On Sunday afternoon—just weeks after insisting he was not dropping out of the race and taking a job with the Trump administration—Adams tweeted a suitably overwrought video from the steps of Gracie Mansion, the official mayoral residence, declaring that he was no longer seeking a second term, though he’d serve out the rest of the year and remain on the general-election ballot as a solo member of the “SafeAndAffordable” and “EndAntisemitism” party lines. It’s an incredibly humiliating comedown for a mayor who, after winning the primary four years ago, was hailed as the future of the Democratic Party—only to end up the first indicted sitting mayor in NYC history, dodging the charges only by trading one corrupt deal (unsubtle quid pro quo deals with Turkish government officials and kickbacks for his deputies) for another (supplicating himself before the Trump regime and welcoming its brutal mistreatment of the city’s immigrants in exchange for legal immunity). Corruption and self-interest were endemic to Adams’ rule, from the campaign funds he allegedly embezzled with the help of Turkish funders during his 2021 run, to the commercial leases and seats of power granted to pals with glaring conflicts of interest, to the eager courtship of the rich New Yorkers who fear Zohran Mamdani—yet are, gradually, coming to terms with his seemingly inevitable victory.
Author: Nitish Pahwa
Published at: 2025-09-29 21:56:49
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