Eric Adams and New York City's Corruption Problem

Plus: A listener asks the editors what a “conservatarian” presidential candidate and agenda might look like.

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Eric Adams and New York City's Corruption Problem

In this week's The Reason Roundtable, editors Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Peter Suderman gawk at the amusing circumstances surrounding the federal indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, before discussing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recent in-person visits with both presidential candidates.

 

02:25—New York City Mayor Eric Adams indicted in a federal corruption investigation

21:58—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump

35:46—Weekly listener question

49:27—This week's cultural recommendations

 

Mentioned in this podcast:

"Turkish Delight" by Liz Wolfe

"Could Eric Adams' Corruption Charges Sink His Signature Zoning Reform?" by Christian Britschgi

"The "Migrant Crisis" is Caused by Flawed Work and Housing Policies, not Migrants" by Ilya Somin

"NYC Mayoral Frontrunner Eric Adams Talks Conspiratorial Nonsense About 'Voter Suppression,'" by Matt Welch

"Port Authoritarians" by Jim Epstein

"You take someone on heroin, put them in one room, and someone hooked on cheese, put 'em in another room, and you take it away, I challenge you to tell me the person who's hooked on heroin and who's hooked on cheese." New York City Mayor Eric Adams

"NYC paid millions for unnecessary migrant services, comptroller's report says" by Marcia Kramer

"'Vegan' Mayor Eric Adams Under Fire for Repeatedly Ordering Fish at NYC Restaurants" by Luke Fortney

"NYC Mayor Adams' Approval Hit Bottom Even Before Scandal" by Katarina Buchholz

"The War in Ukraine Is Already Over—Russia Just Doesn't Know it Yet" by Paul Schwennesen

"Ukraine Is Safer If It Stays Out of NATO" by Paul Schwennesen

"What If the U.S. Cuts Off Aid to Israel?" by Matt Welch

"Send in the Estonians?" by Liz Wolfe

"U.S. Defense Spending Continues To Spiral Out of Control" by Varad Raingoankar

"What if America Runs Out of Bombs?" by Matthew Petti

"After the War" by Matt Welch

"Rents Fall and Listings Increase After Javier Milei Ends Rent Control In Argentina" by Katarina Hall

"Helen Fisher on COVID's Sexless Summer" by Nick Gillespie

"Dr. Helen Fisher on How Brain Chemistry Determines Personality and Politics" by Ian Keyser

"Helen Fisher, Who Researched the Brain's Love Circuitry, Dies at 79" by Richard Sandomir

Upcoming Events:

Reason Speakeasy: Musa al-Gharbi October 24, 2024

 

Send your questions to [e-mail]. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.

 

Today's sponsors:

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• In an election year, getting overwhelmed by the constant buzz of news and opinions is easy. Understanding the true impact of political events can be a challenge. Not Another Politics Podcast, from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, provides clear, research-driven perspectives on the biggest issues. Get the insights you need to truly understand the political landscape—no spin, just facts. Subscribe today at harris.uchicago.edu/napp or look for Not Another Politics Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Audio production by Ian Keyser

Assistant production by Hunt Beaty

Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve

• Video Editor: Ian Keyser
• Producer: Hunt Beaty

What are we consuming this week?

Nick Gillespie

• The Works of Helen Fisher by Helen Fisher

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Peter Suderman

• Megalopolis

Matt Welch

• Passage Du Desir by Johnny Blue Skies

---

Comments

[Chumby]

Eric Adams was indicted for contesting the illegal aliens narrative.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Pretty much. Perhaps he also wasn’t kicking enough money upstairs to Biden.

[Chumby]

A box of Depends per week was welcome but insufficient.

[ElvisP]

Exactly. His corruption was known about previously – it’s only when he spoke out against the left’s master plan to flood the country with illegals that the deep state went after him.

[charliehall]

Idiot. The migrants are here legally. And Adams has been under investigation for a long time.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Many of them are not here legally.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

‘Legally’? As in they’re here in accordance with US written law? Or that the Harris administration is just letting them stay in spite of the law?

[diver64]

The bigger the government the more the corruption as the money is too hard to ignore

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Officially one more story on Adam's corruption than on Joe's.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Or how about some stories on Walz’s lengthy history as a ChiCom asset?

[Eeyore]

Eric and myself both thought this was just how it is done. Everyone else has done it this way for decades.

[shadydave]

The idea that Adams is an ounce more corrupt than say Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is laughable. If he was he wouldn't be in this amount of trouble. He'd be fast tracked for higher office.

I saw Eric Swalwell take Adams to task for his corruption in accepting money from foreign sources. There is absolutely no shame.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Cmon man. Obama paid his fine for foreign donations. And kamalas brother in law never faced inquiry for funneling settlements to the government to dem groups.

[Chumby]

Rod Blagojevich didn’t promise to kick enough upstairs when attempting to sell Obama’s vacated senate seat.

