Mayor Eric Adams had a dream — to attend President Trump’s inauguration.
Hizzoner likened himself to Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday as he defended bailing on events commemorating the civil rights icon to trek Washington, DC, to hail the new chief.
He claimed MLK, like himself, would have set “partisan politics” aside to show support for the incoming president.
“My life is the life that Dr. King talked about when he said he had a dream,” Adams said during his weekly news conference. “I’m living that dream.”
“Dr. King’s dream is not in Brooklyn or New York City.”
Hizzoner embarked on a middle-of-the-night jaunt to Washington, DC, after a last-minute invite to the swearing-in – only to be shunted into an overflow room, away from the main inauguration space inside the Capitol Rotunda where the rich and powerful mingled.
When The Post asked how being relegated to an overflow room with the likes of social media stars Jake and Logan Paul helped New York City, Adams dodged the question.
“I’m not going to spend this entire conference talking about this,” he said. “I answered the questions about why I went to DC.”
But despite Adams’ lofty self-comparison, many black New Yorkers were outraged that the mayor would cancel appearances at MLK Day events to show support for Trump — and, perhaps, make a clumsy attempt to gain a pardon in his federal corruption case.
“I think right now he doesn’t have his priorities straight,” said Janice, 75, a longtime parishioner of Harlem’s Convent Avenue Baptist Church, where Adams had been scheduled to deliver remarks Monday morning before the sudden cancelation.
“He should’ve been where he was most needed.”
Adams said he’d take the criticism over his DC trip, again comparing his minor travails to those of King — who endured segregationist violence, arrests, surveillance by the FBI, a stabbing and more before he ultimately was assassinated in 1968.
The mayor also maintained that he received text messages in support of his inauguration visit, two of which his staff provided to The Post.
Black voters helped thrust Adams into Gracie Mansion during the 2021 election – but their support this year has been in doubt as the mayor faces a crowded field of challengers in the June Democratic primary.
Recent polls show former Gov. Andrew Cuomo carrying significant leads among city voters if he decides to enter the crowded 2025 mayoral race. He also maintains high support among black voters, a potentially worrying prospect for Adams, who has watched constituency after constituency sour on him over his term.
Adams said that the legacy of King — who disrupted the status quo through nonviolent protests, sit-ins and strikes — was to put political differences aside.
“I’m not going to be warring with the president,” he said. “I’m going to be working with the president and that’s my responsibility as the mayor.”
