I urge Mr DeBlasio to go back to Iowa and spend his time running for Vice President.
21
Real Estate Lackie and Unindicted Co-Conspiritor #2 (guess who #1 is), Bill De Blasio quit his fantasy run for president after a MAYOR OF A DIFFERENT CITY collected more money in donations from New Yorkers and was ahead of him in New York City polls.
Mr. de Blasio will now return to the city to try and fix some of the problems that festered under his incompetent leadership, compounded by his inattention.
Quitting the presidential contest was a good first step. An even more popular move would be to resign as Mayor.
Everybody hates you, Bill. Go back to running errands for Ratner and your other developer friends.
41
Why is Trump gloating?
Real New Yorkers don't like him either.
26
Uh, wasn't the last mayor to run for president Rudy Giuliani?
6
How did this story miss Billy Crystal mocking the mayor: “De Blasio, what are you doing in Iowa? You’re going nowhere, come back and clean up this city,” Crystal said yesterday on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
22
@Dr. Reality Who is Billy Crystal, Grampa?
1
It's time for the Governor to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate the theft of over one BILLION dollars by De Blasio and his con-man wife. If the evidence is there, indict him and remove him from office.
If Trump is Dracula, then De Blasio is the Frankenstein monster...or did I get that backwards?
37
@Auntie Mame It's time for Mame to give him some tangible reason to do that.
1
Trump: Yes, De Blasio is taller than you and also 100x smarter than you. And when you are no longer president--and relaxing in your jail cell--you will have lots of time to contemplate that, although you're not president, he's still taller and smarter*.
*fyi: "smarter" is not the same thing as "greedier." You seem to equate the two. They are actually different concepts.
He’s back......pray for us NYers
29
Gotham City does not have a Batman, but we do have a Joker, his name is Deblasio!
45
@joseph adiyody That's cute. What does it mean?
“NYC is devastated," Mr. Trump wrote. “He’s coming home!”
Who woulda thunk dumpy had such a rapier like wit?
7
@captain You should meet his writers.
1
@captain
He doesn't, probably a staffer wrote it, want proof? It makes sense and is grammatically correct.
4
Now we New Yorkers need to retire him from public life. Maybe he can get a real job... The man is corrupt, lazy and full of himself... Bye Bye Bill
29
he is as delusional as ever.
23
The Larry, Moe, Curly and sometimes Shemp as well as their female equivalents crowd the Democratic presidential quest. If Curly drops out, does anyone care? Nah!
de Blasio should try out for the Lakers. They could use a mindless post who can dunk the ball without knowing why he needs to do so. And, bring Beto along.
10
DeBlasio is a clown. Thankfully his bid for the presidency went the way of New York's worst mayor ever, John Lindsay, down the tubes.
16
Bye bye Bill.
11
The mayor of South Bend, Indiana has outlasted the mayor of New York City. If he wants to be a progressive leader, certainly being mayor of the nation’s largest city should provide a large enough platform for him to do that, and improve the quality of life of those who elected him.
8
De Blasio speaheaded and sponsored NYC's pre-K for all, which has been widely totued as a federal goal, and if he did nothing else he deserves credit for that as opposed to the monstrosity in the White House who did nothing positive for the city.
3
@Alan J. Shaw
"widely touted." Federal monies well spent on this would revolutionize the conditions of millions of working parents who must pay for child care for their pre-schoolers. But of course that's not something that Trump and DeVos could even imagine or contemplate.
2
DiBlasio is smart to get out now. He and a lot of the other candidates who knew they didn’t have a chance, should have stuffed their big egos and donated the millions they blew to the homeless, cancer research, etc The millions of dollars spent by all the never will win candidates could help solve some of our country’s problems. There needs to be campaign reform and a cap on how much each candidate can spend.
6
Biden, Warren, Sanders, and the rest must be scrambling to muster votes from the half-dozen or so De Blasio supporters.
His political blindness and lack of self-awareness was startling. How else could someone so unpopular at home and thoroughly dislikable actually expect to get anywhere near the necessary support.
18
Quit? He never began. What he quit was the job he's paid for, but declines to perform.
29
Whatever money he has left over from his campaign should go to reimbursing the city for payments to the NYC policemen who were his protection during it since this had nothing to do with his mayoral duties.
16
Trump's tweet was funny.
13
@Richard It was but it’s like the class clown poking fun at the school bigmouth!
3
@Richard A natural born tweeter. H missed his calling, unfortunately.
1
Quixotic indeed. If Bill sought after a turning point, viral worthy moment, he needn’t look further than himself. His words as mayor have been hollow. If he demonstrated change within and, say, started biking to gym. Or stood up to placard abuse. Or implemented congestion pricing. Or actually built more affordable housing. Or stood up to the NYPD...then he would have won over the support of his city. Instead the only improvement he can rest his laurels on is public Pre-k. Like Don Quixote, He didn’t listen to his critics and that will be him demise.
7
Now NYC just has to get rid of him as Mayor
24
After his summerlong rumspringa, Warren Wilhelm can return to sulkily and indifferently directing a $93 billion government.
I have to remind myself that some politicians are meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too dull and matted with their own dirty. And when they fly back from their brief attempt to exist in a bigger world, the part of you that knows it was a sin to let them into the wider world does rejoice.
8
@Locho Why do you have to remind yourself ? You have the cutesies written on walls all over your house.
His campaign was self-delusion of the highest order. He can't effectively run NYC, but he thought he could govern the nation? As if we need another WH catastrophe!
18
@June Bug Delaney "He can't effectively run NYC"
But he did !
1
Gee, a chance to spread his incompetence, ego, tardiness, and tone deafness across the entire country. He's the only one wondering why he "didn't gain traction."
18
@DCBinNYC the messages at his gym which told him not to run should have been a hint.
9
Total waste of time, effort and money. And he managed to actually damage his already-vulnerable reputation in NYC in the process.
16
@Gloria How?
No doubt counter to what he planned, the more I learned about de Blasio during his run for the nomination, the less I liked him. Now I frankly dislike him, and have little respect for him. He should have stayed home and worked for NYC. I don’t think national or even state wide office lies in his future.
21
Another oppo for Trump to reveal his inner child...which also happens to be his outer child.
6
Hum, i didn’t know he was a candidate, LOL!
7
@E. J. KNITTEL Welcome to the NYTimes. Now if you could manage to read the paper a little more often .........
that he entertained thoughts of being elected president of the USA, I truly believe deBlasio is delusional and a narcissist to boot. Two traits shared with another current "leader"
20
@annie lou Yes, another current leader who "entertained thoughts of being elected president " and look what happened.
4
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Oh no, really big political news, perhaps the biggest story in years! Part time Mayor of New York City, @BilldeBlasio, who was polling at a solid ZERO but had tremendous room for growth, has shocking dropped out of the Presidential race. NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!
AH, YES...GRACIOUS AND GROWN-UP AS ALWAYS.
5
Donald Trump is a pretty good comedian.
5
@CHRIS So why are most of us so sad instead of laughing?
2
I'd be interested to hear how the exposure benefitted New York City. Otherwise the escapade smells a bit like hubris or self-promotion.
7
Good riddance. Now, if only we could find some way to drop him from the Mayorship of NY too...
16
Trump can gloat all he wants but De Blasio would whup him in a race for mayor! PB
1
de Blasio just came across as a blow-hard, the same as the other New Yorker Gillibrand. What soars in New York may not always even fly in the rest of the country.
10
He was never in the race except in his own mind. Looking at what he has done to NYC and how little governing he does I wish Bloomberg was still in office.
20
You gotta admit it--that Trump tweet was funny and spot on.
18
Not that it makes much sense for Trump to gloat. The fewer marginal candidates, especially flawed ones, there are, the fewer easy targets there are for Trump to ridicule in order to promote his candidacy and discredit the Democrats. Still, it’s not in Trump ‘s nature to resist such an opportunity.
For all DiBlasio’s faults, and they are legion, it can at least be said he doesn’t publicly celebrate others’ failures.
2
I generally have little respect for your quantitative skills, but please tell me you were kidding with the description of de Blasio's odds of winning as 100 to 1.
3
@rebadaily Why ask? Would you respect the answer?
De Blasio is part of the old money, established, New York crowd that never accepted Trump into their social circle. Trump is nothing if not vindictive.
1
He is definitely not old money and doesn’t run with that crowd. He is a thief, a dullard, lazy, and a bad manager.
6
De Blasio is part of the "old-moneyed, established, New York crowd"? Good God. I'm sure the Rockefellers would be surprised to hear that.
Wilhelm who?
4
@JRB Oh, he's much more than vindictive. The night is young.
1
In other, even BIGGER political news, instead of behaving like a president, Donald Trump taunts and bullies his political foes on Twitter while his wife runs an apparently fruitless campaign to tackle the epidemic of cyber bullying.
