NYC Mayor Adams defends comparing calls for his resignation to Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’

Saying his words were misconstrued, New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday largely stood by a statement he made earlier this week comparing demands that he resign to “Mein Kampf.”

The increasingly embattled mayor initially made the reference to Adolf Hitler’s manifesto during an appearance in Brooklyn on Monday while he was discussing calls for his resignation due to corruption charges.

“If you tell a lie long enough, loud enough, people will tend to believe it’s true,” he said, describing an idea attributed to Hitler. “And that’s what you see right now, a modern-day ‘Mein Kampf.’”

He proceeded to bash Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who has said Adams should not be mayor, and would replace Adams if he were to resign.

In an interview on New York’s News 12 on Wednesday, Adams was asked whether he had any regrets about those statements.

“Which one?” he responded. “The comments towards the public advocate starting his day at 12 o’clock and trying to have me step down so he can become mayor without running a race? Or Brad Lander saying I did something that was wrong to the Jewish community that they don’t agree with?”

City Comptroller Lander, who is Jewish, called his initial comments “a shande,” Yiddish for disgrace. He is running against Adams in the Democratic mayoral primary in June. Another Jewish Democratic mayoral candidate, former comptroller Scott Stringer, called the comments “nonsensical, unacceptable and offensive.”

Other candidates also condemned the remark. State Sen. Jessica Ramos tweeted that Adams is “either ignorant about antisemitism, completely delusional, or just doesn’t know how nouns work.” And State Sen. Zellnor Myrie called the comment “blatant antisemitism.”

Adams also faced criticism from The Nexus Project, which focuses on antisemitism and called the comment “out of line.”

Adams brought up the “Mein Kampf” remark during the interview Wednesday on News 12, when asked whether he was concerned about another controversial comment — US President Donald Trump posting “Long live the king” in reference to his own actions. Adams did not say Trump’s comment concerned him.

“I think that’s the question to ask the president what he meant by it,” Adams said. “The other day, I did a comparison of how ‘Mein Kampf’ is the big lie, and all of a sudden people were saying I’m trying to compare myself to those who are Holocaust survivors. Listen, I am not in the business of being the word police and try to move to cancel people every time they talk.”

Adams is facing mounting calls to step down after the Trump administration moved to drop corruption charges against him in exchange for his cooperation in an immigration crackdown. Now, four of his deputies have resigned and Gov. Kathy Hochul is weighing whether to remove him. Adams has insisted that he is staying in his job.

The New York City mayor, who took office in 2022, has built strong connections to Jewish communities during his decades-long rise through New York City politics.

He has longstanding ties to ultra-Orthodox communities in Brooklyn, and his staunch support for Israel has won him the backing of major Jewish organizations. He has been a vocal advocate for Israel, and a critic of anti-Israel protests in New York City, since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, set off by the terror group’s October 7 attack.

Adams has also spoken out against hate crimes and has favored bolstering police protection of religious sites. Last year, he publicly praised yeshiva education after a series of articles in The New York Times on yeshivas falling short of state educational standards.

The mayor also took a three-day trip to Israel in August 2023, during which he met with various Israeli government officials and tech industry representatives.