POLITICO: Republican Jews — and Eric Adams — stand with Trump

NEW YORK MINUTE: Mayor Eric Adams is going out of his way to defend Donald Trump.

“I sent out a very clear statement about the comments by some of the people who attended the rally,” Adams said, emphasizing the word some.

“I’ve been to many rallies, protests, and I’ve witnessed people stand up at podiums and I cringe at some of the things they said. You can’t demonize an entire population based on the actions of those who attend,” he added.

His remarks made it clear he sought to avoid piling on Trump, as he faces an onslaught of Democratic attacks after a speaker at his Sunday rally labeled Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and made other racist remarks.

They were also a continuation of Adams’ refusal to criticize Trump as the former president moves to embrace Adams — a one-time Republican who dubbed himself the future of the Democratic party when he became mayor. If elected, Trump would have the power to pardon Adams.

More on the mayor’s Trump-boosting comments here.

TEFLON DON: The mayor also doubled down on another position: Trump is not a fascist, as his former chief of staff John Kelly has said, and anyone suggesting that is minimizing the actual acts of a fascist — Adolf Hitler. “Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust,” Adams said, repeating, “Six million.”

Republican Jews are in lockstep with the mayor as they dismiss reports that he praised Hitler and reject comparisons between a Nazi rally held at Madison Square Garden in 1939 and Trump’s campaign rally on Sunday.

“The Democrats are desperate. I get it,” said Dov Hikind, the former Democratic state Assemblyman who represented much of Brooklyn’s Hasidic population and now supports Trump. “This is their last effort to picture Donald Trump as Nazi-like. It’s absolute insanity, and it’s not going to work.”

Hikind said he and many Jews were outraged, insulted and angered that Hillary Clinton and other Democrats compared Trump and his rally to that of Hitler’s Nazi party.

The Trump-Hitler comparisons are becoming more common from Democrats after Kelly told outlets Trump made statements like, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.” The revelation led Vice President Kamala Harris to label her opponent a fascist without qualifications.

But pro-Trump Jews are not wavering. Jewish voters are supporting Trump in bigger numbers as antisemitism is on the rise in the U.S. and the Biden-Harris administration grows increasingly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hikind said.

The numbers in New York appear to back that up.

Siena polling of likely voters in the state — which holds the highest Jewish population — shows Trump has seen a marked increase in Jewish support this year.

A 2016 poll held days before the election showed 31 percent of New York Jews voting for Trump over Clinton. In October 2020, 24 percent of New York Jews were planning to vote for Trump. This year, 39 percent of Jewish New Yorkers said they will cast their ballot for Trump, Siena found last week.

Hikind, who predicts around 40 to 45 percent of American Jews will vote for Trump, is helping put up pro-Trump billboards in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, some of which address the Biden administration’s record on antisemitism.

He said Trump’s reported praise for Hitler will be largely immaterial.

“If he said it, it was a stupid thing to say, it was a silly thing to say,” Hikind said. “I don’t know if he said it. I have no idea.”

“Donald Trump, as far as I’m concerned, was the best president ever in terms of the relationship between the US and Israel. And, by the way, if you ask me who was the second best, or third best, I would say ‘Donald Trump,’ ‘Donald Trump.’ It’s just a fact of life,” he added.

Republican Jewish groups agree.

“Comparing President Trump — who has Jewish children and grandchildren — to Hitler is shameful, and trivializes the Holocaust,” Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told Playbook. “Attempting an eleventh-hour smear is typical for DC politicians like Kamala Harris, and reeks of desperation from a campaign floundering in the polls.” — Jason Beeferman

DEFINING THEIR RIVALS: Rep. Anthony D’Esposito railed against Democrats for their role in the border crisis and Laura Gillen portrayed the House member as corrupt in dueling Long Island news conferences today that underscored the stakes of their heated race. Their face-off is one of a handful that will help determine control of the House.

With one week to go until Election Day, D’Esposito returned to a line of attack that Republicans in suburbs just outside of New York City have honed over recent elections, saying the Biden administration’s border policies have led to the influx of migrants to the region and adding that Democrats pledging to reform immigration laws are being politically opportunistic.

“Every village is now even a border village,” D’Esposito said.

Gillen gathered Long Islanders near one of D’Esposito’s offices to tick off news coverage of the Republican incumbent’s questionable campaign spending, his affair and patronage and allegations of misconduct against him when he was an NYPD officer.

“Anthony D’Esposito abused his power in every position he held: as an officer, as a councilman, as a congressman and as a candidate,” the Democrat and former Town of Hempstead supervisor said.

D’Esposito said he acted above board and said Democrats are engaging in personal attacks because “they can’t run on the border, they can’t run on the economy, they can’t run on crime.”

Gillen said D’Esposito’s pattern of wrongdoing is documented by news sources, campaign finance filings and formal complaints. Asked about border security, she noted he’s been in Congress for two years and failed to act in a bipartisan manner. — Emily Ngo

GOLDEN VOTERS: Republicans and Democrats are chasing younger voters, but the more reliable bloc of people casting ballots in New York are those over 50.

A report released today by AARP New York found older voters remain the demographic most likely to vote, a pattern that has played out in the last four election cycles in the state.

Voters over the age of 50 represented 72 percent of the total turnout in the June 24 primary. In the 2022 midterm elections, more than 62 percent of voters were from the 50-plus set.

“Anyone running for public office needs to know that older New Yorkers vote more than any other age group, and their votes will make the difference in this election,” said AARP New York State Director Beth Finkel.

The data, which was compiled for AARP New York by Gotham Government Relations, could call into question both parties’ strategies to focus on younger voters.

The Trump campaign and Democratic Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado have both made appeals to that demographic. And while those voters may be motivated by issues like the cost of living or climate change, they’re also considered “low propensity” – or less likely to turnout on Election Day.

In New York, Democrats held an edge over Republicans on the generic House race ballot among voters age 55 and older in a Siena College poll released last week. Older voters by a margin of 55 percent to 41 percent said they would vote for a Democratic House candidate. — Nick Reisman

ADAMS ON NEWSMAX: Adams defended a top NYPD chief’s interview with far-right outlet Newsmax from Trump’s rally on Sunday, arguing his administration can’t pick and choose the news sources it likes.

“Just because you dislike an outlet, that is not enough to say we should not be interviewing with that outlet,” the mayor said. “It’s not ‘freedom of press that I like.’”

Newsmax is an ardently pro-Trump cable TV station, that recently settled a lawsuit alleging it spread false accusations that a voting machine company rigged the 2020 presidential election.

The defense came at Adams’ press conference Tuesday, where he conspicuously dodged questions about Trump, and declined to express disagreement with the Republican nominee.

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell’s appearance drew criticism from liberal Democrats who said it appeared he was lending support to Trump.

Adams said Chell didn’t endorse anyone, and was interviewed by other outlets at the rally too.

Asked if he views Newsmax as different from mainstream outlets, he questioned who creates that “mainstream” criteria, while accusing the Daily News — whose City Hall reporter he and his team openly dislike — of writing “misinformation and lies.” — Jeff Coltin