7
@Anthony C She is not running that campaign.
She simply lent her name to it because she and her husband thought the publicity would be helpful.
3
Wouldn’t it be fun if the DeBlasio administration decided to condemn Trump Tower and give them 48 hours to evacuate the building?
2
Looking forward to the socialist United States where all these fantasies can come true.
3
Maybe he can come back now and help us look for that $850 million in "Thrive NYC" funds that no one can seem to find. It was last seen in the possession of Chirlane McCray.
35
The worst mayor in the history of NYC (ok. Dinkins was a close second) whose wife blew through a billion bucks in the ill-fated Thrive NYC program is finally coming back to earn his salary. Or not. His daily cavalcade will march on each morning to Park Slope so Hizzoner can conduct his workout to resemble Adonis. All this while he decries fossil fuels and the issues they cause with our climate. And while his drama goes on for another couple years, NYers will continue their lives of fighting through subway delays, traffic and trash as they go about their daily lives. What a joke! What a tragedy!
34
@Kirk Land "resemble Adonis"? Wow, you really do admire the man, don't you?
1
@Kirk Land You're puzzling us, Kirk. If he really is the worst, why would you want him to come back?
He quit because his dirty pay to play scandal — asking real estate developers to contribute to his "Non-Profit" (which we all know would have been just a campaign slush fund had it not been quickly shut down with fines slapped on the developers.)
He's corrupt and he got caught and now he has to retire from the national scene to avoid a particularly sour form of limelight. He was just another vain sociopath looking out for me, me me!
If the Dem's don't dumb him and now, another "pro-business" (read former republican) "independent" mayor is in our near future. The party has to learn that reform starts at home.
9
A fool on a fools errand. Couldn’t get the errand done and can’t get governing NYC right!
10
A presidential fantasy born of ego. "...it's clearly not my time." If not for his ego he would have know this before he abandoned New York for a summer on the stump.
67
@Jay Amberg Of course, Jay. We all know that "good"candidates have no ego.
2
I will miss him. I contributed to his campaign and felt it a sincere and genuine project to better the lives of Americans.
Hope the time you spent, Mayor, on the campaign trail has fortified and enlightened you for your continuing leadership of the city.
(A former New Yorker.)
1
I attended the live taping of popular politics show Pod Save American at Kings Theater in Brooklyn, the same day that Mayor DeBlasio announced his candidacy. When the subject of his new campaign came up, the crowd was clearly not having it. The hosts of the show, as well as guest interviewee Leticia James also let it be known they were not impressed. I think his reputation for being erratic was just too much for people to get excited about his candidacy. Having sad all that, his city preschool program has made a tremendous difference in my child's life, and many NYC parents owe him a debt of gratitude.
7
NY law should be amended to provide for recall of mayors. Based on these comments, I'm confident a distinct bipartisan majority exists to remove deBlasio for simple dereliction of duty - he never bothered to do the job he was elected to do, and paid for. The next two years will be excruciating, as Bill ignores NYC while grifting for his next job.
21
@Richard Oh, yes, things are just so terrible. We see it every day when we walk down Manhattan's streets and no longer see mounds of junk covering the sidewalk and homeless winos slumped against the buildings there.
Now Andrew Yang is the only New Yorker left in the race, and his momentum is picking up more and more! It turns out people want non-partisan solutions to the issues ailing the country instead of someone who would quixotically "explain white privilege to white people" (Gillibrand) or someone who thought he was the intellectual leader of the progressives (DeBlasio).
Not left. Not right. Forward.
16
Something must be in the water in NYC that makes certain, sub-sub-mediocre men, and in the case of frump, pure loonies, think they can do anything they want. They believe the song: If they can make it there, they can make it anywhere blah.
I love New York but know little first hand of its problems and de Blasio's failure to address them. But he has never had any appeal for me. His cluelessness in the debate, his apparent inability to connect, and in interviews, seeming so out of touch, are all cringe making. He should wipe that fixed phony smile off his face.
My only regret is that de Blasio's leaving makes frump happy.
9
@George Dietz "I love New York but know little first hand of its problems and de Blasio's failure to address them." Wait...you know little of the problems, but you know they haven't been addressed? How?
Honestly, who cares about Trump's childish quips. Reporters, don't let him insert himself in every news story. Report on what he does (when it's relevant), not on his taunts on Twitter; it only amplifies him.
13
The media never ignores him. That is the only reason he is president.
3
Thank God, what a waste of time. Now if we can get him to quit his job in New York City, which he basically abdicated in the past months anyway. What a joke.
22
I still don't understand how DeBlasio got elected to two terms when he did nothing for most of the city, whether you were Democrat or Republican.
And ran around town in his Suburban.
And his wife was in charge of some type of shady group.
Although NJ is just as corrupt, both states have terrible infrastructure issues, with sky high taxes, but various people in certain districts keep electing the same criminals.
People with the smart money are leaving both.
26
@marie Actually, he got elected to those two terms because New Yorkers (the people who actually live in New York) could see that he was doing a good job.
1
As the Mayor of America's largest city De Blasio was the Chief Executive for more people than all but twelve states.
And New York City is far more diverse than Joe Biden home state of Delaware and Bernie Sanders home state of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren home state of Massachusetts.
The most loyal and long suffering base of the Democratic Party is black African American Protestant female. Unlike every other Democratic Party candidate De Blasio is married to one black African American female and the father of another. De Blasio was also the only candidate with a black African American son.
Unlike Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro and Beto O' Rourke, De Blasio could have easily delivered New York to the Democratic Party Electoral College majority column.
As Kamala ' Persecutor' Harris and Cory " Corporate ' Booker have learned being black is not enough to excite the black masses.
Indeed, until his victory in the Iowa caucuses Barack Obama trailed Hillary Clinton among blacks in opinion polls.
3
@Blackmamba
And to think after all of that he's still unqualified to be mayor let alone president of an entire country.
15
Now he will have more time to spend at the gym.
21
I gloat too - first time I concur with Trump. A corrupt mediocrity sent packing back to NYC.
14
@Smotri Actually, he has never been accused of corruption. What do you know that nobody else knows?
The last time I visited NYC, I lived there on and off for forty years, while strolling through Washington Square Park I was almost mugged by an undercover cop trying to sell me weed. I'm lucky I knew how to keep my mouth shut as he shouted racial slurs and cursed at me for not buying weed from him. That head case put his hand under is fatigue jacket several times to show me where it was heading. It was summer. I said my final good bye to NYC then. I'm white in case you thought otherwise.
What are the odds of getting shot by a crazy cop in Houston? Probably the same but you'd some street smarts from a NYC cop. Bloomberg was mayor then so if De Blasio put a leash on the NYPD since he took office at least something good came out of it.
1
@JoeG And now back to this story about contenders for the Presidency.
Bye Bye Bill. Another liberal loses. Wait until the trouncing the Democrats get in the fall of 2020--then this comment section will be entertaining. Vote for America--Vote Republican.
9
@Jonathan
If you want to go back to the Dark Ages then by all means vote REPUBLICAN. Where science deniers, gun packing white supremacists reign supreme.
If you want sane people who actually believe in FACTS and SCIENCE .................
THEN VOTE BLUE, NO MATTER WHO.
1
At this point if a candidate can't muster 2% in aggregate polling they should think of dropping out. This would clarify the race and leave: Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigeig. Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, Cory Booker, Beto O'Rourke. Eight candidates is more manageable for the public to judge. And then the numbers will rise for one or two clear leaders in my opinion. The numbers don't bring any clarity right now because there are so many small pieces of the pie. If these 1% candidates are serious about beating Trump they need to leave the campaign trail now, their campaigns have not caught fire and it's time to move on. I'm looking at you: Amy Klobochar, John Delaney, Tom Steyer, Tulsi Gabard, Wayne Messum, Tim Ryan, Marianne Williamson, Julian Castro, Michael Bennet. These are fine people, it's just not their time to be President of our country and this is going to be a bloody battle to unseat Trump. Whether it's luck, media or telegenics - these campaigns haven't worked.
12
@ScottC "These are fine people, it's just not their time to be President " Well gosh, Scott, if only you had warned them in time, I'm sure they would never have even tried.
This is truly heartbreaking. I really thought he had a shot.
4
Perhaps if you were a resident of New York City rather than Cap Ferat you’d have a totally different opinion.
14
@Ross Stuart Perhaps. Or perhaps not. You're likely basing your conclusion on your own opinion and nothing more.
I don’t think that De Blasio had any business running for the Presidency, but my question is this...Will De Blasio be gloating when he is walking around a free man while Trump is known as Federal Inmate 2345279?
10
@Carl Center Jr Don't hold your breath. Presidents can't be indicted for anything other than a capital crime -- and even that only when they leave office.
