Make Adams Grovel Again

The mayor continues to shed his Democrat skin, while the Trump team reportedly just laughs at his thirstiness #105

This was a big week for Mayor Eric Adams, with his ambitious housing plan, City of Yes, passing in the City Council. He also announced a proposed state bill to cut personal income tax for some New Yorkers (which he dubbed “Axe the Tax for the Working Class.”)

But based on comments he made during his once-a-week off-topic press conference on Tuesday, the main story about him Friday wasn’t about more housing.

It was his continued shift towards the Republican party, which he previously was a part of.

It started Tuesday, in part, when he went on and on said he wanted undocumented criminals out of the city.

“You know, because in this state of– in the era of cancel culture, no one's afraid to be honest about the truth,” he said.

“Well, cancel me because I'm going to protect the people of the city. And if you come into this country in this city and think you're going to harm innocent New Yorkers and innocent migrants and asylum seekers, this is not the mayor you want to be in the city under.”

As a daily observer of the mayor, I know he gets hot on certain phrases. So that’s what seems to be happening with “cancel me,” his challenge months ahead of a Democratic primary he’s running in.

Back to Tuesday. Asked about Elon Musk, he praised him and his plan for government efficiency.

It's time to fix government. And I look forward to Elon Musk, who can take us to Mars. Then he can also finally have an educational system that is not denying poor people in the city and bringing innovation. This is innovation. We should be… We were a country and a city that led the globe in innovation. And look at us now. It's time. It's time for change. And I've said this for years and I'm happy that Elon is going to be part of those who are moving that change forward.

Cancel me, he repeated Friday on TV while not ruling out a switch to joining the Republican party. He’s a part of the “American Party,” he said (creating a new third party like Andrew Yang?)

Headlines could be whatever they want. As I said, yes, that is what I'm proposing to do. I've been a Democrat for many years, and I'm going to run for my reelection as a Democrat. But my focus is the American people and the people of New York City. And those who don't like it, they would cancel me. And I say, cancel me. I'm for America.

The thinking is Adams is going soft on President-elect Trump not just to maintain a working relationship with the incoming leader of the nation, but to cozy up to him in the hopes he’ll help his legal case. He’s now fully said he believes his federal case is merely political retribution for speaking out against asylum seekers, something Trump seems to also believe.

Whether or not the mayor’s friendliness is working on the president-elect remains to be seen. Rolling Stone reported later Friday that the future president’s inner circle just laughs at Adams — with one incoming Trump administration official telling the magazine they and others joke about how “thirsty” Adams is. Ouch.

Other interesting stories

Adams might not get matching funds for his re-election campaign, at least not in the first batch. [THE CITY]
Mayoral endorsements — and a “don’t rank Adams” reminder — have started [THE CITY]
The population of unsheltered youth homeless doubled this year [THE CITY]
This de Blasio-era eligibility rule for specialized high schools meant to boost Black and Latino enrollment may be excluding those students [CHALKBEAT]
Very thorough maps on the City of Yes votes in the council [CITY LIMITS]
This has all your trash bin answers [THE CITY]
The survivors of child sex abuse who don’t want their abusers punished [THE NEW REPUBLIC]

More depressing journalism news, including Eater laying off multiple staffers and Robert Sietsema

I’m deviating a bit from my sandwich adoration to focus on panettone. Tis the season, of course. Wirecutter published their list last month, and here’s a few I’ll be picking up this month (and then later when they hopefully go on sale.)

Galup: The whole town where they make this apparently smells like panettone, doesn’t that sound nice? The moscato one honestly intrigues me.

Muzzi: Easy to find and also delicious. I like the chocolate ones, and this one has a stylish leopard print paper. Plus there’s the cherry and chocolate one.

Vergani: Chocolate and pistacchio????

Share your favorite holiday treats in the comments!

Thanks for reading!