DE BLASIO: We’ve talked to business leaders for months about the reality of the Delta variant and the whole reality of covid. You know what they tell us? One, when the government acts it makes it easier for them to act. They like to see the government lead the way! We do that with our own public employees, our own public schools.

We proved it works — and then what we also heard from business leaders is, “Whatever you do, don’t let us go back to shutdown. Don’t let us go backward.” This is a preemptive strike. This is to get ahead of something that’s new threatening us in a new way. You had (sputters) the winter weather, you had the holiday gatherings, now Omicron. Hey, we’re getting a lot of warnings here; we better be aggressive.

BUCK: Even talking about a shutdown should be considered completely insane at this point. Welcome back to Clay and Buck show. That’s the mayor of New York City, for whom I cannot find enough pejoratives — and for whom the colorful language that I would use in discussions with Clay off air, unfortunately cannot be shared on the radio when describing Bill de Blasio as the absolute worst mayor, maybe among the worst politicians in America too in terms of decision-making and what he has done to my once great and proud city and hometown of New York.

And here’s what I have to say. First of all, the notion that it worked is amazing considering that we have to do other things right now after the mandate went into effect in New York in August, because it wasn’t good enough. So to say that it worked is delusional because clearly it didn’t work. What he’s really talking about is a rolling process of dealing with this forever.

But, Clay, more to the point here, he’s essentially saying, “Nice business you got there. Be a shame if something happens to it.” Of course businesses are gonna be like, “Well, I guess we have to go along with this; you’re gonna shut us down,” never mind the problems of enforcing this. If the business community in New York doesn’t go along…

Now, look, I know he may be gone in a few weeks, but he’s lobbed this political hand grenade on his way out the door on purpose to cause all kinds of strife and problems. If we have a situation where yo’ure gonna shut businesses down again, New York won’t recover for a decade. No one’s gonna set up a business here. No one’s gonna want to be here. And for what, Clay? What are they doing?

CLAY: Not only people who live in New York who I feel poorly for — and, frankly, I would have bailed a long time ago based on how this last year and a half has gone — but also for people who come to New York. I don’t think that de Blasio understands how many millions of people around the country and around the world make decisions about where to go on vacation.

Buck, the number of people that are traveling to New York City has been unbelievably low, and the direct number of jobs that are connected to tourism — even for a place like New York City — is massive beyond belief. And then when you factor in all of the money that comes from people staying in hotels, the hotel taxes that are basically enforced on tourists.

We’re talking about de Blasio, in conjunction with the failure of people to visit — and running away so many high-income New Yorkers who have options to live in other parts of the country or, frankly, anywhere around the world. This is a destructive generational issue that Eric Adams, if he’s smart, will immediately rescind when he comes into office. I don’t know if he’ll be willing to do it, but that would be a monumental step that he could take to just say, “De Blasio’s rules are out the window.”

BUCK: We’re so beaten down that if Eric Adams comes in and is willing to say, “Cops are not the problem when it comes to crime in this city and having the strictest lockdown in the Western world is not a good idea for New York City right now,” people are gonna act like he’s The Messiah. (chuckles) So that’s how beaten down New Yorkers feel right now.

CLAY: Which is at least a good spot for Eric Adams to find himself in.