Here are the risks and rewards of Eric Adams' Trump alliance

On Friday, the not-so-surprising news sailed across the transom that President Trump’s Department of Justice moved to dismiss the five-count bribery case against New York City’s fun-loving Mayor Adams.The DOJ cited concerns that the charges were retribution against Adams for criticizing the Biden administration’s immigration policies — and that they “improperly interfered with Mayor Adams’ campaign in the 2025 mayoral election.” Indeed, the DOJ letter stipulates that Adams’s case will be reviewed again by prosecutors after November’s ballot.Hizzoner’s many rivals in the mayoral primary were quick to pounce.In particular, Democratic challengers to Adams’s left claimed that this prosecutorial pause gives Trump dangerous leverage over Adams.Volubly progressive candidate and state Sen.

Zellnor Myrie insisted the temporary dismissal puts Adams “under the thumb and control of Donald Trump until November.”And staunchly left-leaning City Comptroller Brad Lander echoed: “It puts the mayor on a tether to Donald Trump every time he harms or threatens New York City.”But while it’s true that being deeply Trump-aligned can be a liability for Eric Adams here in lefty NYC, his alliances also shore up Adams’s tough-on-crime and tough-on-terror image.This may be some advantage at a time when most Democrats in the mayoral primary are floundering when it comes to sounding tough-on-crime. (And at least one likely GOP candidate, Curtis Sliwa, has crime as his only issue.)Indeed, no matter what disgusted liberal New Yorkers may feel about DOGE purges or about Trump’s transgender policies, the president is clearly committed to getting illegal gangbangers out of America and to getting Hamas terrorists out of Gaza.

Even though Trump’s graces may come with a taint for Adams, the association may reinforce Adams’s image as the guy who will get slashers and murderers out of the subway system.  And this could be decisive even among Democrats in the up...