Bill de Blasio's two terms as Mayor of New York City have shown a certain consistency. A very fast-talking con man (he can talk his way around even the most pointed question that nails him dead to rights- for examples, listen to his weekly appearances on a certain radio program [1]), de Blasio's modus operandi is to gaslight people with grandiose "liberal" rhetoric while instituting reactionary policies behind people's backs. In this, he is in the mold of the Democratic Party's poohbah's, Obama and The Two Clintons. Indeed, de Blasio comes from the Clinton's machine, having managed Hillary Clinton's first campaign for U.S. Senate from New York State. If anything, Bill de Blasio is Bill Clinton on steroids, a guy who talks faster and is more disingenuous. An expert sophist, de Blasio manages to rationalize away any damning evidence against him.
Another consistency: he mostly did the opposite of what he promised to do as a candidate (and what he continually claims to be doing). His positive accomplishments are mainly one: pre-K school for children. Give him credit for that, and that's pretty much it. Otherwise it's betrayals and attacks on people's well-being.
Perhaps his most egregious crime has been his full-throated defense of police brutality. The city police (NYPD) brutally assaulted for months on end the protesters who took to the streets in the wake of the graphic murder of George Floyd by four Minneapolis, Minnesota police. De Blasio consistently vilified the victims of NYPD violence.
Now what is this Excellent Public Relations Adventure of which I spoke in the title? First this introduction to the theme.
One de Blasio scam was baiting people to get COVID vaccines by offering a $100 "incentive." Only they don't pay up. To illustrate the point, I could relate one person's attempt to get paid, an exercise in utter futility, but that story is too lengthy for this essay. Just briefly, the contractor that is supposed to pay, an outfit called "akimbo," doesn't mail the debit cards, doesn't respond to emails, and is unreachable by phone. City employees for their part put people on a runaround treadmill and tell the victims to inform "akimbo." To add injury to injury, "akimbo" makes extra money selling the emails of the vaccinated to spammers. Immediately after getting vaccinated, the vaccine-related spam starts arriving- the $100 debit card never does.
I have a suspicion that de Blasio never had any intention of paying people. At the least, he doesn't care. He just wants to be able to boast about how he got people to submit to vaccination.
Now, de Blasio's Excellent PR Adventure: He pulled a similar stunt to the "vaccine incentive" trick the first week of December, when he announced- informing nobody in advance, and consulting with no one, according to the New York Times- that henceforth businesses would be required to insist that their employees be vaccinated. And that everyone, even children as young as five, would have to be vaccinated if they wanted to eat in a restaurant or enter any other public place. All 184,000 New York City businesses were now under Mayoral orders to REQUIRE all their employees to be vaccinated for the new coronavirus, and to screen all people entering their premises for COVID vaccination status. No exceptions, and no option to be tested for infection in lieu of vaccination.
The fact that there was no plan for any of this, and that he never even discussed it with city officials before announcing it, gives the game away. It's not real, but typical de Blasio smoke and mirrors.
Self-styled caudillo de Blasio's edict nominally takes effect December 27. De Blasio will stop being mayor on January 1st, 5 whole days later. His successor has been coy on whether he will enforce the decree of his predecessor. Even though there is no mechanism to enforce this imperial ukase, media in New York City has given a platform to the frenzied overreactions of a few selected individuals from "the business community." Thus adding to the illusion that de Blasio actually DID something, as opposed to ANNOUNCING something. ANNOUNCING things that never actually happen has been a hallmark of de Blasio's mayoralty. He's very big on making Grand Announcements, such as there will be "zero traffic fatalities" in New York City, and how he'll build- indeed IS building, "affordable housing," a phrase he must have uttered hundreds of times.
De Blasio has reaped national media attention for several days running so far for his latest stunt. He even got some international media coverage, for example by the BBC, the main global propaganda arm of the British government. That is the payoff.
But what is the point? Is de Blasio merely a political exhibitionist? Does he have an insatiable need for attention because of a swollen ego? Actually he's running for Governor of New York State (state capital is the city of Albany, a nothingburg far to the north). He's been term-limited out of the Mayoralty of New York City because of a law passed by the city's voters in a referendum, a law that a previous Mayor, Michael Bloomberg Billionaire, ignored and illegally ran for a third term, which he won. His opposition includes the current Governor, Kathy Hochul, who inherited the seat after Governor Andrew "The Molester" Cuomo was forced out and his mousy lieutenant governor, Ms. Hochul, was automatically elevated to the top job. Also vying to grab the top political rung in the state was state attorney general Letitia James, until she announced on December 9th she was quitting. On the same day, Hochul publicly endorsed James' reelection for state AG, indicating prearrangement between the two. Long Island Congressman Tom Suozzi is also running. (Another announced candidate for Governor in the 2022 election is Jumaane Williams, who was just elected last month as New York City Public Advocate. Ambitious, no?) These are all Democrats competing in the upcoming June Democratic Primary. [2]
Cuomo was finally exposed as a compulsive molester, and for his role in causing the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents and covering it up. Those things, along with the media finally reporting what they knew for years, that Cuomo is a rage-filled, abusive bully, finally pried his fingers from the levers of power.
De Blasio is deeply unpopular in New York City, with 8 million people has almost half the state's population. Outside of the City, the state is quite reactionary, so de Blasio will have to jettison his fake-liberal outer garb. His opponents will try to keep him from getting away with it. But de Blasio is probably thinking back to how he won the city mayoralty. Low in the polls, he ran in a crowded field, which enabled him to emerge on top.
And de Blasio has "raised his profile" with his latest high-handed "mandate."
If
de Blasio were somehow to climb up the next rung of the political
ladder, he only good thing would be Andrew Cuomo damaging his teeth by
gnashing them. Cuomo as Governor had a hobby of making de Blasio's life
miserable. It appeared he did it just for sport, as a cat tortures a
captive mouse. What poetic justice that would be for the venal,
execrable Cuomo!
2] Letitia James gave as a reason to remaining in theattorney general spot ongoing important cases. These cases are a civil suit against the crook Donald Trump, who inflates the value of his assets to get bank loans, and deflates them on his tax returns. She is also working to strip the National Rifle Association of its registration as a charity in New York State, stemming from the major corruption by its top officials who have used millions of NRA funds for personal expenditures. The NRA tried to evade liability by filing a frivolous bankruptcy claim, which the courts rejected.
