If New York was a game show, Kathy Hochul would be using a lifeline.
She won't phone a friend, because in the chaotic mess that is the post-election Democratic Party, she doesn't have many, and she needs to collect political capital, not spend it. Hochul recently resurrected her deeply unpopular traffic congestion tax, ridiculously claiming she was "saving" New Yorkers 40% versus her previous fee structure proposal.
The original congestion plan was temporarily shelved due to the November elections. The seismic shift in national politics was reflected in New York, which voted 44.1% for Trump. That's a relatively close call for what has long been, with fellow bookend California, a hallmark deep blue state. Reinstating the congestion tax was a "damned if you do or don't" decision.
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Hochul knows her chances for reelection in two years are scant. She also knows that the Trump administration will likely pass an executive order making sanctuary cities and states illegal.
What changed, you asked? Governor Kathy Hochul doesn't want to be embarrassed when Tom Homan has the complete authorization to place her arrested for violating federal law.
— Brady Buchanan (@Commander_Brady) December 2, 2024
In other words, she has no choice but to help him with mass deportation plans. https://t.co/hukjaQdTnD
Incoming border czar Tom Homan has made it clear that he will brook no opposition to his duty to deport illegal aliens. As he told Sean Hannity on November 25, those who get in his way will be dealt with according to the law of the land.
"But look, me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing -- he's willing to go to jail, I'm willing to put him in jail because there there's a statute. It's Title 8 United States Code 1324 (iii). And what it says is it's a felony if you knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien from immigration authorities. It's also a felony to impede a federal law enforcement officer."
Hochul is a pragmatist. She is not an activist politician willing to spend time in prison. She prefers the distant remove of her Albany office, where she earmarked more than $1 billion for her crowning achievement, the new Buffalo Bills Highmark Stadium.
The stadium is slated to open in 2026, just before Hochul's reelection bid.
By inking the massive deal, Hochul managed to line the pockets of her own family via her husband's employer, Delaware North, the Bills concessions operator. At the same time, she managed to squeeze the Seneca Nation for hundreds of millions to finance the deal. That's Hochul at her wicked best: behind the scenes, pulling strings.
So in some ways, Homan's hardline stance suits Hochul (and by extension, Mayor Eric Adams, who has openly welcomed a conversation with the border czar, doubling down on a position that has cost him dearly). Hochul can now coordinate behind the scenes with ICE to relieve New York of the criminal onslaught illegal immigration has brought to New York.
NY Gov Hochul says she’ll call ICE, help ‘get rid of’ migrants who commi... https://t.co/3C8ZrGdah7 via @YouTube
— Captain Celluloid (@CCelluloid55) December 4, 2024
While pragmatic blue states and cities quietly (or loudly, in Mayor Adams' case) let illegals know where they stand, the states that remain adamantly pro-"migrant" will likely see vast influxes. It's a win-win for conservatives: the worst elements will be funneled into the deepest blue areas.
At the same time, Hochul doesn't have to get her hands dirty doing what she could have done herself--at great cost to her standing in the party. Publicly, expect Hochul to make statements about how awful and unfair it is to lose sanctuary status, but in private, she'll be thrilled.
Once crime goes down, she can quote the statistics at reelection rallies and claim it as a victory that happened on her watch. Give Kathy some credit: she's managed to make a comfortable nest between a rock and a hard place.
