Eric Adams is the epitome of a Big Apple mayor, swaggering and high style. He has the crisp urban look of a big city boss or music billionaire.
A former police captain, Adams ran City Hall and Gracie Mansion with bravado and finesse before he got in this jam.
To grab a cocktail with Mayor Cool is to experience ‘the city that never sleeps,’ a welcome change from the dull days of Bill DeBlasio, his predecessor, a machine Democrat forever mired in municipal politics.
But Adams is in a jam. The federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York say he chiseled $100,000 worth of free upgrades on Turkish Airways and some hotels in exchange for expediting the construction of a new Turkish Consulate being built near the United Nations.
It seems an over-bloated accusation. Free upgrades for a mayor don’t even feel illegal. Think of him as a kind of influencer.
Still, Adams was indicted on five corruption charges and was facing a legal abyss, several years in federal prison. Then he began courting the Trump Administration and letting folks in D.C. know that he was all in favor of joining Trump’s controversial anti-migrant crusade.
Hence, a note from the Justice Department that the charges were as good as dismissed to free the mayor to assist federal agents in apprehending and expelling illegal migrants.
If super cool Mayor Adams has sold his soul to Donald Trump in exchange for the Trump Justice Department dropping all corruption charges against him, it will prove an empty victory for Adams.
Seven young prosecutors quit in protest, saying they believed he was guilty. Their resignations make clear that those insiders believe a deal was forged to keep the mayor in power and squarely in Trump’s camp.
The language of the deal feels dirty. Essentially, ‘you Feds drop these charges, I, Mayor Adams will help implement your aggressive migrant roundups.’
Adams denies what seems undeniable. “I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered—not did anyone offer on my behalf—any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case. Never.”
Whether this exposé of an obvious quid pro quo impacts Mayor Adam’s re-election bid depends on which migrants he helps Trump apprehend and expel. If it really is criminal gang-related killers, then many, if not most, New Yorkers will give Adams a pass for helping round them up.
Most Americans are sick of undocumented migrants. They can’t say Trump didn’t give them fair warning. Ordinary people want their cities returned to their traditional dysfunction. Most are sick of bad people from away.
But they are not mad at Juan and Maria, the million or more ordinary migrant strivers, the kitchen and factory workers, food deliverers, babysitters or construction workers who obey the law, work hard to raise their kids and are proud to call New York City home.
Most folks would be repulsed by public cruelty to these traditional seekers of the American dream. Eric Adams must assure the city and nation that he hasn’t sold them out just to get a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card.
The politician who stands to gain most from Adams’ travails is Andrew Cuomo.
The former governor, now redeemed from apparently fake allegations against him. He is consistently polling ahead of all mayoral candidates, including Adams. A very impressive person with deep ties to the city and state, Andrew Cuomo would make a fine mayor. But don’t count Eric Adams out just yet.
