Dem
51
GOP
49
We often get e-mails for the Q&A wondering what the Democratic equivalent of Donald Trump might look like. It would seem that question has now been answered:
The individual in question, of course, is New York City mayor Eric Adams. The sexual assault accusation is the latest item on his ledger, and it was made possible by New York's Adult Survivors Act, which re-opened the window for one year to allow alleged victims to file claims (this is also what made possible the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit against Trump). The complaint, filed on Wednesday, is thin on details, and asks for $5 million. Adams denies the assault, and denies ever having met the complainant.
We pass all of this information along for two reasons. The first is that Adams thinks he's upwardly mobile, and has his eye on something larger than Gracie Mansion. This despite the fact that the mayoralty of New York City has been a terminal office for a century; the last person to use the job as a launching pad to something else was Acting Mayor Ardolph L. Kline, who served for the final 4 months of 1913, and then 8 years later was elected to a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The second reason we pass this along is because implied in the question "Who is the Democratic Trump?" is the follow-up: "Could Democratic voters be persuaded to support someone who is Trump-like in approach and personality, but Democratic in policy?" Readers can decide for themselves whether Adams has a future in Democratic politics, though we will point out that the Biden administration, which once used Adams as a surrogate, is now unwilling to touch him with a 10-foot pole. (Z)