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We sometimes get the question: "What would a Democratic version of Donald Trump look like?" As far as answers to that question go, you could certainly do far worse than "Mayor Eric Adams (D-New York City)." Consider:
Yesterday, Adams added another item to the list of Trump commonalities, as he was indicted by the federal government.
What, exactly, was Adams indicted for? Nobody knows yet, outside of the staff of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Even Adams himself does not know (although he, and the rest of the world, will find out today). Despite his ignorance of the charges and evidence against him, the Mayor declared: "It is now my belief the federal government plans to charge me with crimes. If so, these charges will be entirely false, based on lies." Perhaps that response also sounds familiar.
We have written this before, but the mayoralty of New York is NOT a springboard to higher office, despite holders' plans to the contrary. The last New York mayor who went on to serve in some other elective office was Ardolph L. Kline, who served as acting mayor for a few months in late 1913, and then was elected to a single term in the U.S. House in 1920. So, should the current scandal lead to Adams' downfall, either through resignation or impeachment, it is not going to deprive the Democratic bench in New York of a rising star.
That means that the most significant impact, outside of the city, is that the "only Republicans get grabbed by the long arm of the law" narrative will be further weakened. A Democratic senator (Robert Menendez) went down, and now the highest-profile Democratic mayor in the country is in hot water. It sure looks like the pattern is "law enforcement goes after lawbreakers" not "law enforcement goes after Republicans." (Z)