at the bottom of economic development of the 50 states in the United States.
02:03We have seen hundreds of thousands of jobs leave New York State.
02:07We've seen hundreds of thousands of people leave New York State.
02:11We need to create an environment where we can have economic development, prosperity, create more jobs, create better paying jobs,
02:18better benefits, cheap energy.
02:20I would cut the energy bills in half by eliminating all of the silly mandates that are in it, plus
02:26the taxes that are put into your utility bills, the excessive delivery charges and other hidden fees that make us
02:33much more expensive as far as our energy bills.
02:37I mean, we are 50 percent more in energy costs than the state of Pennsylvania.
02:41Why is that? It's because of Kathy Hochul and her misguided policies.
02:46Well, you have been very critical of Governor Hochul's one and a half billion dollar relief plan for New York
02:54City.
02:54You've called it a bailout.
02:56And essentially, if I understand your point, a quid pro quo from the endorsement from Mayor Mondani.
03:01If this is the wrong way to do it, knowing that there's a massive, well, the mayor himself calls it
03:07a financial crisis when it comes to debt in New York City, what would you cut?
03:11Well, first of all, you don't give candy to a diabetic.
03:16And basically, the state of Florida has less of a budget than the city of New York.
03:24There's something fundamentally wrong with that.
03:27We have policies here that don't work in favor of the taxpayers, don't work in favor of the rate payers.
03:34We have a subway system that is unsafe, that is dirty.
03:38People don't pay their fares.
03:40We need to start making sure that we have a transportation system that people want to use that's safe and
03:48secure and clean and make them pay for it.
03:51Sixty percent of people who use the subway don't even pay the fares.
03:55They just go past the turnstiles.
03:57So that's one of the areas that we could make it more efficient, we could provide better services, and we
04:02could do it in a way that didn't kill the taxpayers of the city of New York and the state
04:07of New York.
04:08You know, Mayor Mondani has said repeatedly that Albany has underfunded New York City in relation to its tax contribution.
04:17Do you think New York City gets its fair share?
04:20Yeah, I think New York City gets its fair share.
04:23I think New York City needs to start managing their fiscal affairs better.
04:27I have a county that's larger than eight states.
04:29I've gotten seven bond upgrades in the last three years, which is unprecedented.
04:34And I haven't raised taxes a single penny.
04:36As a matter of fact, I canceled a $150 million tax hike by my predecessor.
04:41So if you manage government more like a business, if you provide quality services at a cost-efficient price, then
04:49you'll get a balanced budget.
04:51They can't do that in New York City because nobody's managing it.
04:55I mean, Zoran Mondani has no executive or business experience.
04:59The guy's never run the graveyard shift of a dairy queen in the middle of the winter.
05:03And now he's running one of the biggest economies in the world.
05:08He's in over his head.
05:10And the state of New York should not bail him out for his own mismanagement.
05:14Would you try to make a partnership with the mayor?
05:16Obviously, you'd have to work with the mayor of New York City.
05:19Or would this be a difficult relationship?
05:22Well, that's up to him.
05:23If he enforces the law and makes for safe communities, then I will support that.
05:29I will help with that.
05:30But if he doesn't enforce the law and he makes it unsafe to live in New York City as governor,
05:37I will stop that.
05:38If he ruins the economy of New York City, I will stop him.
05:42I want to create economic development and job prosperity.
05:45New York City is very important to the economy of the state of New York.
05:48And I'm not going to let the mayor of the city of New York ruin the economy in New York
05:53City,
05:53which would have a ripple effect on the rest of the state.
05:58Would you propose legislation to remove New York City as a sanctuary city?
06:04Well, from day one as governor, I would create I would not create a sanctuary state.
06:09I would eliminate us being a sanctuary state, just as I did in Nassau County on day one.
06:15How do you get that done?
06:17By executive order.
06:18I would issue an executive order my first day in office saying that New York State is no longer a
06:23sanctuary state.
06:23Kathy Hochul has spent billions and billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars on people who have been here for 15
06:30minutes.
06:30They came illegally.
06:32They haven't earned it.
06:33What about all the immigrants that came here illegally?
06:35What about the people who came here before us, immigrants that worked hard for all that they have achieved?
06:43Now we're going to give billions of dollars when we could use the money for schools, we could use the
06:47money for hospitals, we could use the money to cut taxes, we could use the money for infrastructure.
06:51She's just given billions and billions of dollars away for people who just arrived here.
06:56That is a disgrace.
06:57I will end that on day one.
07:01Would you welcome ICE agents to the state of New York to remove those immigrants you referred to?
07:09Yeah, my policy in Nassau County has been to work with ICE.
07:13I have a comprehensive agreement with them.
07:15We removed in just one year 2,000 illegal migrants with criminal records, ranging from attempted murder to rape to
07:23kidnapping to carjacking to robbery.
07:27And it has made us the safest county in America, according to U.S. News and World Report, and I
07:32believe that.
07:33We've got a great police department.
07:34We fund them.
07:35And working with ICE, we've made it safer.
07:37However, I told my police department and ICE that I did not want raids on schools, on daycare centers, on
07:44houses of worship, waiting in front of hospitals, that their focus should be on illegal migrants with criminal records or
07:51who have committed crimes, either in Nassau County or anywhere in the metropolitan area.
07:57And, again, we removed 2,000 criminals from the streets of the metropolitan area.
08:03Where would Kathy Hochul like to put them?
08:05She wants to put them back in the streets to prey on the communities of New York.
08:09I don't think so.
08:10I think that basically our policy is sound.
08:13It's got common sense.
08:14And it's the right way to approach things.
08:16But we do have to have a comprehensive immigration policy where people who have been here for a long period
08:23of time, who may have a child in school, if they're law-abiding and they're gainfully employed, I don't think
08:30it's compassionate to remove them from communities.
08:32I think we have to have a path to legality for them.
08:36So I think we have to have a comprehensive immigration policy.
08:40We need to be compassionate.
08:42We need to use common sense.
08:43And I think basically they contribute to the economy in a lot of different businesses, such as the hospitality industry,
08:51landscapers, golf courses, many other industries, farming, that they are an important part of our economy.
09:00We need those workers, and we should have a path to legality for them.
09:06Huh.
09:07That's a much more nuanced answer than we're used to getting, Bruce Blakeman.
09:12I want to just close with a line that jumps off your biography.
09:16You were a driver as a young man for former First Lady Nancy Reagan.
09:22What's the most important thing she ever told you about politics?
09:26Well, I think loyalty.
09:28She was immensely loyal to President Reagan.
09:34They had a very close relationship.
09:37She was fiercely protective of him.
09:40And I think that she made an excellent partner.
09:43And it's something that I will always remember was her devotion to helping to make President Reagan successful.
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