New York City Mayor Eric Adams has apparently decided to create nonstop superficial scandals in the hope the media will be satisfied with the ratings it gets out of that, so the media won't bother to dig into his numerous actual scandals. Adams is who we thought he was.
Adams was never properly vetted in the first place. Local and national media spent the entire NYC mayor democratic primary obsessing over Andrew Yang and ignoring the rest of the large field. When Yang imploded last minute, Adams was "Brand B" and won sort of by accident.
In those final few days, where it became clear Yang wouldn't win and Adams might, the media began digging into all kinds of leads about Adams-related scandals. But then dropped it all once he won and started feeding the media superficial controversies to write about him each day.
Today, Adams' big concocted controversy is whether he's really a vegan. Earlier it was the fight he nonsensically picked with the Mayor of Chicago. And so on. It's all goofy nonsense, but it's good for ratings.
Meanwhile Adams has given a cushy job to his brother, and so on. There are still questions about whether he even really lives in New York. But if the media digs into all that, it risks finishing him off. Then hello to a boring interim mayor, and goodbye to Adams-centric ratings.
Adams has gotten some things right, such as leaving DeBlasio's vaccination requirements in place (arguably the only thing DeBlasio ever got right). So it's not fair to accuse Adams of being a Republican disguised as a Democrat. He's better than that. But he's a crappy Democrat.
Remarkably, Adams has a high approval rating in New York City so far. Most New Yorkers are probably just relieved De Blasio is gone. Question is whether Adams will try to accomplish any good in office, or whether he'll just keep saying asinine things to bait the media.
The real trouble: the mainstream media is willing to prop up any politician, good or bad, who routinely spoon-feeds the media superficial controversies that are good for ratings. And the media will dishonestly scandalize any politician, good or bad, who refuses to play that game.
The media has been inappropriately soft on Eric Adams since he took office. The media has been dishonestly hard on Joe Biden since he took office. In both instances for the sake of chasing ratings. And then everyone wonders why Adams has higher approval numbers than Biden.
Trump is an extremist, domestic terrorist, violent psychopath. Eric Adams is none of these things. There's no comparison at all. But when it comes to strategically feeding the media the superficial controversies it wants, Adams is indeed using that page out of the Trump playbook.
The kicker: Andrew Yang managed to be the frontrunner for most of the NYC mayor primary race by using that same exact page out of the Trump playbook. It's just that Yang was terrible at it, and ended up finishing himself off. But again, the media loves these kinds of candidates.
For those asking, here's some of the scant reporting on Adams' actual scandals. Here he blames his accountant for questions about whether he really lives in New York: nytimes.com/2021/10/20/nyr…
Here's the story of Adams giving his brother a cushy job: nytimes.com/2022/01/12/nyr…
There are sometimes legitimate explanations for these kinds of scandals. For all we know, Adams may not be corrupt.
The problem is that the mainstream media – which has the resources to get to the bottom of such things – is unwilling to do so, because Adams is good for ratings.
The problem is that the mainstream media – which has the resources to get to the bottom of such things – is unwilling to do so, because Adams is good for ratings.
As someone who cares about NYC, I want Adams to succeed and do good things for the city. He's already in office, so let's root for him. I just want the media to cover him like he's the mayor of the nation's most important city, not a reality show host or instagram influencer.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
