The strange political courtship between Mayor Eric Adams of New York City and former President Donald J. Trump has taken another odd turn.
Two days after Mr. Trump gave what was to be his closing campaign argument at Madison Square Garden — a rally that turned into a parade of insults, grievances and hate speech — Mr. Adams was asked if he wanted to rethink his stance.
Did he still stand by his statement that Mr. Trump was not a fascist?
The mayor, a Democrat, refused to give a direct answer. He dismissed question after question, describing them as “humiliating,” “silly” and “insulting.”
“With all that’s going on to everyday New Yorkers, we are asking questions that is someone a fascist or is someone Hitler,” the mayor said on Tuesday at his weekly news conference at City Hall. “That’s insulting to me and I’m not going to engage in that.
“Everyone needs to turn down the rhetoric because after Election Day, we still have to be the United States and not the divided states.”
Asked by a reporter when he last spoke to the former president, Mr. Adams brusquely dismissed him. “Give me another question,” he said to members of his media staff, telling the reporter, “You lost your opportunity.”