NYC's mayor warms to Donald Trump, doesn't rule out becoming Republican

New York City Mayor Eric Adams appears open to switching parties to become a Republican as he declined to rule out a future change in political allegiances during a pair of interviews on Friday that came as he has increasing warmed to Presidentelect Donald Trump The comments from Adams the top Democrat in one of the countrys most liberal cities riled critics who have grown concerned over the mayors increasing willingness to throw his support behind Trump and his hardline immigration policiesAdams who faces federal corruption charges was a registered Republican in the 1990s and early 2000s but has spent his political career as a Democrat In a Friday morning interview with the local cable news station NY1 Adams was asked if he would consider a return to the GOP The Democrat appeared to leave open the possibility of a switchThe party thats the most important for me is the American party he said Im a part of the American party I love this country This is the home of the free the land of the brave In another interview about a halfhour later on PIX11 Adams said he would run for reelection as a Democrat but still appeared to leave some wiggle room for his future So no matter what party Im on or vote on Im going to push for the American values he said And I think America has told us stop the squabbling leaders and start leading us out of the crisis that were facingAdams won office on a centrist platform and has spent significant time as mayor quarrelling with the progressive wing of his party But his rhetoric has taken a noticeable rightward turn in the weeks since Trumps election victory particularly on immigration with Adams boosting the presidentelects platform and appearing enthusiastic about the incoming administrationRather than restricting cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement as he once promised Adams recently expressed a willingness to roll back the citys socalled sanctuary policies and he plans to meet with Trumps top border official over concerns about what the mayor said was the rising illegal alien crime rate in New York City He has also praised those in Trumps orbit including Elon Musk who has claimed falsely that Democrats are illegally importing migrants to garner votesThis is a racehorse that wanted to run its right pace and weve been holding back that racehorse out of fear of being cancelled Adams said of the country on Tuesday And now you have a bunch of people who are not afraid of being cancelledThe shift comes as Adams is trying to fight off an indictment on federal corruption charges while governing the city and gearing up to run for a second term Adams has pleaded not guilty in his criminal case in which he has been accused of accepting free or discounted overseas trips and illegal campaign contributions from people looking to gain his influence including people connected to Turkiye or the Turkish governmentAdams critics have seized on his recent comments about the Trump administration as a move toward selfpreservation accusing the mayor of cozying up to the next president in an effort to secure a pardon in his corruption case Eric Adams continues to sound more like he is auditioning for a job in rightwing media than running for reelection in a Democratic primary said Zohran Mamdani a state assembly member who is challenging against Adams in the mayoral primary Eric Adams is in City Hall because Democratic voters sent him there To serve his own narrow selfinterests he is clearly prepared to betray themZellnor Myrie a state senator who is also challenging Adams in the primary said at a time when the Republican Party has never been more out of line with New York values we need a mayor who isnt scared to call himself a Democrat Instead of playing footsie with the next president we need a mayor with the courage to stand up for our city Myrie wrote on XAdams on Friday did distance himself from the Trump administrations potential plans to carry out mass deportations saying You know Im not for mass deportation but Im not for mass saturation Still the mayors recent remarks are a major departure from his stance before he took officeIn June of 2021 a few weeks before winning the Democratic mayoral primary Adams spoke to a room full of immigrant New Yorkers about the challenges facing city residents who are in the country illegally Too many of our neighbours live in the shadows he said at the time scarred by the abusive rhetoric and tactics of the Trump era and fearing a denial of their rightsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever