President Donald Trump, in his second term, has been notably fixated on his home city and its local governance. Early this year, he bought off mayor Eric Adams by making a criminal indictment hanging over his head disappear. Then, as Adams faced ghastly polling numbers and a trio of general election challengers — among them the charismatic Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani — members of Trump’s administration reportedly brainstormed various ways to induce Adams afresh, hoping to push him to drop his reelection bid and unify the anti-Mamdani vote around a single candidate. Adams did drop out on Sunday — without, at least as far as we know, cutting any deal with the Trump administration.