Max Rose Sounds Like An Asshole And Picks Fights With Progressive Women Because He Thinks That's What His Constituents Want In A Congressman

 

One of my childhood homes was on East 17th Street between Avenues O and P in Brooklyn. Manny Cellar was the powerful congressman from that district from 1923, long before I was born, to 1973, long after I had moved away. The district has been redrawn many time since then and it is divided between the current 8th (Hakeem Jeffries), 9th (Yvette Clarke) and 11th (Max Rose) districts. About 2 blocks from my old house, Yvette Clarke's district ends and Max Rose's begins-- the corner of East 15th Street and Avenue P. All three congressmen are Democrats-- although Rose is a Blue Dog, not an actual Democrat-- but NY-11 is a swing district, blending Republican-leaning Staten Island with diverse Brooklyn neighborhoods that are traditionally Democratic but have seen an influx of very far-right Russian immigrants in recent years. The PVI-- a lagging indicator of reality, like everything that comes out of Cook-- is R+3. Obama won the district 51.6% to 47.3% in 2012 and 4 years later Trump won it 53.6% to 43.8%. The district keeps flipping back and forth from a bizarre set of Republicans to a just-as-bizarre set of quasi-Democrats. I couldn't imagine every moving back there, even though I have family still living in the 11th.

When Max Rose won the seat in 2018, it was always a career step for him, never about the people of the district; only about Max Rose. The DCCC was looking for a win for their "majority maker" program, not for someone who would represent the legitimate interests of the people in the district and not for someone to help push any kind of Democratic Party agenda. They got what they wanted-- a seat in their new majority and someone willing to do and say whatever it takes to hold onto it, including badd-mouthing his own party and kissing up to Trump.

Rose is saved from being New York's worst Democrat in Congress by Anthony Brindisi, another New Yorker, who happens to be America's worst Democrat in Congress. Progressive Punch rates both their voting records "F" (as it does half a dozen other New York members-- Brian Higgins, Joe Morelle, Kathleen Rice, Antonio Delgado, Tom Suozzi and Sean Patrick Maloney). Brindisi's crucial vote score is a jaw-dropping 24.69%, further right than several Republicans! Rose's is the 25th worst among House Dems-- 55.56%, far to the right of an average Democrat, but right about what the average Blue Dog/New Dem gets. Max Rose sits in the center of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

He's in a fight for his political life right now, but is likely to win in 3 weeks-- and then lose his seat in the 2022 midterms, when Democratic voters will be discouraged by a do-nothing Democratic White House/Congress and just stay home and not vote. Rose picks fights with progressive Democrats-- usually, though not exclusively women-- to show Staten Island conservatives he's one of them. Rose is working hard to create an image for himself that fits how he sees the unfocussed and very disparate district. He apparently thinks-- not without reason-- that most of the district is made up of assholes (it was after all the district that enthusiastically elected and reelected Mafia thug Mikie "Suits" Grimm, even after Grimm was indicted), so he has cultivated the demeanor of an asshole. Last week he was a guest on Peter Hamby's Vanity Fair podcast, Good Luck America to curse a lot, show he can be as much a boor as his Staten Island constituents and to talk about "why the presidential polls are bullshit, why police need more funding-- not less-- and why it’s cool to be a 'swagger-filled' moderate." Here are some excerpts from the interview that capture Rose's Blue Dog careerist mentality:

Peter Hamby: I want to ask you about some national politics. Talks fell apart between the president and the House over a second coronavirus stimulus deal. Who do you blame for that?

Max Rose: Well, first of all, everyone is to blame. I’m so sick and tired of this notion of finger-pointing in our politics. But with that being said, the president did walk away, and the president is the one that gave up. Now, I was a part of a bipartisan coalition that announced a significant, bold framework for COVID relief: $1.6 trillion. It’s clear that we don’t need something skinny that doesn’t match the scale of this public health and economic crisis, and it’s clear that we don’t need something that is blindly partisan, that is going to be dead on arrival. But we need everybody to rise to the challenge here, and that is clear. State and local aid, extended unemployment, direct stimulus checks. This ain’t rocket science at this point. It’s just not.

... PH: So you’re from the most conservative House district in New York City. It includes Staten Island, parts of Brooklyn. Trump won your district. So what’s it like when you say you support Trump on some things? Because you have. If you go into Manhattan, if you go to the halls of Congress and run into a lot of Democrats, are they like, “Hey, man, don’t say that stuff”?

