The liberal resistance movement against President Trump has been disappointing at best, and utterly nonexistent at worst. 

A prime example of this is New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

On Feb. 11, the United States Department of Justice dropped the mayor’s federal bribery and corruption charges. The indictment, filed in September 2024, accused Adams of leveraging his political position with foreign countries in exchange for illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel. 

Whether or not Adams accepted illegal gifts from Turkish citizens and government officials has been up for debate for months, but the fact a sitting Republican president used his executive authority to bail out a Democratic mayor should invoke an immediate sense of investigation. 

That is until you realize exactly who you’re dealing with in Adams. 

The president’s main reason for dropping Adams’ cases revolves around the signature policy of his agenda thus far, the migrant crisis. Trump trusts him to cooperate with federal immigration authorities because the mayor has been appeasing Trump’s narrative on the crisis and hasn’t expressed interest in defending the rights of the millions of migrants that he has jurisdiction over.

Adams has stated he is willing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who will come to the city. He’s stated that these agents will simply show up to deal with violent criminals and repeat offenders, but that’s simply not how it’s played out in areas where ICE has already targeted. 

In states such as Colorado, the enforcement teams have been targeting any person who is suspected to be undocumented, and most criminals that have been ascertained have only been convicted of smaller crimes such as petty theft. 

Either the mayor is strikingly unknowledgeable about the current state of affairs, or he simply does not care for the innocents who potentially will have their lives taken away from them. He took the easy way out. 

The devastating effects of a potential series of ICE raids on the economy of the city cannot be understated.

New York City is a place that relies on undocumented labor for many of its key sectors. According to the Center for Migration Studies over 10,000 undocumented laborers work in Construction, Housekeeping, Home Health Aid, Carpentry, Cashiering, and other important fields. In 2022, there were a total of 470,110 undocumented citizens working within the five boroughs. 

The simple fact of the matter, which has become increasingly evident due to this saga and previous ones, is that Adams doesn’t care about anyone but himself and those closest to him. 

Whether it be the significant spending cuts for key programs, the constant catering to the interests of his former colleagues in the NYPD or the litany of investigations and convictions and resignations that followed, the evidence is abundantly clear.

With leaders such as Adams or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who himself has openly conceded to the president concerning his gutting of federal agencies, the Democratic Party’s resistance movement seems to be becoming less and less inspiring by the day. 

This can be emphasized through a simple contrast to a similar liberal democracy such as South Korea. In December 2024, the president declared martial law on the country, threatening the fabric of the nation and the liberties of its citizens. A move not dissimilar to Trump’s immigration and federal lay-off agendas. 

What’s not indistinguishable was the response by those in opposition. Members of Parliament and their staff fought back against the soldiers who were enforcing the president’s wishes, with some even engaging in physical struggle with armed soldiers at the Capitol. They did what politicians are supposed to do in times of crisis, not back down. 

The Democratic Party, whether it’s those in Congress or mayors such as Adams, need to take notes. Compromise and fecklessness in the face of potential devastation cannot be tolerated