NYC Mayor Adams rails against ‘hot rays of socialism and communism’ in Memorial Day speech

Mayor Adams denounced left-wing ideologies in a highly politicized Monday speech in which he also lamented a perceived lack of national pride among young Americans.

Speaking at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum’s annual Memorial Day ceremony, the mayor made the critical comments after referencing a Thomas Jefferson quote about the “tree of liberty,” which is commonly interpreted as being about military struggle.

“You water the tree of freedom with your blood,” Adams said. “We sit under the shade of that tree of freedom protected from the hot rays of socialism and communism and destruction that’s playing out across the globe.”

The mayor did not mention any specific country’s government or leader as part of his anti-left broadside. A spokesman for Adams declined to say if the comments were in reference to anything or anyone in particular.

Earlier in his speech, the centrist Democratic mayor voiced concern about a poll from last year showing that only 38% of Americans consider themselves “extremely proud” of their country.

Adams declared himself “part of the 38 percenters” and argued more should be done to foster patriotism in younger generations, including encouraging daily recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance.

“Just as I start the day, every child should start the day with that hope and that true Pledge,” he said.

Adams’ Memorial Day musings drew pushback on social media from progressive Democrats, who took issue with the fact that the mayor did not include fascism in his condemnation.

“How about opening your eyes and brain to the presence and harms of oh, I don’t know…fascism?” tweeted Alessandra Biaggi, a former state senator for a district that includes parts of the Bronx and Westchester County.

Brooklyn Councilwoman Sandy Nurse, a progressive who frequently criticizes the mayor, was offended that he cribbed a quote from Jefferson.

“Ah yes, Thomas Jefferson, a man who expanded his wealth by owning 600 Black slaves over his lifetime. A man who raped his sister in law, who was also a slave, and kept in forced servitude his own children,” Nurse tweeted at Adams. “Jefferson watered some trees with blood, but not the liberty kind.”

On the other side of the political spectrum, conservatives lauded Adams for speaking out against socialism.

“Thank you Mayor Adams for recognizing the evils of socialism and communism on this Memorial Day,” Republican Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino tweeted. ”There is much room for policy disagreement, but Americans must always be unified in opposition to these poisons which still infect our society to this day.”

After his Intrepid museum appearance, Adams delivered remarks at two more Memorial Day events, one in Manhattan’s Riverside Park and the other in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

At the Bedford-Stuyvesant event, which was hosted by a group called Black Veterans for Social Justice, Adams mentioned the poll on patriotism again, but added a caveat.

“America is not perfect, let’s not get it mixed up, but people are not lining the borders to leave America. They’re lining the borders to come into America,” he said, a reference to the country’s ongoing migrant crisis.

Adams, a former NYPD captain who was elected mayor in 2021 on a moderate political platform that included promises to boost law enforcement efforts, has a history of feuding with his party’s left.

During a June 2021 campaign fund-raiser co-hosted by former Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich, Adams made clear that he views the Democratic Socialists of America as a threat.

“I’m no longer running against candidates. I’m running against a movement. All across the country, the DSA socialists are mobilizing to stop Eric Adams,” he said at the time. “They realize that if I’m successful, we’re going to start the process of regaining control of our cities.”