Eric Adams Doomed Himself
The end of a corruption trial will only help him so much
The expected news broke late last night: the Trump Justice Department would drop the corruption charges brought against Mayor Eric Adams. Federal prosecutions will often have a political element—U.S. Attorneys, especially for the Southern District, tend to be aggressive about bringing cases that attract the most media attention—but this reversal has infected the judicial system with a naked partisanship that recalls the wilder, bloodier nineteenth century. Adams is free because Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, and Adams wisely gambled on his status as an oppositional figure to the Biden White House to cozy up to Trump. For Adams and Trump, this beats a pardon; the case simply goes away, even if it’s under a bizarre pretext. Adams can claim he is exonerated and Trump doesn’t have to explain to his base that he just pardoned a big city Democrat—never mind that this one, for more than a year, has been railing against Joe Biden’s immigration policies. Adams can now start dreaming about his full pivot to Trumpworld, either with a patronage gig in the federal government or a contributor contract with Fox News, assuming he wants, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, to fully exit the Democratic Party or at least antagonize the left on conservative outlets for the rest of his political life.
These are Adams’ options because he is still, most likely, not returning to City Hall in 2026. His chances of winning the Democratic primary in June are remote and he can’t win a Republican primary either, assuming party leaders granted him permission to run. If the Democratic nominee is a leftist the business community reviles, he could entertain an independent bid, but even there, real estate and corporate elites would probably prefer someone else.
Adams is deeply, historically unpopular in New York. Trump’s mercy won’t save him.