Why aspiring NYC mayor Andrew Yang upset New Yorkers with his quip about working from home

Former presidential hopeful Andrew Yang wants to be New York City’s next mayor, but a comment he made recently could keep him as far from Gracie Mansion as he is from the White House.

In an interview with the New York Times, the entrepreneur-turned-politician explained why he’s been spending time in his New Paltz home rather than in the city he hopes to run.

“We live in a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. And so, like, can you imagine trying to have two kids on virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment, and then trying to do work yourself?,” he said in the story, which was posted on the paper’s website this morning.

While not exactly the real-estate equivalent of “Ford to City, Drop Dead,” Yang successfully alienated the throngs of New Yorkers who are doing just that.

Many of them because they don’t have a choice.

Manhattan, one of five boroughs that comprise New York City, is one of the most densely populated—and expensive—places to live on Earth. It’s a place where people shoehorn apartments with many roommates, consider walk-in closets bedrooms, and sleep in shifts to accommodate more folks chipping in for rent.

Social media already is full of people calling this “Let them eat cake,” er, “Let them have two children attend online school in a two-bedroom apartment” comment the end of his mayoral aspirations.

New Paltz, a town in Ulster County, is approximately 80 miles north of Manhattan. Yang’s decision to spend time there speaks to ongoing debates over the city’s viability during the pandemic, and how people who have fled New York during its worst moments are often the ones who can afford to.

About nine hours before the interview was posted, Yang retweeted Joe Biden’s tweet about how tight finances are for some Americans right now: “$600 is simply not enough when you have to choose between paying rent or putting food on the table. We need $2,000 stimulus checks.”

The New York City mayoral primary is in June. The city’s current mayor, Bill de Blasio, can’t run for re-election due to term limits.