It's frightening to think that de Blasio is so clueless about his political standing with NYers. What universe does he live in that allows him to believe that he is a progressive let alone a leader of anything.
He is nothing more than a pathetic tool of real estate developers. When some people tell Trump to get back to work others say don't encourage him because nothing good comes from it. So too with de Blasio.
He squandered all the good will and hopes that won him his first term. But the truth of the matter is, he lacks the temperament, intellengenice, curiosity to learn, and a vision that understands the challenges of contemporary urban living. Sorry mayor, getting rid of the horses in Central Park does not qualify.
I am so weary of the mayor. His whiny voice insisting that he has a story to tell. Suggesting to a national audience his commitment to mental health as evidenced by his billion $ support of THRIVE, a failure and recently dismissed as a slush fund for the first lady.
The Times today listed a number 6 areas that the mayor should spend his time. The list however forgot to include affordable housing, the largest tax exemption city program, currently depleting taxpayer revenue $1.5 billion per year, whose only benefit seems to be providing billionaires with millions of dollars while exempting them from their legal obligations to tenants.
The mayor frittered away 6 years of opportunity. I doubt that 2 more years will be any different.
24
@Arizona
Good will? No progressive liberal NY'ers voted for this turkey rather than the woman who should have won.
3
@Arizona "He is nothing more than a pathetic tool of real estate developers. " deBlasio or Trump?
Just too many heavyweights. I like Mayor DeBlasio. New York City is lucky to have him.
@rebecca1048
You would not like him if you lived in NYC.
10
DeBlasio does so much to damage his agenda by feeding what creates a huge gulf between blues and reds....hypocrisy. He tries to enact a liberal agenda like threatening to have wood burning fireplaces removed because they’re not carbon friendly, then takes a suburban across town to his gym daily.
The elite hypocrisy is what drives conservatives crazy, and he feeds the narrative very well. Just like al gore preaching about global warming, but he lives in a 10,000 sq ft mansion.
22
Our brief national nightmare is over.
15
@Hotel funny and true
6
@Hotel How can you say that? He's still president.
1
“People go from unheard-of to totally famous in 72 hours in America now,” ---- de Blasio's problem is that people have heard of him and his record and don't like what they see. BDB isn't even well-liked in NYC so that says a lot. The sooner we stop having to hear from de Blasio the better. He has always been a complete phony, better at criticizing others than accomplishing anything himself.
17
I read somewhere ... am fairly positive it was from the NYT ... that we (New Yorkers) deserve De Blasio! I think that sums it up beautifully, for him and us. He’s an absolute joke and put in office...twice!
18
@CMR Of course. He spent all those years as mayor of NYC because nobody in NYC wanted him to be mayor. Thanks for the insight.
Thanks for YOUR INPUT ... but I think he’s been there for two terms because we voted across party line... thus, we got what we deserved!
3
Why is the New York Times hellbent on reelecting Donald Trump?
Look at this headline: how is it that Trump gloating is newsworthy enough to include in the headline? This is an article about De Blasio quitting, right? So why is Trump's reaction so important that it has to be put in the headline?
Or is it that the inclusion makes the article more clickbait-y and therefore increases the Times' profits?
This is EXACTLY why we are in this mess. This is how Trump has hijacked the media. And we all play along and don't say anything.
If you want to prevent his reelection, start with abstaining from buying into these tactics. Don't click on the article and recognize it as the clickbait that it is.
The New York Times should take better care of the truth, especially since that's what it prides itself on. Stop trying to spice up a story by adding the word "Trump" into it. Be more responsible. And PLEASE stop trying to reelect this tyrant.
16
@Carlos Really? Do you really think the Times' choice of the word "gloat" is a positive thing for Trump?
GLOAT intransitive verb:
1: to observe or think about something with triumphant and often malicious satisfaction
1
@Carlos, can I recommend your comment about 100 more times?? NYT has brought us such terrific investigative reporting during this administration.... But then also does the same thing as the rest of the media, amplifying stupid tweets from this prez and highlighting him in stories that have nothing to do with him.
Please, NYT, you don't need clickbait, we're reading you. By constantly throwing a spotlight on this prez as part of every story, you are helping to re-elect him.
4
Kudos to the Mid-west and the South for not supporting him based on his tall stature since they already were on record for support of Trump based on his competency and integrity. As far as cabinet posts go, perhaps Secretary of Luxury Condos and slimy developers.
4
"De Blasio Quits Presidential Race; Trump Gloats." Thank you for the most spot-on headline of our current political climate. No matter how clever and sarcastic Trump thinks his little tweet is, this headline, in its straightforward simplicity, throws shade (and not at the mayor) with a level of sophistication Trump could never comprehend.
8
Such a disappointment--when he was "actively" campaigning, he damaging the city less. Perhaps we can get him to run for something else out of the state...
21
The first thing I thought when I read the headline was " de Blasio was still in the race?" He is barely mediocre at being the mayor of New York City. The hubris of these people who think "oh I can just totally be president. It can't be that hard. I'm only minimally competent in the job I have now but I will be a great POTUS."
And I voted for de Blasio.
13
@wcdessertgirl The hubris of these people who think "oh I can just totally be president. It can't be that hard"
On the other hand, there are people who are superbly qualified by virtue of wealth gained as the son of an apartment-houise builder.
Let's face it, being mayor of NYC is a one way trip to the political grave yard although apparently being mayor of South Bend may not be.
As far as I'm aware, no NYC mayor since DeWitt Clinton in the early 19th century has gone on to higher office.
10
@Steve But then again, nobody ran a 4-minute mile until somebody did.
His polling is about equal to the comments here; one percent in favor.
12
It’s appalling that DeBlasio left a city he has damaged so profoundly for months to run for President. The hubris is astonishing.
One of the great disappointments of my life is that after years of great leadership we elected and re-elected a scandal plagued, inept hack to run the city.
30
@Jane Dingman He may be a hack but the last great leader was Laguardia. John Lindsay was pretty good Wagner was ok and Koch had his moments. Great leadership? I have my doubts.
@Jane Dingman "One of the great disappointments of my life" as a San Franciscan 3000 miles away.
"“I feel like I’ve contributed all I can to this primary campaign, and it’s clearly not my time,” he said in an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I’m going to end my presidential campaign, continue my work as mayor of New York City, and I’m going to keep speaking up for working people.”'
I never realized he had started let alone continue
14
We do not want him as a mayor, why would the country want him as president?
Mayor Failure made drug use legal by making it illegal to arrest people for possession. Then he claimed crime dropped under him, it was because he was no longer arresting people for drug use or possession. Way to go.
Mayor Liberal gained the Latin vote by making it hard or impossible to apply immigration law in this city. Result was a slave economy where illegals show up in large numbers, get paid cash under the table at way below market rates with no rights, no benefits and no recourse, meantime making jobs harder to get by legal immigrants who want rights and fair pay. Why hire them if the illegals will do it for cents on the dollar, tax free?
Mayor Bummer failed to fix the streets in the city. Go take a walk, full of pot holes all over, some last years (the one on 36th and 8th, was 2 feet long, 6 inches deep, lasted 3 years before was filled, for example).
Mayor Hypocrite rallied about the climate change/global warming, while driving around in a SUV caravan to the gym and going to work.
Mayor Absence routinely showed up at work by noon. Or was gone from the city all together, leaving the governance to his deputy and to others who had to keep the show going while the boss never came to work.
And so much more, like his total despise of the police and people in uniform.
We cannot wait for him to end his career as mayor as well.
Good riddance.
35
@AutumnLeaf "We cannot wait for him to end his career..." Are you speaking for yourself alone or for the great majority of New Yorkers who kept electing him?
Better to see him confined to the self-proclaimed centre of the universe, NYC. After Trump, I bet few Americans want another New Yorker in the White House.
7
And it won't be long until deBlasio is no longer Mayor of the City of New York. I am a native New Yorker and have never, ever seen the city in such disarray - tremendous construction, cyclists everywhere, trash everywhere, potholes and sidewalks with huge holes in them and a disintegrating quality of life ...and this guy thought he could run the country? Completely and utterly delusional!
25
He’s coming back to continue his destruction of our great city. He will try to dump four mega jails in residential neighborhoods in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. The jails in Manhattan and Brooklyn would be the tallest jails in the WORLD! Tour guides will be able to add that to their list of NYC facts. What a disgrace, disservice and crime to do this to our city.
The grassroots organizations that I belong to are fighting this all the way.
9
Here's hoping that Bill de Blasio's shining example will inspire Donald Trump to quit the race as well!
3
Oh, was he running? File under 'Hubris'. Please do the job you've already been elected to do, the citizens of NY are not here to prop up your post mayoral prospects!
8
The country showed better judgment about de Blasio than NYC.