[Uncle Jay]

"Why are big cities so corrupt?"

Because no one is going to audit their finances to see exactly where all that money goes...and it's not just the big cities.
Try looking into all the billions the feds "can't seem to find."

[shadydave]

The simpler answer is because "corruption" is the coin of the realm. That's how the political parties function. Everybody's quid is pro quoed.

It only gets called "corruption" when the target ceases to be of use to the power brokers. It's a corrupt country.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Correction: corruption is the hallmark of governments. Politicians are only the means of corruption.

Sodden thought: What if Marx had written "the means of corruption" and everyone has been misinterpreting him ever since?

[Roberta]

That's why I was glad to see Trump pardon Blago. There are many government policy choices that are neutral in terms of individual liberty, and politicians usually trade favors for favors; it's the only reasonable way to get things done, given the choices presented. But it seems some of those favors get arbitrarily deemed corrupt.

A libertarian friend, Dan Halloran, got caught up in the same problem.

[charliehall]

"no one is going to audit their finances to see exactly where all that money goes"

NYC gets audited all the time. We know where the money goes -- right where the elected officials want it to go. And voters like it.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Do they? The residents of NYC appear extremely unhappy these days because of the democrat party.

What you mean to say is YOU like it.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

NYC does audits. That's how we found out we spend a million dollars for empty hotel rooms.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/new-york/2024/08/12/nyc-asylum-seeker-money-went-to-empty-rockland-armoni-inn-hotel-rooms-says-audit/74706543007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p#:~:text=It%20turns%20out%20the%20city%20paid%20$833,340%20for%20empty%20rooms

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Reason strategically and reluctantly endorsed the most corrupt and frankly evil politician of my lifetime in 2020 for president. That lifetime includes LBJ and Nixon. I would make exceptions for the Bushes Sr. and Jr. but Reason's pick Biden signed off on all of their evil machinations. Reason alternately cheered on or stood idly by during the Covid scam, easily the biggest assault on individual liberty in my lifetime. Reason defended government censorship of social media until even those sites had had enough. When Reason prints an entire monthly edition consisting of mea culpas for the anti liberty content that they have been publishing for at least eight fucking years I might give a shit what these assholes think about anything. Until then you can all fuck right off. Sorry if I sound hyperbolic but I'm just not in the mood for this crap.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

And I see they're discussing articles by insane neocon Paul Schwennesen that Reason has inexplicably decided is a libertarian. Hoping all of the Reason editors send their kids to die in the Biden neocon meatgrinder because my grandkids ain't going. Again. Really out of patience for these assholes.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Amen.

Fire KMW.
Get out of DC and NYC.
Liberty first.

I understand and applaud talking about the pragmatic aspects of Stupid Government Tricks, but when there is ZERO mention of liberty or individual rights, it is not libertarian.

[charliehall]

A lot of blithering idiots commenting here who don't understand what this is about. Adams' corruption is much more like that of Donald Trump; they are both in hock to not very friendly foreign interests. The typical urban corruption is local, and the typical corruption is a payoff for a zoning variance or a relatively modest government contract. I had a state senator here get sent to jail for taking kickbacks for bridge painting contracts. That isn't what Adams is being charged with.

Adams should have sold $100,000 wristwatches to Türkiye instead. Trump won't be charged for that massive amount of foreign influence. And his Cult here thinks there is nothing wrong with that.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

‘Adams’ corruption is much more like that of Donald Trump”

You’re saying it doesn’t exist?

[Rick James]

A reply to Paul Schwennesen

No, Russia is Not Losing the War in Ukraine: A Reply to Paul Schwennesen

Meanwhile, Russian opposition media, The Bell, reports that Russian society has been largely unfazed by the incursion into Kursk or the war in general. In an interview, opposition Russian sociologist Alexey Levinson stated that, “I do not know what purpose the Ukrainian command was, but if the task was to show what a real war is on your land and thereby cause a shock in Russian society, then this goal was not achieved.” He later went on to say,

External observers are surprised: how does Moscow look like Rio de Janeiro during the carnival—with music, dance and holidays? Why do people seem joyful and carefree? We expect to see the country in a state of terror and mourning because of what is happening. But that’s not the case. Society is adapting, finding ways to preserve the appearance of habitual life, despite external shocks.

In contrast, there is increasing support in Ukraine for a peace deal, even if it means ceding land to Russia. However, a majority of about 55% still favor fighting to avoid any territorial concessions. Yet, ultimately talk is cheap. One does not need to turn to alternative media to find numerous and lengthy reports about the abysmal recruiting situation in Ukraine. For months, the media has reported Ukrainian men hiding in their basements for fear of the roaming impressment gangs dragging them off the street and shipping them off to the grinding front. Others have taken to fleeing abroad, either attempting to cross the Carpathian Mountains, or swimming the Tysa River into Romania.

