Retired Fire Department of New York Lt. Joe Torrillo, who responded to the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, told Newsmax on Wednesday that people who don't like America should have no problem finding a flight and moving to one of nearly 200 other countries to escape.
"As a victim of terrorism, I feel very strongly about people who pay the price of protecting their country and giving so much to others," Torrillo said on "Newsline." "What really gets me disheartened is that in this country, we have 330 million Americans that are registered citizens. There's actually handfuls of people spread throughout the 50 states who don't believe that they live in the greatest country in the world.
"I have to respect everybody's opinion, but for those people listening to me today, if you don't think you live in the greatest country in the world, I'll let you in on a little secret," he said. "Besides, the United States there's 197 other countries around the world. There's 19,200 airports in the United States of America. If you're not happy living in this country, you have no problem finding a flight. Take it to another country where you think you're going to find it better."
He added that people "who would be silly enough to take you up on the offer" would "book their trip with a round-trip ticket."
Asked to comment on why some in New York City are supporting self-declared democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in the mayoral race, who espouses seemingly anti-American values, Torrillo said that he's "concerned not only about the city," but "about this whole country."
"There's a left liberal mentality that's infiltrated this whole country," he said. "I mean, I've been following Mamdani through the New York Post, and truthfully, I don't want to cast an opinion about somebody I haven't met yet. There's certain things that I understand where he's coming from, other things that I've heard, I'm not sure if I agree with him. But the truth of the matter is that we got to start taking care of people that are struggling too hard.
"I'm not really a socialist, but I think there's some validity to what people feel about that because in this country, from what I see, the rich people keep getting rich and the poor getting poorer," Torrillo said. "I'm all for taking care of people if they want to work for it, but I think that some people just need a financial boost, like having affordable housing. There's too many people that are struggling too much. I don't know how Mamdani really feels about taking care of these people, but I'm not into giving free stuff out. If you're willing to work for something, we should be able to give you that opportunity so you could live without all the stress of trying to meet your bills at the end of the month."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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