20
Thank God for term limits. Is Bloomberg eligible to come back? if so, please return, Michael.
18
may he can get to work dealing with things more relevant to making NYC a better place live now.
8
Aside from the constant hit-jobs by the Times, the New York Post and right wing media, this mayor has done a great job and even better then the corrupt Mayor Mike. We have Pre-K for all children. We have the highest graduation rate in decades. More money has come back to our schools. Parents have a bigger say with their children’s education. Teacher have been given a pay raise. He has fought charter schools that drains money from public schools. We have the lowest crimes rate and murder rate then anyone can remember. We have a better police force and policing policies despite what the police union says. Police have gotten a pay raise. New Yorkers now get free legal aid in Housing court thanks to the mayor. He has fought the illegal creep of Air B&B. We have a $15 minimum wage that I pay my workers.
1
Pre K was paid for by the Governor - thank him. The teachers got a raise without any productivity gains in return - something that Bloomberg refused to cave on. Charter schools have demonstrated successes - and don’t drain money from the public schools. To deny that is selfish towards the many students that are thriving and just a way to placate the teachers union. The $15 min was easy - it’s always easy to give away other people’s money.
Now the negatives - spending up significantly. No dent in the homeless problem. Compounded by refusal to enforce vagrancy laws. Higher petty crime rates. Property taxes skyrocketing but stabilized rents artificially low - buy votes that way.
He’s basically a disgrace.
12
President!? To paraphrase Trump... He can't eve keep the streets clean.
10
The candidate decided to withdraw after learning that there was not a convenient place for Marine One to land near a particular gym in Brooklyn.
12
In terms of “shots” his efforts would be in line with a shot to mars in a pinewood derby car.
This knucklehead has hoodwinked NYC, of which some people consider the greatest of cities, but he could never hoodwink anywhere else - none, nowhere. Good luck NYC
9
"NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!"
Says it all about his tenure as the Mayor of NYC. Lots of proposals, initiatives, new programs that hasn't really help the lives of residents of NYC. Example:
"Mr. de Blasio canceled a $773 million school improvement program, known as Renewal, after it was unable to turn around many long-struggling schools, "
A year later, what are the lessons learned from this initiative and what changes have been applied to not repeat the same results? Seems to me that the policies should be to improve one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school in each district at a time, then after the resulting improvement, the next set of schools in each neighborhood.
6
The electorate's rejection of DeBlasio shows that they have more sense than New York City voters did.
27
The mayor has had to deal with the belligerent and obnoxious governor and has still come out ahead. And yes he did put billions in tax funds
He found the light to stop the bad deal and tax giveaway to Amazon. And I appreciate that he lives a healthy life unlike our previous mayors and Trump. He has remained open to the public and is on WNYC practically every week taking questions and answering questions.
1
@Sendan
New York lost 50.000 in it's population last year alone.Loosing Amazon was a disaster.NY is loosing it's tax base that supports needed programs.Worse mayor in modern history.
16
His real estate developer friends should be encouraged (as part of a plea bargain) to give deBlasio a low work/high pay job. That way he can resign immediately, and NYC gets a much better mayor.
17
He said he’s going to continue his work as mayor, but he never did any so he’s coming home to continue doing nothing.
23
@Olivia
By going back to work does he mean being driven to another borough to work out and strolling in after 11am? That kind of work? Where can I sign up?
17
Bill de Blasio is all about pushing his ideological agenda. He ran for President because it gave him a national platform to spout his opinions as long as that opportunity lasted, not because he ever thought he could win the nomination. It's of a piece with his mayoralty, long on rhetoric but short on any interest in real governance.
13
I stopped listening to Brian Lehrer when DeBlasio is on. Can’t stand to hear his grating voice speak empty words anymore.
33
DeBlasio: put your class war asides and fix things that benefit all of NYC: subways, city cleanliness, etc.
34
Like in the Israeli election, less than 3.5% should get you tossed out.
Give them the hook. Stage left.
11
Gee Bill. We hardly knew ye! Imagine how much damage he could do to the whole country as president. Adios!
23
@Tejano
Couldn't be any worse than the current part time occupant taking up space in the White House.
Last decent Democratic mayor was Ed Koch. NYC needs only Republican mayors going forward, as the Democratic ones are either incompetents or (like deBlasio) grifters.
20
@Richard Bloomberg left the Republican party because of his disgust of what the GOP stands for these days. I dislike de Blasio as much as the next guy, but the GOP's values are abhorrent and have no place in a modern democracy.
7
@Richard Disagree. Both Rudy ( before he lost his mind and his morals ) and Bloomberg were great Mayors. But yes, I will be voting for a Republican Mayor. This Mayor has been a total disaster!
17
Crushing news to nobody everywhere !
Now Bill de Blasio can get back to doing what he does best.....working out at the Park Slope gym he runs New York City from.
59
@Socrates
Sorry, Socs. Sitting on a stationary bike at the Park Slope Y while googling your own name on your iphone does not count as working out.
12
Please don't return. I never missed you! Who knew you were away?
8
Y'all got it wrong.
Bill de Blasio never ran for President.
It was just an early April Fool prank.
4
I have to admit Trump's tweet was hilarious
21
There IS a God. But seriously??? Why would anyone put this buffoon in a cabinet position? He has zero qualifications unless it is the "secretary of working out at my Y."
20
To quote the ever so wise Bugs Bunny, "what a maroon".
17
Trump gloating is not news.
6
Good riddance. And from New York's mayoralty too.
11
De Blasio was in the Democratic race ... for president of the USA? That's adorable.
8
Good riddance. Maybe now we can hear less about him and more about fixing problems in NYC.
9
Good. DeBlasio is a disgrace.
9
Why is he claiming he's coming back to the task of running the city? He's mostly looted our coffers, paid his con-man wife almost a billion dollars for a make-believe mental-health program with no goals and no accomplishments, and wrecked a wonderful city. He should join the Trump administration or go to Los Angeles and sell his non-existent plan to deal with the homeless.
He is the worst and most-corrupt mayor of my lifetime. He's the worst mayor of any major city covered by The Times in America. He is a nightmare.
18
that may be right under some circumstances
He is for me the best NYC mayor. I hoped he could be the best us president. Next time hopefully!
Did Mr. de Blasio actually run for the Presidency? Really?
5
It's about time. Doesn't he have to do more crashing of dreams of poor but talented students and ruining of NYC's best affordable schools? God forbid a smart and hardworking student should complete with monied spoiled ones for top universities! Those positions belong to socialist trust fund babies.
How could NYC even survived so long without him?
7
So...who will primary him. Can it be a real candidate this time?
1
Trump has nothing to gloat about -- deBlasio can return to NY and go out in public, Trump is so loathed in NY that he can't return unless he's in a "safe space" which only admits his supporters.
Trump could never have an open rally like Elizabeth Warren had in Washington Square.
Also Trump can't show his face in Atlantic City because he bankrupted all of his casinos there and left a trail of unpaid bills and out of work employees.
A guy living in glass house like Trump shouldn't throw stones.
12
It's a shame he's dropping out. He was just 1% away from having 1% support.
21
Maybe he can go back to work and make some staffing changes. Let's start with firing Emma Wolf and the entire staff at the Mayors Office of Constituent Services. Then lets take a real look at how NYC Design & Construction is run and how you have a Commissioner running the School Construction Authority & the agency. Is it because nobody else wanted that job?
8
de Blasio spends his time on Progressive Politics and that is fine. But I am a life long New York City resident and he should spend some time on those of us who pay our taxes and fund his Progressive ideas. A woman defecating on 67 Street and Broadway in front of my granddaughter and a man urinating in Verdi Square in the middle of the day in front of many people is disgusting and dehumanizing to all New Yorkers though matter their income or social status. Jumping turnstiles almost every day in front of daily subway commuters like myself is distressing and dehumanizing. Mr. de Blasio and his fellow Progressives have not thought one iota about us. I always hoped to retire and live in the City my entire life but now somewhere else is entering our plans. We who pay very high taxes can vote with or feet! Start worrying about US!
17
I think all the Dems should drop out. They seem to be trying desperately to hand the election to Trump, so why not just concede and go back to their day jobs. This is disappointment, frustration and desperation talking.
7
NO WAY! I hope readers realize that there is no way Donald Trump wrote that tweet. Like so many of his tweets that are written above a six-grade style or display a modicum of wit this too is ghostwritten by one of the three staffers who we pay to be included on the WH payroll. Trump's actual 2016 & 2020 slogan (with apologies to "Gypsy"): Let Me Entertain You.
2
Was he running for President ?
I didn’t notice.
5
Is he returning to NYC or retiring as Mayor as well? In my view he’s one long tall failure who should move on to whatever is next for him.
6
Well -- at least he can look at the bright side --
At 0% - there's no place to go but up...