Last November it was reported that the average age of a Ukrainian soldier is 43 (up 8-13 years from the start of the war). Ukraine’s draft age begins at 25 (down this year from 27), which means that numerous young men are choosing not to volunteer.

These facts cast significant doubt on Schwennesen’s characterization of differing social morale, to say the least. Additionally, Schwennesen’s comments about the supposed comparative poverty of Russians to Ukrainians and the sweeping conclusions he makes based on his junket into the occupied border of Kursk Oblast is either laughably ignorant, or bald-faced propaganda depending how charitable one wants to be.

Russian GDP is 10 times that of Ukraine. Broken down on a per capita basis, the Russian figure is $13,817, compared to $5,181.40 for Ukraine. Furthermore, Kursk Oblast is roughly the size of Belgium, with a tenth of the population, nearly half of whom live in the city of Kursk itself. Schwennesen is doing the equivalent of looking at some holler in Appalachian Kentucky or West Virginia and drawing sweeping conclusions about the state of the American economy and the mood of the nation. In what amounts to a deafening silence, Schwennesen fails to mention the trade offs that were made to undertake this incursion into Kursk in the first place and the implications this has had elsewhere in the war.

Ukraine pulled many experienced units off the front lines in order to launch the offensive into Kursk, weakening defenses in the Donbass, notably around the crucial supply hub of Pokrovsk. Even Ukraine-friendly reporters and analysts have admitted with alarm the disastrous situation developing in the area. The Russian offensive in the area has accelerated and forced Ukraine to reroute experienced troops back to the area to try and hold onto the vital rail hub.

[Chumby]

GG, I rarely read the articles and haven’t given them a nickel. Stossel gets some hits and hood Liz does too. The rest seem to have one or two pet issues where they are libertarian. Heck, I’ll agree with Code Pink when it comes to military adventurism but they aren’t libertarian (and I don’t believe they claim to be). It was the Thomas Jefferson dance party that opened my eyes and they were there with libertarians.

Anyhow, the comments is where real libertarianism is discussed. We do puns better too.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Yeah I mostly come for the comments because a lot of people who show up here are smarter than me. And the puns, but you're the master and I think I speak for the entire Reason Comment Community when I say, we are not worthy. I'm just in a shitty mood today. Lifting a glass for a better tomorrow.

[MasterThief]

I was looking to see if anyone bothered to listen to their explanation of what a "conservatarian" looks like. Assuming that means a conservative libertarian, it is a horrific indictment of them because they don't have any on staff and probably can't articulate right-libertarian principles.
Slade actually had a shit response about what defines a left-libertarian when she is one. I have zero faith that they could articulate a right-libertarian worldview despite most commenters leaning that way.
https://x.com/sladesr/status/1840840025833103603?t=yOSptr7DchSyX5JbL5r-7g&s=19

[Roberta]

First time I heard the term was by a libertarian to a libertarian audience 45 years ago classifying "types of libertarians". He defined "conservatarian" as a libertarian who, when not sure about an issue, waited to see what National Review said about it.

[Roberta]

"Left-libertarian" could mean any of a broad range of things. It could mean an anarchist of any of various non-propertarian or less-propertarian types. For instance, it could mean a strict anarcho-communist, who believes bodies and anything physically attached to them (clothes being worn at that moment, a tool in the hand, a car being driven or sat in, etc.) should be inviolate, but that nothing can be owned. Or it could be a non-anarchist libertarian who prioritizes every "liberal" reform over all others on the way to final liberty, as well as "liberal" reforms which are neutral in libertarian terms.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Gutfeld identifies as a conservatarian. So does Andrew Wilkow.

[charliehall]

" the most corrupt and frankly evil politician of my lifetime in 2020 for president."

That politician's name is Donald Trump. Nobody ever grifted as much from office. And a lot of it was from foreign sources.

[Rick James]

CHARLIE HALL!

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

You misspelled ’Joe Biden’.

[Roberta]

I was very interested in the 2027 question (listener question) and would very much like to see/hear more discussion of that by libertarian commenters. I’d been hoping that by now an heir apparent, or preferably several, to Trump would’ve emerged. For now, I don’t see much distinction between MAGA types and humdrum Republicans of recent time, except insofar as being cheerleaders for Trump. In other words, Trump hasn’t seemed to influence Republican leadership as much as I’d hoped, and I’m afraid they’ll slip back to a choice between neocons, trads, and Romneyish Rockefeller Republicans.

I understand that if the Democrats’ appeal remains strong for years, we may be forced into being centrists to keep from losing, because losing ground as slowly as possible may be the best achievable outcome unless and until the far-“left” appeal recedes in the USA and other countries, while a frank loss to them could be horrendous.

[JohnSteed]

It's not that Mayors become corrupt, it's that you can't get elected unless you are already corrupt.