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On with Kara SwisherTrump says American cities are "cesspools." These mayors have receipts.
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At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Democratic mayors rebut “cesspool” claims with local results and battles
- Kara Swisher interviews Democratic mayors of Denver, Kansas City, and New Orleans about governing amid polarization across public safety, housing, immigration, and elections.
- The mayors argue national anti-city rhetoric is contradicted by local outcomes, describing falling crime and homelessness alongside strategies focused on prevention, services, and housing supply.
- They describe major city-building and branding initiatives—from large events like the World Cup and the Super Bowl to long-term redevelopment, transit-linked housing hubs, and innovation/port and research campuses.
- All three discuss rising backlash to AI data centers and outline pauses or moratoria tied to water, grid capacity, electricity costs, noise, and lack of transparency.
- They warn about immigration enforcement tactics and election-related confusion and interference, and argue that Democratic messaging should focus on tangible, everyday governance results rather than abstract national fights.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasMayors say polarized national debates often become pragmatic problem-solving when crises hit locally.
He described Denver receiving 40,000 migrants (more than any city per capita, as he framed it) and said the left and right converged on the same practical outcome: getting people authorized to work so they can support themselves and the economy.
The mayors push back on “rotting cities” rhetoric by pointing to local metrics and visible results.
He said Denver experienced the largest drop in homicide rate and the largest drop in homelessness of any city in the country in the same year it took in the most migrants, and argued those outcomes rebut claims that cities are “cesspools.”
Even when security resources arrive, cities still have to manage perception and operational value.
She said New Orleans is accustomed to National Guard presence for Mardi Gras, storms, and major events, but an extended deployment raised concerns about tourism optics and what the Guard would practically do; she said the city worked to make deployments useful rather than idle.
Denver’s homelessness strategy emphasized speed, geographic encampment closure, and deconcentrated services.
He outlined Denver’s approach: rapidly adding about 1,000 transitional units (hotels and tiny homes), closing encampments by geography and keeping areas closed, and decentralizing services away from downtown; he said this moved 9,000 people off the street into transitional housing and 8,000 into permanent housing.
Kansas City’s housing agenda aims to treat housing as economic development and rebuild middle-income affordability.
He said Kansas City’s housing trust fund and related policies became effective only after real investment, reframing housing as core economic development and focusing on gap-filling to produce units that support a broader middle class—not just luxury housing or the most deeply subsidized housing.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesName for me the five great American cities who have built their brand on being anti-immigrant. You can't name one because those cities are forgotten now.
— Unattributed
When you're not transparent and you don't explain the full story, somebody else is gonna tell the story for you.
— Helena Moreno
That is essentially what fentanyl does. It is a homelessness survival drug.
— Unattributed
Mass shipments of people based on look, based on aesthetic, based on phenotype, accent, or language they're speaking, is fundamentally anti-American.
— Quinton Lucas
If people expect something to get fixed and it doesn't get fixed, after a while, you can either believe it doesn't get fixed because your neighbors are the problem, and they're what's screwing it up, or democracy is the problem, and that's what's screwing it up.
— Unattributed
SPEAKERS
Kara Swisher
hostJournalist and podcast host of On with Kara Swisher.
Helena Moreno
guestNew Orleans city official and city councilmember (at-large), focused on urban governance issues.
Quinton Lucas
guestMayor of Kansas City, Missouri.
Pete Buttigieg
cameoFormer U.S. Secretary of Transportation and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