3
All I want to know is, when is he going quit backing and filling in WNYC on Friday mornings?
3
Poor NYC gets him back. The whole deBlasio run was only posturing and positioning for 2024 anyway.
6
Quixotic? An inept euphemism, in this instance, for ludicrous. Don Quixote had principles. He tilted at windmills, but he never put his family on the payroll and he never set up a non-profit to squeeze windmill developers for payoffs.
Mr. deBlasio would do well to remember that Cervantes wrote Don Quixote while in prison...
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
9
this was just an exercise of egotism
7
What a fall for a legend in his own mind.
12
... but he was doing so well!
6
Trump is a baby and DeBlasio should take the high road by ignoring Trump and focusing on fixing up NYC.
1
love him or hate him, trump's tweet was hilarious
6
@Sssur
It's too smart to come from Bone Spurs. He should talk after 6 bankruptcies and putting people out of work and not paying contractors he's one to talk.
2
All these ego-driven, doomed candidacies by Democrats help the unfit, corrupt, hateful person in the White House.
Think of how much debate time has been wasted instead of used by viable candidates to best argue their positions and electability. The networks and party are to blame for these Robert Altman-cast freak shows.
3
Good riddance!
NYC has many good Democrats who can run NYC.
He only won because he ran against a disgraced former congressman! And the others made horrible deals with Bloomberg to insure his illegal 3rd term!
4
"Bill de Blasio Drops Out of 2020 Democratic Presidential Race"
Ah, Bill... we hardly knew ya. Nor did we want to. The only reason why I was hoping you'd win is so that we'd finally get you out of NYC. But tis not to be. At least you'll have the chance to fade into the sunset on your own. Please don't delay.
8
Now that his ego has been assuaged, he can find out and report on the hundreds of millions his ill qualified wife directed for their pet projects. No accountability at all. It's no wonder the democratic party is so leaderless. Who can justify this arrogant behavior? Trump is sure to win another term with pathetic officials like DeBlasio.
7
Now he can go back to being a completely ineffectual and out of touch mayor for NYC.
9
Didn’t know he was in!
3
I’m no lover of Trump’s twitter feed, but his tweet is dead-on. Good riddance.
9
DeBlasio actually managed to become less and less interesting, amaller and smaller, as he campaigned. Quite an achievement.
As for Trump, stay classy, Mr. president.
4
@Robert
He has never been classy.
2
He can't manage New York and there he was, running as President of the U.S. This man is illusions of grandeur!
13
I hope several others also will drop out soon.
It would be nice if Michael Bennet, Tulsi Gabbard, Tim Ryan, Mr. Sestak, Marianne Williamson, Mayor Messam, Julian Castro & Andrew Yang are dropped out a couple of weeks before Iowa Caucus. Billionaire Stayer has qualified for the October debate. If he doesn’t get a big bump in the polls, he should also drop out.
Andrew Yang is actually an interference. He’s not presidential material. Julian Castro came across as mean, with a sadistic grin, relishing his assault on Joe Biden. I wonder who would vote for him? (Tim Ryan’s grin also is not that good. Have voters seen that for him to poll so low?)
Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden also may drop out but they poll so high and it’s unfair to suggest that. John Delaney & Steve Bullock are sufficiently good and could be successful presidents. But they still poll so low. Personally. I would like to see them hang in there until after actual voting in a few Primary contests.
3
As a CA resident, I didn't know much about de Blasio. Seeing him on the debates, I was impressed. He wasn't going to be president but New Yorkers are fortunate to have such a smart, articulate and tough (at least tough-sounding) mayor.
@JimBob I am a NewYorker. I totally agree. He was the only candidate who did not come off as a light-weight and whose voice didn't make me cringe. I will do my duty, but I will be holding my nose.
Hey started off with good ideas, but he spends hours a day at the YMCA gym in Brooklyn doing kid knows what. Our city has suffered under his watch.
6
@JimBob, Agree. His best asset is an ability to speak on his feet. He is quite confident at every press conference and interview. His command of the facts and speaking style seem less common today.
1
As Meade Esposito told John Lindsay, "Little Sheba better come home."
If de Blasio wants to be useful - the great progressive hero - why doesn't he focus on something small? He should move into a NYCHA project and try to get it into shape. Get the elevators fixed, make sure there are light bulbs in the hallways. Get to know the people and the social circles and how they interact. How long does it take it fix a leak and why it takes that long. Learn first hand what works and what doesn't. And then apply what he's learned across the system.
24
@John Kleeberg Sounds like Mr. DeBlasio needs to clean up his act in NYC before he deigns to run for any national office.
6
All the candidates with 1% or less in the polls should follow De Blasio back to whatever it is that they were doing.
29
@Girish Kotwal Most of the rest are probably still in it just for the hope that they'll be a VP candidate.
Beto hopes that if he stands on enough tables, people will notice him.
6
@Girish Kotwal
Little known fact: Of all the Democrats running for Pres, DeBlasio was the one who spent the least amount of time running NYC.
5
It was an ill-fated campaign from day one and quite simply was a temporary distraction from his actual job as Mayor of NYC. It was previously reported that when he launched his campaign in May he spent a mere 7 hours in City Hall that entire month... I'm hopeful that he feels humbled by his remarkable failure and refocuses his efforts on the office he was elected for
204
@Pat
Now we can look forward to his extended schedule of 8 hours per month.
141
@Bill
*But that 8 hours depends on the amount of traffic his motorcade encounters on the way back from the gym.
26
@Pat This man has no humility
14
When you consider that just about anybody - serious or not - can declare himself a candidate for President (anybody recall Pat Paulsen or Gus Hall?), be Blasio's exit barely deserves comment. Few people could seriously consider him a viable candidate. And anybody who looked more closely at his performance as mayor can only chuckle.
21
He'll have more time to help NYC now.
3
@Applegirl He'll squeeze us in between 11 mile (1 way) trips to the Y accompanied by his security detail, all in gas guzzling SUVs.
9
Sometimes there is good news.
6
"Con Don" - that in a nutshell was De Blasio's problem.
"Con" isn't the condemnation many of us Times readers would like to think it is.
The lovable con is a staple of American popular culture: Newman and Redford in "The Sting," Robert Preston in "The Music Man," whole TV series like "Hustle" and "Leverage." And in politics you've got James Michael Curley of Boston and Edwin Edwards of Louisiana.
If you would tar him with an epithet, try "Deadbeat Don." Not even on reality TV is there such a thing as a lovable deadbeat. Bonus: It's alliterative!
2
And now his campaign for a third term begins, right? The city is worse than its ever been and we're stuck with Mr. Worthless.
24
@Steve Worse than the 1970s? No fan of BDB, but we are a long way from those bad old days.
@Steve. Third term was just a one shot deal for Bloomberg. DeBlasio doesn’t have his kind of money to pull that off again.
1
Term limited.
4
Best news of the Year! Most inept Mayor we have had in decades. He just wanted to get his name out at the National level at the expense of hard-working, tax paying New York Citizens. What a mistake on all fronts he has been!
Jaded New Yorker
55
@Steve It's amazing that, with the deep pool of candidates running for Mayor back in 2014, we ended up with this guy. Then again, the Republicans had a lot of candidates in 2016 and ended up with Trump as their nominee. In all seriousness, in today's hyper-critical, social media-fueled environment, who would actually want to run for any office? The worst among us, that's who. To be sure, there are a handful of well-meaning and generally decent folks running for various offices in local, state and federal government, but over the past several decades, the contingent of political grotesques who have been elected to powerful positions in this country has been steadily growing.
14
@jane Hello Jane. You might have actually listed them all by name but I think The Times limits the print space you are permitted.
Don't cry for me, New York City
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise (ha!), don't keep your distance
9
It obviously dawned on him that after his inevitable victory, travelling to his Park Slope gym on a daily basis from the White House would be untenable, even for him.
73
Yes, as a lifelong Democrat and NYC resident, I’ve very often voted for the republican candidate for Mayor. They don’t owe any favors to the Democratic machine here in NYC and they actually get lots more done.
8
A waste of time and tax payer dollars. What he is not saying is his felonious little plan was to build up a war chest to use in a run for governor. Problem is, he is that reviled at this point, he will not win that post either.
14
@Bill it's all in a little tin box, a little tin box that a little tin key unlocks
2
Mr. de Blasio is Mr. Trump's liberal doppelgänger. They are megalomaniacs who skirt the law on every count, say whatever they think will please their base, and do not care what wreckage they leave behind.
Donald is, however, more successful. I guess that makes Bill feel ashamed.
18
@B. Perfectly said! I have always said that de blasio is just like Trump, but the big difference is that Billy pretends to care about people and Trump is actually more honest about the fact that he only cares about himself.
6
I read that in August DeBlasio spent 7 hours at his job. I'm surprised it was that much and that he worked so hard.
