New York City Mayor Eric Adams gave a completely unexpected Memorial Day speech denouncing socialism and Communism and bemoaning the lack of patriotism from the nation’s young.
Referencing Thomas Jefferson (a mistake, according to the radical left), Adams spoke of the famous “Tree of Liberty.”
“You water the tree of freedom with your blood,” Adams said. “We sit under the shade of that tree of freedom protected from the hot rays of socialism and communism and destruction that’s playing out across the globe.”
Adams referred to himself as a “thirty-eight percenter,” recalling a poll from last year that showed just 38% of Americans were “extremely proud” of the United States.
“Just as I start the day, every child should start the day with that hope and that true Pledge,” he said.
A 22-year veteran of the NYPD, Adams’s speech was not universally applauded — as you might expect.
Adams’ Memorial Day musings drew pushback on social media from progressive Democrats, who took issue with the fact that the mayor did not include fascism in his condemnation.
“How about opening your eyes and brain to the presence and harms of oh, I don’t know…fascism?” tweeted Alessandra Biaggi, a former state senator for a district that includes parts of the Bronx and Westchester County.
Brooklyn Councilwoman Sandy Nurse, a progressive who frequently criticizes the mayor, was offended that he cribbed a quote from Jefferson.
“Ah yes, Thomas Jefferson, a man who expanded his wealth by owning 600 Black slaves over his lifetime. A man who raped his sister in law, who was also a slave, and kept in forced servitude his own children,” Nurse tweeted at Adams. “Jefferson watered some trees with blood, but not the liberty kind.”
Adams received plenty of praise from the right.
“Thank you, Mayor Adams, for recognizing the evils of socialism and communism on this Memorial Day,” Republican Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino tweeted. ”There is much room for policy disagreement, but Americans must always be unified in opposition to these poisons which still infect our society to this day.”
This is not the first time that Adams has clashed with the hard-eyed left of his party. During a campaign fundraiser co-hosted by a Republican, Adams made it clear that he believed the Democratic Socialists of America were a threat.
“I’m no longer running against candidates. I’m running against a movement. All across the country, the DSA socialists are mobilizing to stop Eric Adams,” he said at the time. “They realize that if I’m successful, we’re going to start the process of regaining control of our cities.”
Adams gave the speech at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum’s annual Memorial Day ceremony. At another speech on Monday to a Bedford-Stuyvesant event hosted by a group called Black Veterans for Social Justice, he gave a slightly altered message.
“America is not perfect, let’s not get it mixed up, but people are not lining the borders to leave America. They’re lining the borders to come into America,” he said.
Adams is a Democrat — make no mistake. He supports his city’s sanctuary policies despite the fact that he has no place to put the flood of illegal aliens who are already in the city or on their way. He supports Obamacare and other Democratic social programs. He supports gun control. But he separates himself from the radicals most clearly in his desire to add thousands more police to patrol the streets and in support of stronger enforcement of the law.
No one will ever credibly accuse Adams of being a socialist. Nor will anyone ever credibly accuse Adams of being a conservative. He’s a patriotic moderate who has a clear-eyed view of the true enemy in America.
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