An Emboldened Trump Seeks to Bend New York City to His Will
The New York Times
The Trump administration’s order to drop the charges against Mayor Eric Adams was the most pronounced example of the president using his power to determine the city’s future.
He has already upended the federal government and roiled global affairs. But in the opening weeks of his second term, President Trump is moving no less decisively to assert his vision over a far more familiar venue: New York City.
In just the last few days, Mr. Trump has threatened to “kill” his hometown’s ambitious congestion pricing program. He said he was prepared to sue to challenge its sanctuary city laws. The president even took time to muse to The New York Post about the eradication of bike lanes.
The most dramatic intervention yet came on Monday, though, when the Justice Department moved to dismiss federal corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams. The action quickly set off a wave of anxiety among Democrats that City Hall, once a locus of resistance to the Trump administration, had essentially been co-opted by the president.
Mr. Trump had said repeatedly that Mr. Adams, a Democrat, was treated unfairly. But the Justice Department gave a more telling rationale. A memo explained that Mr. Adams deserved a reprieve so he could dedicate himself to Mr. Trump’s “immigration objectives.”
Like much of Mr. Trump’s dizzying flurry of orders and dictums, it remains to be seen what larger imprint the president will leave on the city where he built his name and career.
Yet decades after he put up his first skyscraper in Manhattan, even his critics now concede that Mr. Trump has emerged as a full-fledged political force reshaping some of New York City’s most significant policy debates.