Now that it is clear that almost no one wants to see him as president, this century's John Lindsay will get back to work at the job he was elected to do, not to mention persuading developers to contribute to his causes to get favors, which is what he appears to think his job consists of.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/nyregion/de-blasio-2020-ethics.html
13
@MIKEinNYC
So nice to be a civil servant when one gets paid by the taxpayer for doing so little or nothing at all. BDB would last five minutes in the private sector.
Meanwhile $840,000,000.00 that his wife was responsible for has gone missing.
There's a story for you Times. Please track down where those tax dollars went.
8
Now de Blasio is unpopular nationwide.
41
“NYC is devastated," Mr. Trump wrote. “He’s coming home!”
Gonna be a lot of Democrat voting New Yorkers that grudgingly agree with the President on this one.
50
It’s the way I feel about both of them. “At least he’s not coming back here. Right? Not even HE would have the gall to show his face here.”
3
About time.
We need to narrow the field and start focusing the attack on the toddler-in-chief, not on other Democrats.
7
Trump is more popular in New York than Bill De Blasio...
And we hate Trump here...
46
I don’t hate Trump; love my President
2
Back in 1969 I read a book entitled "The Peter Principle," whose author (Lawrence J. Peter), posited that people rise in the workplace until they cease to be competent. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
Mayor DeBlasio illustrates this nicely, and he wasn't a particularly competent mayor.
10
When you believe that quoting Che is representative of the average American voter's sentiment, you know we have a problem as a country. Absolutely frightening.
Bills out! Great day for America, terrible day for New Yorkers...
27
deBlasio’s campaign was a money generating fraud scheme. The NY Times should call on the mayor to donate all his campaign funds to repay the unaccounted-for monetary losses of his NYCthrive program.
25
Was he running?
11
FINALLY his delusions of becoming president are realized!! Now if only he can realize what a failed mayor he is.
10
Progressive? Maybe. A leader? He hasn't a clue.
Here is a man who thinks that the way to stand out in a crowded field of candidates is to hope for a viral moment.
Pul-eeze.
7
I didn't know he was still running? that's how lackluster his campaign has been, when you don't hear about him. I thought he dropped out weeks ago.
6
Oy! Thank you for acknowledging reality. Now, get back to doing your job Mr. Mayor!
3
He didn’t stand a chance. Americans are tired of New Yorkers on the national stage. Hoping we can return another NYer to your fair city in 2020.
5
Ego, simply ego...He was elected to be mayor, not attack windmills on the national stage. There is much to do until he leaves office.
3
Well he took a nice vacation and traveled throughout our great land.
Now it’s time for him to get back to work—mismanaging education, watching the transit system crumble, and tripping over furry cartoon characters in Times Square.
20
Yup, it's a "tale of two cities". There's the imaginary, progressive city de Blasio likes to tout on the campaign trail, and there's the real New York, the one ruled by real estate goniffs, graft, and a complete lack of affordable housing.
I'll have to say one thing for Trump; his delusions carried him a lot further than de Blasio's delusions.
14
DeBlasio would probably be under federal indictment if not for the Supreme Court decision regarding Va Governor Mcdonnell for corrupt fundraising practices. It seems like DeBlasio found a scam he can’t be prosecuted for. There is no other reason for him to run and keep his campaign going to this point. Welcome back Mr Mayor. In the interests of the nyc taxpayer you should ask for a independent audit of your NYCTHRIVE program.
17
Did Mr. De Blasio ever realize that his presidential bid was a joke from day one? One of the great pointless vanity projects of all time.
10
@SR He probably thinks that he can get a cabinet position in future by raising his profile. Hopefully this delusional experiment just showed how corrupt and incompetent he really is.
4
@BD
Perhaps a cabinet position with a second Trump term?
2
Translation: My future as a political leader is long finished, and I’m just looking for any port in a storm.
6
No NYC mayor ever seemed less interested in actually doing the job.
And few ever did such a bad job when they actually did it, despite his having a booming economy to make it relatively easy.
Winning a Democratic primary as the most left-wing candidate and being married to an Afro-American is far easier than succeeding without working hard or getting to know how work with other people.
11
::yawn:: and what kind of progressive brand was that? The “I don’t care about the very city that I don’t even bother running so you should elect me as President” brand?
I’d watch for replies but I have to go to work to earn my living and pay my bills.
7
If my memory serves me correctly it was reported off the record by people who were queried by a reporter, that his biggest fear is he leaves office and the only career opportunities was something like an adjunct professor at Hunter. His quixotic run for office should get him some speaking gigs from any of the Sandinista schools, but he won't get any sort of regualr commentator gig on an established cable program, as who would hire someone who can't shut up and would talk over the host if his papal progressive proclamations weren't given their due ohs and ahhs. Even he knew his campaign didn't have a prayer, this was just to get his name recognition up so he might gain employment from someone who was deluded enough to hire him. After his horrible performance as Mayor and his dismal run for President, my suggestion an appropriate position would be to hire him as the spokesman for the NYCHA or the Board of Education and let him defend his policies to the residents he neglected over his term in office.
8
Perhaps the only time I am in full agreement with Trump.
10
Moderation will win it, Bill. We cannot snatch defeat out of the jaws of Democrat victory by taking private medical insurance away from those who want to keep it, or decriminalizing otherwise illegal border crossings. Compassionately repair and improve whatever requires it; don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
6
To quote deBlasio “I’m going to end my presidential campaign, continue my work as mayor of New York City..."
Continue?
23
Here in the Denver area, Mayor Michael Hancock is fortunate. He's only the second worst mayor in the United States.
7
He may have dropped out, but that will not stop him from continuing to distort “contributions” from those who do business with NYC.
Or, maybe dropping out portends a criminal indictment in the near future? Nah, the district attorney has already made a “party affiliation” decision to protect Dollar Bill from being held to account. The district attorney prefers to play politics and tilt at windmills by going after Republicans only.
NYC politics as usual. Just like Chicago.
6
Darn. I wanted him to stay in the race for the comic relief. There's not much to laugh about these days.
5
Good. Now he can focus his energy on his real job working out at the YMCA.
18
@Jack. Ouch! The truth hurts, doesn't it?
Empty suit.
Empty mind.
No results.
Not even kind.
Ever absent
Never on time
Clueless
All the time
Progressive
A meaningless term
When petty crime and homelessness
Have entrenched themselves just fine
Time is up
Your opportunity has past
Prior terms of Giuliani and Bloomberg
Are the memories that will last.
19
He's returning home? Maybe he can now investigate where the $850 million from ThriveNYC is. This is the organization that his wife was entrusted with running; and the money cannot be accounted for. Oh and the budget for next year has been upped to 1 billion. Hmmm
25
@DL
I've known about that story with the missing money I'm just wondering why a paper as prestigious as the NY Times has been silent on this. With so many investigative reporters surely they can spare one to this.
Interesting.
12
@Margo Channing I'd like to know why Tish James or Scott Stringer (you know, the City Comptroller) have not raised a stink. That is the problem with one party control.
10
@Glen @Margo Channing - Interesting isn't it? Media and NYC pols have been so very quiet about this. I guess $850 million of NYC taxpayers' money means nothing. Wonder where next year's budgeted one billion will end up.
2
About time, get back to "work" de Blasio. Not sure how he thought he was qualified to be POTUS when he isn't qualified to be Mayor . Delusions of grandeur no doubt.
11
Trump's Tweet on the matter:
"Oh no, really big political news, perhaps the biggest story in years! Part time Mayor of New York City, @BilldeBlasio, who was polling at a solid ZERO but had tremendous room for growth, has shocking dropped out of the Presidential race. NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!"
Stay classy, Donald.
4
@Rob Thing is, he's spot on in his assessment. This whole exercise in futility made no sense at all. He came off looking more like an opportunistic grifter than a serious candidate for national office.
1
Just occurred to me - who'll come in dead last now? They have big shoes to fill.
9
I was not aware that he’d entered the race.
4
Yay!
And now he should get back to work on New York City problems: failing NYCHA, failing Climate Resilience, failing G&T, failing Subway, failing Vision Zero.
9
@LiberalNotLemming He has nothing to do with the subway. That's Cuomo's responsibility.
Who knew that he actually gets up before 8 AM.
6
"Continue his work as Mayor", that's rich. I was hoping he would win and we could be rid of him forever.
The only person who likes him outside of his family is David Dinkins, because de Blasio made Dinkins the second worst Mayor in NYC history.
14
Maybe there is a small town somewhere that was impressed with his performance in the debates. NYC would be happy to gift DeBlasio to such town.
5
Well, at least Don Quixote had some principles.
5
Good riddance!
New Yorkers, and the last election contest waged between two terrible candidates from NY, are what got us here.
New Yorkers should do NY.
