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'Can't Run The City! Can't Run The Country!': Protesters Chant at Bill de Blasio During Presidential Launch

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio / Getty
May 16, 2019

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was met with an organized protest accusing the him of being a "liar" who is "no friend of labor" during his presidential campaign announcement on Good Morning America Thursday morning.

According to a report from the New York Post, protestors additionally chanted, "Can't run the city! Can't run the country!" during de Blasio's interview with George Stephanopoulos.

In his campaign announcement video, de Blasio touted his progressive policy accomplishments during his two terms as mayor, including universal free kindergarten, increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and guaranteed paid sick leave.

The protests were so loud that they cut through parts of the de Blasio's appearance with Stephanopoulos and could be heard from inside the Good Morning America studio.

The mayor, who previously served as the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign, dismissed the protestors as a "little serenade."

The protests were in part organized by the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) of the City of New York which represents over 50,000 New York City police officers.

"While the mayor of our nation's largest city is busy running around Iowa and getting upstaged by the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, there are real problems here at home," the PBA President said in a statement Thursday morning. "As commander-in-chief, he would be an unmitigated disaster."

During the morning segment, Stephanopoulos reminded de Blasio of a recent poll that showed over 75 percent of New Yorkers do not want their own mayor to run for President.

"The poll that actually matters is the election," de Blasio responded. "It's not where you start, it's where you end."

De Blasio has been lingering at around 1 percent or less in most national polls taken before his announcement this morning.