‘Hypocrite!’ MSNBC Panelists Get Heated On Mamdani and His Rent-Stabilized Apartment
MSNBC panelists Susan Del Percio and Michael Hardaway launched into a heated debate that nearly bled over into a commercial break over New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and his rent-stabilized apartment.
Del Percio, a Republican strategist and MSNBC analyst, and Hardaway, former spokesperson for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), joined MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera on Tuesday and offered very different takes on the self-identified democratic socialist Mamdani.
Hardaway argued that the lesson Mamdani is showing Democrats is that elections need to be about “affordability,” while Del Percio blasted Mamdani as a hypocrite, noting his high income versus his rent-controlled home in New York.
“The lesson is that the frontrunner for mayor of New York City is living in a rent-stabilized apartment, definitely making way more than the average New Yorker,” Del Percio said.
“None of those things matter. The point is that people can’t afford to live,” Hardaway shot back.
“It does matter!” Del Percio insisted.
Hardaway said pushback to Mamdani comes down to him being a “democratic socialist.”
“There are lessons to be learned from our previous victories and how we can move forward here. Instead of shying away from him, Mamdani, and these titles that elites put on him. The reality is that people can’t afford to live today,” he said.
Cabrera asked whether Mamdani living in a rent-stabilized apartment spoke to the affordability issues he talks about, since he needs to find ways to afford to live in New York as well.
“There’s a difference there. He doesn’t need it. As a matter of fact, he wouldn’t probably qualify for it under previous laws. He got into it at a certain age, and when he was making less money, yes. But given the fact that he is making a combined income of hundreds of thousands of dollars, you can talk about affordability, but you shouldn’t look like a hypocrite when you’re doing it,” Del Percio said, arguing Mamdani should have moved into a new residence before running for mayor.
“This is all nonsense,” Hardaway eventually said as he and Del Percio competed to talk over each other.
“I’m talking about one candidate running for mayor, not a national headline, because you know for months and months I’ve been saying the affordability issue is the number one issue out there when Americans are paying with credit cards instead of debit cards for their groceries, meaning they are paying interest. On their groceries. That is a big systematic problem for people in this country,” Del Percio said, dismissing Mamdani as a “hypocrite.”
Hardaway called Del Percio’s comments “ad hominem attacks.”
“The message of affordability is the issue of our time, and… it’s the issue that every candidate should be talking about now. We can get into this pocketbook checking of certain candidates, but that’s meaningless,” he said.
The two continued to trade jabs until Cabrera was finally able to cut to a commercial after the “spirited” debate.
Watch above via MSNBC.