America needs American solutions, not New York solutions!
3
De Blasio has been a massive disappointment as mayor. Homelessness has gotten worse, there are homeless people on the street every day now. He’s corrupt; it was shocking to learn of his connection to real estate developers, thanks to the Times’ article yesterday. His office has made an impossible-to-comply-with sudden new garden license that’s it’s forcing on the city’s volunteer-run community gardens — clearly a lot of the gardens won’t be able to comply and then De Blasio can take the land and award to his developer pals. https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/mayor-accosted-angry-gardeners-chanting-shame-you
Devious and corrupt much? Please clean up your act Mr. De Blasio and focus on doing something good for our city and people - we had elected you as our mayor, you owe it to us to represent the community’s interests.
10
Calling de Blasio's campaign "quixotic" is an affront to Don Quixote.
8
he has a better track record as a wanna-be president than as an actual mayor
4
Maybe, just maybe, he will get back to fixing the numerous and serious,problems of the city.
43
@G.S.
Like the subways? That's controlled by Cuomo, not
de Blasio.
And if you've been following the news, you'll see that all big cities have similar problems like homelessness and with regard to gun violence, NYC is doing a much better job than Chicago.
@G.S.
There isn't any chance of that. He's corrupt - look at the recent developers contributing to his non-profit scandal reported in the Times. Everyone hates to admitt that they were duped, i voted for him twice, but he needs to be replaced before the next election and forced to resign because of his blatant corruption. His low interest in doing his job came from the fact that basically he's a crook.
9
An explanation for this otherwise head-scratching non-campaign is the Mayor's perceived need for a national reputation after he leaves office. Just as The Leader ran for president expecting to lose but calculating enhancement of his brand, so the Mayor might have thought that making an impression in the debates - any impression, so long as it wasn't utterly ridiculous - might help get the company directorships, possibly university presidencies, even - the Holy Grail - lucrative lobbying opportunities when the current gig is over.
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@Martin Daly But then he did look ridiculous in the debates anyway!
3
Tempting to be snarky but instead I’ll just say, in all seriousness, DeBlasio’s hubristic campaign has shown him to be more out of touch than we could ever have imagined. What a complete embarrassment from top to bottom.
118
It was a scam to get more campaign funds to use or sell to the highest bidder. This guy doesn’t like to work or even get up in the morning. He had no intention of being president.
16
It's about time. Bill de Blasio has his hands full, a city to manage, problems to solve, reverse credible dissatisfactions of the people that depend on the proper functioning of governance...so they may contribute to it's success.
1
I hope he doesn't run for the U.S. Senate or governor of New York. I'd like to be done with him, maybe attribute his memory to a bad dream.
9
De Blasio drops out, yeah, quite a shocker, who could have seen this coming! He is very unpopular in NYC, and with good reasons. New York City needs clean and efficient government much more than new social programs. The existing programs here, in health, public housing, transportation and education, fail largely because of the overwhelming amount of corruption, waste and incompetence in the city government. Public schools are falling apart, the subway is overrun by the homeless, and violent crime in Bronx and Brooklyn is going through the roof. And that's even before we get to the plight of small businesses and the rampant crookery in the private medical and dental practices in the city. If and when a NYC mayor manages to make a dent in tackling this issues, we can talk about a presidential run, but not until then.
6
@Berto Collins The Mayor of NYC has nothing to do with the transit system. That's Cuomo's territory.
1
I must say, this was one of the very few tweets from Trump that resonated: "NYC is devastated, he’s coming home!"
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Well, now I assume he'll be returning all the unspent donations back to the real estate developers who gave them, right? Or maybe he'll donate them to charity? Surely he won't just keep that big pile of money, virtuous soul that he is...
19
@KM exactly. This was a money grab from the beginning. Largesse from interested parties going to a _knowingly_ doomed-to-fail campaign . Now Mr DiBlasio is deeper in their pockets and woe is NYC or whomever he tries to represent in the future.
6
Lol. Why do you think he ran at all?
4
He never should have entered the race because the city he governs needs a full time Mayor dedicated to improving it. De Blasio's lack of interest in NYC made him a weak candidate with nothing to show to the American people.
8
@rso And yet the majority of people voted for him even after all there is to be known about him. Sigh. New York used to be filled with so many smart people. Now? Not so much.
5
@rso
I have a slight bone to pick with you: NYC was better off because he was away from home.
7
Mayor de Blasio has been a disappointment since his first official day. He has squandered an opportunity to be a true leader for New York City. It was by dumb luck and Weiner's terrible choices that put de Blasio in that position and did not take advantage of being the voice of the true working class. Instead, I would hear how he was hostile to the press, often late to important events, repeatedly dodge questions, and seemed to favor the developers and perks, like past mayors. Maybe even more so because he doesn't have independent wealth like Bloomberg has. In any event, maybe he can get back to fixing the MTA, in particular the 53rd and Lex E train stop which is a death trap - few exits, broken escalators, and chaos during rush hour. I hope de Blasio and his family fade into the distance and he doesn't abuse his power to get his wife elected. I do wonder how he paid for his campaign trips and how that works with him being mayor. Maybe he can fill the open positions in his administration or try to actually streamline the mammoth bureaucracy.
14
This makes me sad because this frees him up (potentially) for spending more time in NYC where he can do more damage to our city close up than from afar.
31
@Andrew ha good point! But I did worry about whatever NYC tax money he spent while traveling.
6
@Andrew
Yes, yes, yes!!!! It was so nice to have him away across the country, far away.
5
@Andrew
Good!
Stop dumping NY candidates on the rest of us!
3
I would imagine there are enough corn dogs being served at county fairs throughout the country to keep him away from the city for the balance of his term. We should be so lucky.
9
Best news of the Year! Worse Mayor we've had since Beame was in office in the 70's. He has not been doing his job and most New Yorker's I know are completely fed up with the direction NYC is headed. He would do everyone a favor if he resigned from office.
26
@Steve
At least Beame saved Grand Central from the wrecking ball.
6
Unlike governors and state and federal legislators, mayors are held responsible for every pothole or others things that inevitably go wrong in a city. All it took was one police shooting to cause Buttigieg major grief. One can avoid all this by being in Congress that has essentially no responsibilities other than showing up for votes.
11
@David I trust you remember how Lindsay was undone by a blizzard.
1
"He has two years to communicate the good stuff he’s actually done,” Ms. Katz added. “There are other cities trying to do the things that New York has already done.
Outside of the universal pre-K, what good has he done?!? The Tale of Two Cities has exacerbated under his watch. His former staffers are as delusional as he is. So many similarities between this and the Trump administration.
14
Great. Now he can dedicate himself more fully to neglecting the needs of New Yorkers.
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@BKLYNJ
No, he won't.
2
Thing is, he'd probably have a better chance of beating Donald Trump than perhaps anyone else running. He'd appeal to the moderates and independents and even though NYers dont 'appreciate' him, every single one would vote for him against Trump. He would have been a pragmatic if not 'popular' choice.
3
@NYer
No way.
America is sick of NY candidates.
Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Bill Deblasio.
It’s time to quarantine NY politics!
DeBlasio drops out of the presidential race. Question: good or bad news? Well, it's good for everyone OUTSIDE of NYC that won't have to listen to him anymore and of course it's bad news for New Yorkers because now he's back and might actually spend some time doing some damage to the city. In my lifetime, the ONLY politician in City politics that makes DeBlasio look good by comparison is Giuliani. Not a very enviable comparison but an appropriate one. There IS one difference between the 2 that I'd like to point out: Giuliani clearly said what he was going to do and, alas, would do it. DeBlasio says he stands for issues and then we find out he doesn't care one bit about them. The result is that they both represent the worst types of politicians in that they both care more about embellishing their resume' than doing the right thing for people and the city that elected them. On big difference: Giuliani is hysterical in his totally off-the-wall persona and his interviews are a laugh riot. DeBlasio? Just makes me wanna take an Alka-Seltzer.
17
Why didn't his candidacy take off? Because he announced way after everyone else did and offered nothing that the rest of them didn't. Would he have run for mayor that way?
5
He should have dropped out a while ago.
All of these ego based low polling presidential candidates have wrecked the candidate debate process. Most of these candidates are running just so they can increase there profile, increase there speaking fees, and write a book.
Being a lifelong Democratic, I can’t understand the Democratic Party anymore, and how they have managed the debate process.
It must be a millennial thing to be so inclusive and have every voice heard.
But enough is enough. Narrow down the field for the next debate to just 3 - 4 candidates, have topic specific formats over a number of days with a chance for real answers and not 90 second campaign slogans, no audience, and no music. Make it like a real debate not a carnival. I wish the Democratic Party could do something about the so called journalists who moderate these debates. (I miss the Walter Cronkite and Huntley/Brinkley type of serious journalists.)
