As I watched the tone-deaf, sad-sack comments by Gov. Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James Wednesday, an idea came to mind: Why don’t they just go whole hog and say New York is seceding from the union?
And why stop there — declare a new civil war because, well, Donald Trump is going to be president and we don’t want that!
Wawawawa.
Grow up!
There’s no crying in politics.
I have seen many bad performances by public officials, but Hochul and James hit rock bottom.
Their peevishness indicated New York is ready and eager to rumble with the new Trump administration.
No grace, no patriotism, only the crazy-talk assumption that the worst-case scenario is inevitable.
Their view is so blinkered that they must be getting their fake news from outlets that have a fetish for calling Trump Hitler and warning that he is going to destroy America.
Rare kudos to Kam
By comparison, the concession speech Vice President Kamala Harris gave was full of grace and patriotism.
The final results humiliated her, but still she managed to keep it together for 10 minutes and resist any impulse to flash anger and seek revenge.
Of course, Hochul and James also demanded more money from the Trump administration.
So first you attack, then say gimme, gimme.
A brilliant strategy!
Surely Trump will be moved to open the federal purse.
Hochul and James are a two-person wrecking crew.
They have done nothing for New York except move it ever closer to the cliff.
Businesses and residents are fleeing their money-grabbing clutches, and they mark the election with a puerile defiance.
In a joint release, they announced “a strengthened partnership, including new dedicated staff, to address potential federal legal threats to reproductive freedom, gun safety laws, and other key issues.”
Hochul said her office also formed a “Freedom Initiative” to develop plans to address any policy and regulatory “threats” from a Trump administration.
This is what passes for action in Albany.
Having aides with time for this partisan nonsense is how the state ends up killing a pet squirrel.
Living in dark fantasy
When they appeared together, Hochul spoke first, saying grimly that “we have weathered storms before” and “we will get through this uncertainty of a new administration in Washington.”
“We stand ready to respond to any threats of political violence,” she added, apparently imagining herself standing heroically behind a barricade as MAGA hordes descend on the once-grand Empire State to steal away abortion rights.
Before spewing such nonsense, she might have checked the election returns.
Some 3.5 million New Yorkers voted for Trump Tuesday — or 43% of the total turnout.
It’s still a blue state, but the GOP is clearly making inroads, and Hochul herself had a close call two years ago against GOP candidate Lee Zeldin.
Nobody is invincible and she would be wise to make New York a better place to live and work instead of picking fights with a new president and his supporters.
Moreover, Trump is a lifelong New Yorker, and he would love to help the city and state.
Threatening him is not the way to get that help.
Nor did Hochul help the state last week when she foolishly called anyone who voted for Republican candidates “anti-women” and “anti-American.”
There’s nothing more anti-American than using routine political disputes to call your opponent anti-American.
James also managed to threaten the president-elect, warning that “we will use the rule of law to fight back . . . we are prepared to fight back.”
By the rule of law, does she mean bringing another rigged court case like the business-fraud action she brought against the new president-elect?
The one based on nothing except her campaign promise to get Trump — is that the rule of law she has in mind?
End the petty lawfare
New York deserves better and it’s not to late for Hochul and James to do better.
Hochul should do the smart, decent thing by pushing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to withdraw his ginned-up business-fraud case against Trump.
Trump was convicted of 34 rigged felonies and sentencing is scheduled for later this month.
If Bragg won’t act, Hochul has the power to grant Trump a pardon, although it would be better if the case were simply wiped away.
He’s going to be president of the United States — does New York want to humiliate him so much that America itself will be debased in the eyes of the world as a third-world banana republic?
James, too, could withdraw the civil case, which is under appeal.
The oral arguments suggested that at least some appellate judges have deep reservations about a case of clear overreach.
There were also questions about whether James even had the right to bring the case.
The truth is that both state cases were all about damaging Trump so that he would not be re-elected.
The cases failed to do that and in the spirit of the public’s sweeping verdict Tuesday, it’s time to end the lawfare and work with the new president, not against him.
In fact, Trump said at the Al Smith dinner that he looked forward to working with Mayor Adams and Hochul.
They ought to adopt the same spirit.
Cooperation may not suit their politics, but it helps New York.
And that’s their job.