Politics isn’t for everyone. Especially those who don’t know when to quit while they’re ahead.
Now a top Democrat made a career-ending slip of the tongue in this primetime speech.
Mayor Eric Adams, under siege from scandals and party backlash, launched a fiery tirade at a Brooklyn church rally Monday—complete with a bizarre reference to Mein Kampf—as he fought off mounting demands to step down.
Adams, speaking before about 50 supporters at Rehoboth Cathedral, aimed his sharpest barbs at Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, his potential successor if he’s forced out.
“I still don’t know what he does, because it’s hard to really serve the city when you wake up at noon,” Adams sneered.
Then, in a line that sounded more like a warning than a joke, he added:
“If I step down, the public advocate becomes the mayor. So can you imagine turning the city over to him? That is the top reason not to step down. When you don’t have a job, you can go all over the city throwing rocks,” he continued. “I love this city too much to watch him become mayor.”
The embattled mayor was flanked by clergy who prayed for him, but even their support couldn’t overshadow his eyebrow-raising remarks comparing his critics to Nazi propagandists.
Adams bizarrely claimed he once heard Martin Luther King Jr. quote Adolf H-tler’s Mein Kampf:
“If you tell a lie long enough, loud enough, people will tend to believe it’s true,” he said, adding, “And that’s what you’re seeing right there, right now: a modern-day Mein Kampf.”
Historians were quick to note the quote isn’t from Mein Kampf but is widely attributed to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. But accuracy didn’t seem to be Adams’ concern—he was on the attack.
The mayor then unloaded on his critics, slamming them for protesting his policies on homelessness, crime, and the migrant crisis.
“I slept in a homeless shelter with my migrant, asylum-seeker brothers and sisters and talked with them on the ground,” Adams said, defending his record. “Now they have a loud voice yelling at me—where were you when I was going to Washington, DC, fighting for the people of the city?”
Adams didn’t hold back his frustration over the protests dogging his administration:
“When we talk about taking homeless off our streets so we won’t have encampments, they protested me. When we talk about taking guns off our streets by having our gun units in place, they protested me. When we talked about changing and building new small businesses, they protested me.
“When we talk about putting police officers on a train to make our streets safe, they protested me,” he continued. “When we talked about mental health issues and crises to prevent people from living in that condition, they protested me.
“All they know how to do is protest.”
Adams’ troubles started with a five-count federal indictment accusing him of taking $123,000 in bribes and illegal campaign donations from Turkish officials in exchange for fast-tracking their Manhattan consulate project. The mayor pleaded not guilty.
But the case took a stunning turn when the Trump administration’s Justice Department abruptly ordered federal prosecutors to drop the charges—claiming the probe was politically motivated.
The fallout was immediate: Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, resigned in protest, blasting the Justice Department in a fiery letter for turning the dismissal into a “quid pro quo” to pressure Adams into backing Trump’s immigration crackdown.
As Adams clung to his office, his administration began to implode. Deputy Mayors Maria Torres-Springer, Meera Joshi, Anne Williams-Isom, and Chauncey Parker all resigned Monday, despite a frantic weekend push from Adams’ team to delay their exits.
Meanwhile, the political pressure on Adams intensified. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams joined the chorus demanding he step aside:
“It’s clear that Mayor Adams has now lost the confidence and trust of his own staff, his colleagues in government, and New Yorkers,” she declared. “He now must prioritize New York City and New Yorkers, step aside and resign.
“This administration no longer has the ability to effectively govern with Eric Adams as mayor … there is too much at stake for our city and New Yorkers to allow this to continue.
“We have endured enough scandal, selfishness, and embarrassment, all of which distract from the leadership that New Yorkers deserve,” she concluded. “This is the opposite of public service.”
Adams, ever defiant, told a Queens congregation on Sunday he was on a “mission from God” and had no plans to quit. But as the scandals, resignations, and party revolt pile up, his once-solid grip on power is crumbling fast.
The mayor may see himself as a fighter for the people. But from where most New Yorkers stand, it’s starting to look like a losing battle.
