Is Donald Trump the de facto mayor of New York?
I put that question to the city’s comptroller, Brad Lander, today. Lander, who is running for mayor himself, argues that Trump now has extraordinary leverage over the city, having forged a shady deal with Mayor Eric Adams to free him of criminal charges for corruption in exchange for fealty.
I talked to Lander about the state of the city he aspires to lead, and he had some fascinating and provocative things to say. Adams, in his telling, is corrupt. Andrew Cuomo, the former governor now running for mayor, is “a corrupt abuser who is only in it for himself.” The democratic socialist firebrand Zohran Mamdani is surging because people are fed up.
Progressives, Lander told me, have a condescension problem on issues of crime and disorder, mental illness and homelessness. Voters have been telling leaders they don’t feel secure, Lander said, and too often progressives have fact-checked their comments instead of addressing them with real policy.
I asked Lander if, in the more dire scenarios of Trumpism, a city like New York would be forced into the role almost of city-state, insisting on the protection of its people in active contravention of federal activities.
And I heard about Lander’s plan to build housing…in part by getting rid of golf courses.
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