MR: No. And it’s just so weird about the Democratic Party, and it’s weird about the state of partisanship today that people’s opinions become defined by their partisan affiliation. Just look at the war in Afghanistan. It’s like the perfect example, right? It’s a conflict that’s deeply personal to me, and I am of the belief that it’s got to end. It’s America’s longest war. We have soldiers enlisting today-- today-- who were not born on 9/11. Who were not born when we sent our first soldier to Afghanistan. Donald Trump stands up and says, “It’s clear that we need some type of peace, reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban, and we’ve got to get out of that war.” And suddenly the freaking Democratic Party becomes the pro-war party? Saying, “No, no, we should stay there longer.” It’s the oddest thing. It was the same with the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian terrorist, who was someone that deserved to be killed. The blood of over 600 soldiers, American soldiers, on his hands. So yeah, I’m not dictated by blind party commitment and dedication. It’s always got to be country first.

PH: One thing I was thinking about before this interview was the Democratic presidential primary. In a lot of ways, [Joe] Biden emerged from that as kind of like the perfect nominee for Democrats, because he has a little bit of a traditional view of politics, not just policy but also dealmaking, reaching across the aisle. He's pretty inoffensive, quite frankly, to a lot of people. What’s your biggest takeaway from the Democratic primary, which seemed like it was sometimes fought over certain issues that were either unpopular or uninteresting to a lot of Americans?





MR: Well, yeah, the Democratic Party is allergic to show business at times. So you can always rely on the Democratic Party to be fundamentally uninteresting at times. I think that what certain segments of the party learned, and have to relearn this lesson over and over and over again, is that politics is not about bullet points. Politics is about trust-building, and politics is about presenting a bold vision for the future. But it’s also, when you boil it down, right, it’s about trying to instill the message that if it matters to you, it matters to me, no matter how small, no matter how big. In that sense it’s like a job interview, right? Very rarely on job interviews do people say, “Oh, give me your 10-point bullet plan for this very specific problem 18 months from now.” So I am of the belief that when it came to that primary, when it comes to any election, it’s fundamentally a question of: Who do you believe down in your soul and down in your gut? And then I guess that’s what we saw here. But going forward, though, it is critical that the Democratic Party-- there will come a day when Donald Trump’s not the president. That day will come, and it’s critical that the Democratic Party not be just defined by anti-Trumpism. It can’t just be what we’re against. It has to be: “What are we for?” And this idea that if you’re a moderate or you’re a centrist, it means that you’re some shy, milquetoast incrementalist, I think is total bullshit. Rather, what you need is you need to figure out what are the bold and nonetheless unifying policies that we can put into place that will allow for us to address climate change, allow for us to address gun violence, allow for us to position America as the preeminent global power of the 21st century, all the while having an inclusively just capitalist economy. Being moderate or centrist cannot be shy. It can’t just be focused on what you’re not. Has to be what you’re for too.

...PH: Trump announced he’s got COVID. It's spreading throughout the White House and D.C. among his aides. The national polls are kind of opening up for Joe Biden as a consequence of that. But how is it playing in your district on Staten Island?

MR: I mean, for all we know, these polls are B.S. The only thing that matters is what happens on Election Day. So I think anybody who ever becomes arrogant in this business quickly regrets it. But with that being said, COVID is an unprecedented security crisis and health crisis, unprecedented in nature, but also no different in terms of the unifying and bold response that it warrants, whether it came to the world wars that we have fought in the past or to the counterterrorism fight that we’ve undertaken over the last 20 years. It requires strong government action. It requires solidarity. It requires resources. It requires a strategy. And it requires our leaders to rise above the political fray and not think about how they can divide us, but think about how they can unify us. Mitch McConnell came out with a skinny COVID bill a month ago. It’s a good thing we didn’t have a skinny plan to beat the Nazis. A skinny plan to get to the moon. That’s never what this country has been about. Never has been and never should be.

...PH: I know you think polls are bullshit, but one trend that seems pretty unmistakable is that Biden is opening up a nontraditional lead among senior citizens and older voters. You’ve got a lot of old folks in your district. Are they...

MR: Don’t call them old folks. They’re just getting started. All right, bro? Sixty-five is the new 45. But look, no one’s vote in this country should be taken for granted, and the Republican Party certainly has taken the senior vote for granted. There’s no doubt. The Democratic Party is guilty of taking the union vote for granted. It’s guilty of at times taking communities of color for granted, only going into some communities right before Election Day, treating them like fully owned subsidiaries. We hear so much in politics about: “Get out the vote.” It is the most messed-up terminology in politics today. Everything should be about earning the vote, not just communicating with someone 96 hours before an election, making sure they know where their polling booth is. It’s everything that is wrong with our system, that it’s become so bifurcated. You see all these wonks in politics that say, “Well, you don’t have to be on the ground anymore. You don’t have to talk to people. The off year doesn’t matter because I’ve got digital targeting. I’ve got the analytics behind me.” Fuck you and your analytics, okay? This is about people; it’s about trust; and it’s about finally positioning this country to fulfill its promise.

