New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is like a typical internet troll. He talks a lot of trash, but moderates his tone the moment one of his targets confronts him.
On Wednesday, the mayor appeared on Fox News for an interview with Sean Hannity.
A 2020 Democratic primary candidate appearing on Fox is itself newsworthy. But de Blasio is also the same person who blamed News Corp. in 2018 for creating much of today’s division and animosity. His appearance on Hannity this week is extra newsworthy, especially as it involved him moderating his anti-News Corp. animosity.
This is not to say that the interview was all too friendly. It contained plenty of contentious moments. This is to say that the big invective de Blasio had last year for Fox went misplaced Wednesday. The mayor chose instead to level a more nuanced critique against the network.
De Blasio at one moment accused Fox of using illegal immigrants to distract from income inequality. “Sean, this is why it’s such a charade!” the mayor said. “What you are doing, and what your network does too often, is tries to distract people — ”
The mayor used the word “charade” a lot Wednesday evening. He used it whenever he did not want to answer a question.
“What charade?” Hannity asked.
“It is a charade!” de Blasio repeated.
“What you are doing, and what your network does too often, is tries to distract people —”
“My network!” Hannity interjected. “By the way, there are people on my network who don’t like a single thing I say! What are you talking about!?”
“I agree you’re not a monolith,” de Blasio said. “But too much of the time what Fox and News Corp. do is try and take people’s minds off the fact they are being screwed economically by the 1%.”
Later, Hannity asked about the right to self-defense.
“Does every New Yorker, if somebody breaks into their house, they’re good people, law-abiding people, pay their taxes, obey the rules, pass the background check, should they have a right to a gun in their house?” he asked. “Yes or no?”
“I ain’t buying what you’re selling,” said the mayor.
Hannity said, “The answer is no, but you’re afraid to say it.”
“My answer is my answer,” de Blasio said, adding, “You are trying to set up a reality where you get to paint a picture on your own terms. It doesn’t work that way.”
Compared to what the mayor has said in the past about Fox News, the interview was downright civil.
What happened to the fire-breathing mayor who said in 2018, “If you could remove News Corp from the last 25 years of American history, we would be in an entirely different place”? What happened to the mayor who said last year, “I don’t want to give [News Corp] a free pass on what they have done to all of us”? What happened to the man who accused News Corp. of “dividing people and creating hatred and negativity and changing our political landscape for the worse”? What happened to the tough guy who said there would be “less overt hate, there would be less appeal to racial division” if News Corp. ceased to exist?
I am not sure where that version of Bill de Blasio went Wednesday. All I know is that the the guy who mugged for an hour on Fox News was not the same person.
