If New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ 2023 New Year’s resolution was to be more honest with himself, let me congratulate him: This has been one fruitful year.
The rest of it has been a mishmash of the usual Gotham crime concerns and the border crisis hitting home in the five boroughs, mind you. Adams was supposed to be the guy who righted the ship; he’s a Democrat, of course, because no serious conservative since Rudy Giuliani has been elected to the city’s highest office, but at least Adams wasn’t Bill de Blasio.
He was billed to us as that rarest of creatures — a sensible, moderate Democrat, a hard-edged former cop who’d make criminals feel the pain and make New Yorkers feel safe and secure again. While he’s maintained this persona in public, however, the tangible results are harder to perceive.
So difficult, in fact, that the one who’s felt Adams’ wrath most has been, well, himself.
During his end of the year media briefing at City Hall on Thursday, Adams noted the massive influx of illegal immigrants and insisted they be allowed to gain employment.
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“More than 157,000 migrants have arrived at our door since last year — 1.5 [times] the size of the city of Albany,” Adams said, according to the Washington Examiner.
“An entire city was dropped into New York City. The difference from that is that in Albany, they have the right to work. In New York City, they do not have that right to work. They need to be allowed to work.”
Adams, the Examiner reported, “noted that not a single family has slept on the street since arriving in his city. At the same time, he acknowledged the criticism he has received surrounding the immigrants and lamented that most New Yorkers don’t understand he doesn’t have the authority to stop the buses from coming or deport immigrants once they’ve arrived.”
“You know, some people see me — you know I can walk down the block — some give me the thumbs-up, and others give me another finger, you know,” Adams said.
“But that’s New Yorkers! You know, I wake up in the morning, and sometimes I look at myself, and I give myself the finger!”
Democrat NYC Mayor Eric Adams: “I wake up in the morning and sometimes I look at myself and I give myself the finger!” pic.twitter.com/qkh04jJfW0
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 21, 2023
Strange, sure. But again, at least the man is being honest with himself. If that was your 2023 resolution, it’s safe to say that you’re allowed one cup of cheer this Christmas Eve, Mayor Adams. And just one. We remember the rest of the year, after all.
However, it’s not really his fault entirely. One commenter on social media had a flawless rejoinder to that clip: “Oh my God. This is the perfect slogan for the Democrat party.”
Oh my God. This is the perfect slogan for the Democrat party. 🤣🤣🤣
— Johnny Reno (@JohnnyReno) December 21, 2023
No, Eric Adams didn’t create the border crisis. That predated his mayoralty by about a year, when President Joe Biden took office. We were told that the unusual number of migrants at the border was just a seasonal thing, the same way we were assured inflation was transitory.
It turns out neither was: Policies that encourage inflation still produce inflation, the same way that administrations soft on illegal immigration get more illegal immigration. They were abetted by Democratic politicians, who said in one breath that there wasn’t a border crisis or mass illegal immigration, then in another that immigration might be good for us.
Big-city Democrat mayors cheered it on. Then, buses of migrants began arriving from states like Texas … and then they called foul. Whoa, hold on! We don’t have the resources for this! You’re supposed to handle it, red border states.
So now, Eric Adams is reduced to giving himself the finger in the mirror. Awkward, but appropriate. Now, maybe if we could get a few more Democrats to pledge to do this in 2024, perhaps we could get somewhere.
