It has been an eventful year for both Eric Adams and Donald Trump, but only one of them has seen his political fortunes take a significant turn for the worse. Now that Trump has been reelected president and will soon have the power to make the mayor’s Justice Department problems go away, Adams’s public and private attempts to cozy up to the president-elect have proliferated to an awkward degree. Here’s a look at the major moments of their odd political courtship over the past several months.
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Adams says New York shouldn’t fight Trump
The same day Trump said he was open to pardoning Adams, the mayor said “New Yorkers lost” when the city had fought Trump earlier:
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Trump says he’s open to pardoning Adams
The outreach may be paying off. During a December 16 press conference, Trump was asked if he would consider pardoning the mayor. “Yeah, I would,” he responded:
I think that he was treated pretty unfairly. Now, I haven’t seen the gravity of it all, but it seems like, you know, like getting upgraded in an airplane many years ago … I mean, I’d have to see it because I don’t know the facts.
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Fishing for an inauguration invite
The New York Times reported on December 13 that two Adams advisers have been trying to get the mayor a ticket to attend Trump’s inauguration:
They have reached out to prominent New York Republicans in recent weeks asking for help connecting with the president-elect’s team. The advisers told them that Mr. Adams was interested in taking part in the inaugural festivities and wanted to know if he would be welcome, according to five people familiar with the conversations … One person involved in the conversations said he came away with the impression the mayor was looking for a meaningful interaction with the incoming administration and an invitation to sit on the large platform where Mr. Trump will be sworn in on the west front of the Capitol. Another person said Mr. Adams’s team was still primarily focused on procuring an invitation, rather than a specific role.
An Adams spokesperson denied there had been any conversations or plans made regarding attending the inauguration.
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Courting Trump’s border czar
After Trump won reelection, Adams quickly made it clear he was interested in working with the incoming Trump administration to tackle the migrant crisis. The mayor met with Trump “border czar” Tom Homan on December 12 and afterward championed their shared vision. “His goal is the same goal I have. We cannot allow dangerous individuals to commit repeated violent acts of violence in our cities across America,” Adams said.
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‘Thirsty’ for Trump’s attention and a pardon?
Rolling Stone reported on December 6 that Adams’s efforts to cozy up to Trump have drawn ridicule from the president-elect and his transition team:
“It’s kind of embarrassing, isn’t it?” says a member of Trump’s presidential transition team, one of three sources familiar with the situation who talked to Rolling Stone about Mar-a-Lago’s attitude towards the mayor. “How long until the actual begging and love letters start?” …
It’s become a running inside joke among some of Trump’s senior staff that Adams is angling for a pardon. One incoming Trump administration official tells Rolling Stone that they and several of their colleagues have chuckled about how “thirsty” Adams has seemed lately, with the Trump presidency on the horizon and with Adams’ federal corruption charges still hot. The president-elect, who himself was criminally charged in multiple federal and local cases, has gotten in on the joke. During this presidential transition, Trump has made sardonic references to how Adams seems to “really like” him nowadays and has specifically mentioned that the mayor is acting like someone who wants a pardon, according to two of the sources.
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Flirting with a party switch
During some media appearances on December 6, Mayor Adams briefly made it sound as if he were willing to switch parties and become a Republican. “The party that’s the most important for me is the American party. I’m a part of the American party. I love this country,” he said, later adding, “No matter what party I’m on or vote on, I’m going to push for American values.”
He eventually said he would remain a Democrat for his reelection campaign, while daring his critics to cancel him over his Trump-like “America first” stances:
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 will cancel me. And I say: Cancel me. I’m for America.
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Crashing Trump’s postelection fight night at the Garden
On November 16, Trump attended a UFC event at Madison Square Garden accompanied by a large entourage including Elon Musk and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Mayor Adams turned up too. A bystander video caught Adams briefly chatting up Trump ringside.
An Adams spokesperson said the mayor was just saying hi as he passed by, but the conversation drew enough attention that the Daily Mail consulted a lip reader to attempt to determine what they said. A few days later when Adams was asked what they talked about, he said they had discussed what a great mayor he was:
We exchanged pleasantries and I didn’t hear — it was a lot of noise. So I didn’t hear exactly what he was saying … But it was something to the tune of, you know, “You are one of the greatest mayors the city has ever had. The city has turned around under your leadership.”
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A big shout-out for the New York crowd
At his Madison Square Garden rally in late October, Trump personally thanked and defended Adams:
He said they shouldn’t be calling Trump a dictator because it’s not true. That’s nice, that was nice, very nice. We want to thank Mayor Adams. He’s going through a very hard time with these people.
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Insisting Trump isn’t a fascist
Shortly before Trump held his rally at Madison Square Garden in late October, Adams was asked whether he agreed that Trump is a fascist. “I had those terms hurled at me by some political leaders in the city, using terms like Hitler and fascists,” Adams said. “My answer is ‘no.’ I know what Hitler has done, and I know what a fascist regime looks like.”
He called for everyone to “dial down the temperature” ahead of the election.
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A post-indictment kinship
Adams has repeatedly suggested the Justice Department is targeting him for political reasons because the Biden administration wanted to retaliate against him for his criticism of its migrant policies. Trump, who also accuses the Biden administration of weaponizing the Justice Department against him, has said the same of Adams. “I know what it’s like to be persecuted by the DOJ for speaking out against open borders,” Trump said at the Al Smith dinner they both attended in October. “We were persecuted, Eric. I was persecuted, and so are you, Eric.”
