THE (PROGRESSIVE) BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, ‘MAD-MANI’ STYLE:
Eric Adams was elected precisely because the people of New York wanted a return to law and order sanity after eight years of de Blasio’s progressive dumpster fire. Sadly, Adams proved to be too ethically compromised to effectively resist the flood of illegal immigrants – many of whom were dispatched on border state buses – who filled the Port Authority. Housed in luxury hotels at taxpayers’ expense, they tested New York City’s sanctuary resolve.
Motivated by his political survival instincts, Adams’ spine stiffened. Conveniently, he was summarily whacked with a federal prosecution. “More lawfare!” said his defenders. “Just following the facts where they lead,” countered the Justice Department careerists. Nonetheless, he and Donald Trump found common purpose – and this triggered Democrats in general and progressives in particular. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, naturally, called for Adams to step down “for the good of the city.” You know, the new mantra of the left: guilty until proven innocent.
What are the political odds on Mayor Adams winning against the Democratic Party blob that has just nominated 33-year-old anti-Israel, Marxist Zohran Mamdani as its mayoral nominee? Not good. Presently, far from a coin toss.
Adams and New York City have four months to mount a credible, winning opposition. It’s a window of political opportunity that would not exist if it were not for Trump’s gratuitously playing a lawfare card of his own in the form of a timely presidential pardon, giving Adams a new lease on life – and New Yorkers a last chance to inhabit a livable city.
Trump hasn’t yet nicknamed Mamdani “Mad-Mani,” so I’ll go ahead and do it for him. Whatever he’s called, he’s a real threat to the city.
I’m not sure how crazy I am about “Mad-Mani,” as a Trump-style pejorative epithet, to be honest. Whatever his myriad flaws and massive internal baggage, on the surface, Don Draper was the personification of JFK/Rat Pack-era Sinatra cool. Mamdani’s style seems a conscious rejection of that attitude.
But as Jim Geraghty writes, his opponents are doing everything they can to throw the race his way: Apparently, We Will Have Andrew Cuomo to Kick Around a Little Longer. “Mamdani has some major advantages heading into November, and one of them is that Cuomo, incumbent independent Eric Adams, and Republican Curtis Sliwa are the three men least likely to ever voluntarily withdraw from the race to help one of the other two.”
Exit questions: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mamdani? Democrats Don’t Have an Answer. “The meteoric rise of New York City Democrat mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani poses a major question for Washington Democrats—is his brand of Palestinian activism, economic interventionism, and pro-LGBTQ+ rhetoric the future of their party?”
Good and hard, fun city.