New York City's Dislike Of Trump
It goes way back
New York City is not going along with Trump’s plans. I have lived in the city for a large part of my life, and remember his presence in the city in 1980’s; he was continually mocked. Trump never got the respect he craved. He can’t buy that.
At least six officials resigned in protest after Emil Bove III, the acting deputy attorney general of the Department of Justice (and one of Trump’s former lawyers, I drew him at the Manhattan hush-money trial), ordered them to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. (He was charged with bribery and other offenses “Adams abused his position as this City’s highest elected official…to take bribes and solicit illegal campaign contributions. By allegedly taking improper and illegal benefits from foreign nationals—including to allow a Manhattan skyscraper to open without a fire inspection—Adams put the interests of his benefactors, including a foreign official, above those of his constituents.”) The interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District and five officials with the federal public integrity unit who quit over this were career officials; this was an ethical, non-partisan reaction. In essence, Adams has offered to help Trump with immigration crackdown plans for NYC, and admits that this is a reason for not being prosecuted. This is so wrong.
Govenor Kathy Hochul is looking into her options as to how to respond to this crisis. She is taking her decision very seriously and seeking advice, and last night on MSNBC told Rachel Maddow she needs time to think about what she might do. She has the right to remove Adams from the Mayor’s office— but will she do it?
If you want to raise your heart rate (in a bad way), read this annotated letter from Bove to acting US Attorney, Danielle Sassoon, accepting her resignation. He attacks her repeatedly for “failing to obey a direct order to end a prosecution he says was political weaponization and for failing to adhere to policy priorities of President Trump.”
Nasty. These kind of fear tactics just won’t work in our democracy.
Trump is proceeding with mass federal agency job cuts in Washington. These are people’s lives being upended! Why don’t the Republicans see how mean this is? Among the largest layoffs reported on Thursday was one announced by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which dismissed more than 1,000 employees. The Federal government human resources division advised agencies “to terminate most of an estimated 200,000 workers on probation, a sharp escalation in the Trump administration’s drive to overhaul and shrink the federal work force.” He is planning on reshaping the government and filling it with Trump supporters.
Senator Richard Blumenthal is demanding an investigation into the Federal Government spending $400 million on Tesla armoured vehicles of t government use.
Today, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ordered Trump to temporarily lift USAID freeze and allow foreign aid funding. The judge rejected the administration's argument that it impounded funds to review each program. He said officials “have not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid, which set off a shockwave and upended reliance interests for thousands of agreements with businesses, nonprofits, and organizations around the country, was a rational precursor to reviewing programs.”
Trump is like a little boy in a China shop, joyfully in breaking things. He will undo so many great things, and then will put incompetent, mean people in place to run the government. Even though it is OUR government. But I tell myself to have hope: he won’t be there forever (we have to be sure he doesn’t make that possible), and we can rebuild. Not just the programs, we can reinstate our goodness, our care for others, which is at our core. It is not going away, despite what Trump does, and we will continue to exercise our compassion, in spite of him.
Timothy Syner has a great piece today on Substack called The Weak Strongman. I recommend reading it.
Thanks for being here, see you tomorrow.
cheers to Kathy Hochul and to the officials who resigned in favor of keeping their ethics intact.
My only problem with all these competent people quitting is that they will be replaced with morons. And at least, if there are some knowledgeable people still in charge, even if it's a handful, we can continue to hope. But, I'm sure that's part of the plan. Do something so ill advised that anyone with half a brain (that doesn't have a worm in it) won't want to spend another day at the job. On a positive note, glad you are better and that the New Yorker exhibit is a success. I must come in to see it.