In addition, the candidate allowed into the debates should be registered Democrat. Sorry Bernie - you can run as an Independent but you are NOT a member of the DEMOCRATIC PARTY!
41
@Carl
If a sizeable number of voters in your party want to vote for someone who isn't a member of your party, maybe that's a sign that your party needs to change?
14
@Carl
So you want Bernie to be the spoiler who gives Trump the victory by running as 3rd- party candidate? Stop and think before you write!
11
I agree with a lot of this, but having “every voice heard” is something as American as goes back to the Continental Congress. The idea that anyone can become president was given full renewal with the election of a complete imbecile with no political experience. It’s a pain having so many candidates, but that’s life in a free country! But the debates are circus, you are right, and it’s sad that cable tv is about viewership and not quality, an observation which extends to the debates.
3
The first time I have agreed with the President...too bad for NYC that this guy is returning. We have lost park lands to inappropriate and unnecessary private housing, we lost our local hospital to real estate developers who cozied up to him, we have lost many of our middle class neighborhoods to overdevelopment of luxury towers that now sit empty casting long shadows over our parks, botanical gardens and historic districts, we have no better schools and fewer schools than we need for our children...tell me one thing this guy has done that is positive, that was his idea and executed? My hope is that he walks back from Iowa - gives him a chance to reflect on all the bad he has done in NYC and maybe, just maybe, come back with positive and good things for our communities here at home.
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@Judi
"...tell me one thing this guy has done that is positive, that was his idea and executed?"
Universal pre-K would be one thing. Beyond that, I am hard pressed to find something substantial. You are quite right that he our mayor has been a tool of real estate developers and he done little to solve the homeless problem. The latter may have something to do with the former.
44
@Arthur
Hi Arthur but Universal Pre-K was a joint State/City project. And so yes, it's his and Cuomo's.
6
@Arthur
You can only think of one accomplishment in how many years into his tenure? That speaks volumes. The man isn't qualified to hold public office anywhere.
16
No worries Mayor DiBlasio isn’t coming back to work for us New Yorkers. He is going to spend his time trying to secure his next job and one for his wife and son.
The reality is that he wasn’t a New Yorker at heart and that he wasn’t into working hard! And with all his moralizing he was great at giving favors to contributors.
Everyone can see the deterioration of the QUALITY OF LIFE in NYC under his Administration.
So sad for a City that needs so much.
97
This all but guarantees that we will have a republican mayor.
As his 2 terms are marked by "tap dancing" around every law
as it applies to campaign funding .
And now this vanity show.
26
I hope we WILL have a Republican mayor. And I say this as someone who only votes Dem for congress and President.
63
@David We could do a lot worse. Bloomberg ran as a Republican in his first term, if I recall correctly. He was great. I miss that guy :/
7
@thm
Really Rudy and Mayor Mike may be the 2 worst mayors of all time.
1
It's impossible for me not to conclude that these "quixotic" campaigns (a very polite characterization) are fueled solely by narcissism or greed or both.
Buh-bye, Bill. Go do something useful for a change.
57
@Len Safhay
Why would he start now?
1
This is a very sad day. Now he returns to New York City.
128
One commenter suggests that de Blasio is leaving gracefully in hopes of being offered a cabinet position in the next Presidential administration.
Really what Democratic President could possibly want want de Blasio as a cabinet member or ambassador?
His grandiosity and opinion of himself are matched only by the current White House incumbent, and de Blasio would only be a liability, not an asset to the Democratic winner in 2020.
107
@Mon Ray They could make him Housing Secretary. That's sarcasm. Many New Yorkers continue to suffer from a lack of affordable housing and a concomitant glut of "luxury residences." DeBlasio was supposed to ameliorate this situation. However, and in addition, NYC Housing Authority ("NYCHA") public housing continues to deteriorate and all he can think of is to squeeze in more luxury housing on NYCHA grounds.
32
@Mon Ray
I cannot fathom why would Pres. Trump would want to add deBlasio to his team in 2021.
5
@Mon Ray Pence gives him hope....
3
So, was this a ruse just to fill his campaign coffers? How many millions were "donated" to Mr DiBlasio's campaign? How much is left over? What will be done with that money?
Our campaign finance laws allow candidates to keep money after a failed campaign. But it ends up being a slush fund for lots of other activities. Was this DiBlasio's plan all along?
It's my contention that our laws should be revised so that campaign donations above, say, $99 should be returned (pro-rated for actual expenses) and smaller donations turned over to a public financing pool. Losers should not keep the campaign donations.
75
@p pow This is a thought worthy of much wider consideration.
Good riddance!
Bill de Blasio hadn't done anything that recommended he consider a run for President. And being Mayor of NYC is full-time job under the best of circumstances.
This was nothing more than de Blasio seeking to up his media profile for his next gig, whatever that might be.
Expect to see de Blasio as a talking head on CNN or Fox once his current term ends.
34
“I feel like I’ve contributed all I can to this primary campaign, and it’s clearly not my time.”
We've been trying to tell you this all along. Now that reality has finally set in, can you start being mayor now?
92
@AMH
Unlikely!
4
@AMH. His time is never.
5
@AMH
He won't be anything, ever.
4
Life support tubes pulled from comatose campaign. After multiple attempts to resuscitate the moribund candidacy it is over. The pathology lab will conduct a postmortem to determine the causes for this failure. The 0% pulse with the populace nationwide a sure sign this campaign was a goner. A lack of bonhomie with the A or B teams another factor in the failure.
Many New Yorkers, including the gym rats at the Park Slope Y cringe at the thought of hizzoner pro tem back in town.
How will Gotham return to a life with de Blasio? A concern that the 5 months of respite was not nearly enough? A graceful exit awaiting a call to serve in a Cabinet of the 2020 winner?
So many questions.
29
@Tabula Rasa Maybe they'd make him Housing Secretary. *sarcasm*
3
@Lifelong New Yorker He'd make more money as NYHCA top dog. +$400K.
I’m surprised it took this long for reality to set in for the mayor. He can now return to the important work of gutting the gifted and talented programs throughout the city.
137
@Pete Mitchell This Mayor and reality are not familiar with each other.
15
@Pete Mitchell
Gifted and special are for the wealthy. He does what is good for the common man.
4
@Pete Mitchell
I think he decided to run for the presidential race to avoid all the important work as the mayor to begin with. I am a new yorker and have never felt his enthusiasm as a mayor and have never seen such a lazy mayor like him in the past 25 years.
Now that it has become too humiliating for him to continue to run the race. What is he going to do next? Will he work hard as a mayor? Very unlikely. Sigh.
7
He had very little chance with poor press coverage. Maybe in four years he will get up and try again. However the city is currently facing many problems. Currently there is overbuilding and mostly for the wealthy. When new apartments sell for two million to twenty million, 99% of the population feels outcast. Put a freeze on new buildings unless the apartments can be filled within 24 months. There was an article last week in the Tines which said 33% to 40% of the apartments built since 2013 are empty. The city needs a new direction. Amazon wanted a tax break which he supported even though Bezos is worth approximately $135 billion. We need a new direction in New York City and I think he can handle starting a new progressive plan but it has to start right away.
If a retail store or new apartment is empty for two years the price must face a new city pricing plan.
Nyc is currently filled with so many empty stores and a record number of homeless. Develop buy whole blocks of small buildings tear them down and put up new unaffordable apartments,
36
Ralph, the real estate taxes drive up the price of rentals- both retail and residential.
9
@Mike
Yes however if rents are lowered by 10% or 20% it is still producing cash flow and the stores will be filled. Wealthy large real estate owners are causing a strange look in the city by not lowering their rents.Currently the city is starting to look like a mall with many empty stores. However filled with homeless caused by many that can not afford the rents or prices for new apartmentsBanks should not be allowed to expand anymore with respect to retail for most of the locations look empty after opening.
3
He realized he doesn't like the work of being NYC's mayor, so he thought maybe he could generate enough support to wrangle a job in the next administration. In a Trumpian move, he hired his son to run his campaign.
Is he now going to return to New York and diligently devote himself to solving our city's problems? Unlikely.
158
@Sean
He is term limited unless he can bribe the City Council like Bloomberg did.
3
de Blasio's run was nothing more than a gambit for media coverage to focus on a platform that he has nothing to show for. For New Yorkers who live in public housing, send their children to public schools, or use public transportation there has been no progress, no improvements. The hubris involved in seeking the presidency on such a flimsy record is discouraging and insulting.
232
@Suzanne Moniz IMO the subway is improving, but DeBlasio has nothing to do with that.
10
He got it the wrong way around. Considering more people want him as president then want him as mayor He should retire as mayor and keep running for president. He’ll have just as much success either way.
111
@Mat. Move to Iowa and become a perennial POTUS potted plant?
7