PH: From what I’ve read, I think the murder rate is up, like, 50% in New York City. Shootings are up almost 150%. Where is this crime wave and the violence coming from? What is it a result of?

MR: Well, if it were as easy as one thing, it would certainly be simpler to solve. Part of it is most definitely attributed to the failures of this mayor’s leadership, and I regret that I’m on Snapchat, because 15 seconds ain’t enough to describe how he is the worst mayor in the history of New York City. But with that being said, COVID certainly also plays a role. Skyrocketing unemployment. An absence of unity in the city. Right now an emerging sense of us against them. I think that there is a federal role here as well. The vast majority of the guns retrieved from crime incidents in New York City come from out of state. They flow up the iron pipeline from down south, from areas with lax gun laws, and they end up in inner-city New York City. We need federal action when it comes to gun legislation, but nothing should take us away from the fact that we can concurrently and simultaneously and boldly pursue justice for all and safety for all, all while supporting our police. I think defunding the police is 100% the wrong decision. I’m of the belief that we should be thinking about how to pay our cops more. We should be thinking consistently about, How do we invest in our public institutions, invest in our public servants more, make sure that they are the highest-paid public servants not just in the country, but in the world? Because that’s how we can truly have the most effective and just government and public services.

PH: Are you worried that police-- not just in New York, but in this country-- that police forces are becoming almost radicalized? That only certain kinds of white folks are going to sign up to become police officers at this point, that there’s a war now between police and communities, and it’s driving people in different directions?

MR: When you go to visit a police precinct in New York City, and I have more than a number of times, what you see when police officers line up, for 2020-- NYPD cops line up before they go out onto the street that day on to, on to their beat-- you see a group of people that represent the beautiful cultural mosaic that is New York City. You see folks who are striving to be in the middle class, stay in the middle class, serve their family, serve their communities. So from that vantage point, I think that there’s no public institution in America that can’t continue to improve. But on the same hand, I am of the belief that when you look at our cops, many of them represent exactly who New York City is in this modern day and age. But it is clear as well that if you want to continue to think about, How do we improve policing in America? Just like, How do you improve any public institution in America? And they all can improve, every single one of them, most especially Congress. You have to consider, How do you further invest in that institution? Not, How do you abandon the institution? How do you turn your backs on people who are putting their lives on the line each and every day? Rather, in my book, it is, How do you develop further strategies and how do you resource them?

...PH: You rail against Bill de Blasio on the campaign trail.

MR: Am I too subtle? Is it too nuanced? Is it nuanced?

PH: Not at all. Just define your loathing of him. Where does it come from? Why is he such a bad mayor in your mind?

MR: He’s not a leader. He’s not decisive. He doesn’t show a love for New York and a love for the job that I think the job requires. He doesn’t realize that if you’re antibusiness, then you can’t generate the tax revenue necessary to raise union salaries and help people who need help. And I don’t think people take pride in him, and that’s why New York City needs better than that. New York City can be the city that can run circles around every other city in the world. We could be showing the rest of the world how to have a testing strategy that actually works, that’s proactive, not reactive. We can show how you can build out an integrated health care system that’s ready for the next pandemic. You can do things like run and build out the best and most well-resourced and most efficient public housing units in America. Now, none of this, though, none of Bill de Blasio’s failures should take away from the fact that the federal government should not be telling New York to drop dead, should not be establishing federal aid for cities and states like New York and New York City as a blue-state-versus-red-state issue. And there is a moment in time, and I believe we are in it right now, where it requires bold federal action to be there for people. Thankfully, when a state or a city down south goes through a tornado or a superstorm, we’re not saying, “Oh, that’s a bunch of Republicans." That’s never what this country has been about, and it shouldn’t be now.

PH: Last thing: When a lot of people see you attack the mayor, they kind of see it as a political tactic. That he’s unpopular, he’s easy to run against. But when I hear that, I hear you want to run for mayor one day. I know you’ve got a tough race right now, but is that something you’d want to do one day? Be the mayor of New York?

MR: No. Look, man, I got an election ahead of me right now. I ain’t running for mayor. And you got to have a conversation with Leigh Rose about anything like that, all right, buddy? But with that being said, though, my North Star from the very beginning has been two things: Party cannot matter. If it matters to you, it matters to me. And who runs city hall, whether he’s a Democrat or not, his failures, the mayor’s failures, directly impact my own constituents. I’m not going to remain silent to the mayor’s failures just because he’s a Democrat. That to me represents a failure of leadership and a failure of public service.

PH: All right. Thanks, Max. Favorite Wu-Tang song before you go?

MR: I ain’t telling you, man. I’m not getting into it, man. I’m not getting into it. I love you, though, buddy. Thank you again.

That's not part of Rose's image. But this is, after all, Staten Island's contribution to culture: