New York Mayor Eric Adams knows about getting tough on nonsense; after all, the Root hasn’t been shy about criticizing some of the ex-cop bravado he’s brought to the office.
But here’s one cut-the-bullshit take we’re not mad at from Hizzoner: Adams is fed up with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s game of shipping desperate migrants across the country as a protest against so-called sanctuary cities, and he’s ready to put his own political muscle on the line to stop it.
Earlier this week, the NYC mayor threatened to load up a bus of his own, not filled with tired, poor, huddled masses yearning for freedom in the U.S., but with New Yorkers ready to put their Timbs on the ground, turn their Yankee caps backward and organize Texas voters to send Abbott into an early retirement.
“I already called all my friends in Texas and told them how to cast their votes,” said Adams during a Tuesday news conference. “I am deeply contemplating taking a busload of New Yorkers to go to Texas and do some good old-fashioned door knocking because we have to… get him out of office.”
Adams’ statement comes after he blasted Abbott on Sunday, claiming the governor had lied to migrants about the destinations of the busses—a charge Abbott’s office has vehemently denied.
Adams is no stranger to superlatives or bombastic rhetoric, so it’s hard to tell how serious to take the threat. What is real is the cruelty of loading up busses filled with people who in many instances risked their lives to make it into the United States and then shipping them across the country all to score political points. Abbott, a Republican, views it in his favor to oppose illegal immigration, which in today’s politics equates to savage policies like the Trump administration’s forced separation of migrant children from their families. (That isn’t to say that Democrats don’t also deserve blame for the ongoing mistreatment of Black migrants from countries like Haiti, which has continued through both the Obama and Biden administrations).
Whether Adams is serious or not, picturing a busload of Brooklynites or a huddle of Harlemites offloading in the middle of H-Town for some good ol’ fashioned door-knocking in an attempt to get Abbott kicked to the curb is a fantastic exercise for the imagination.
We’d love to see it.