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It’s Monday and Eric Adams Has World Cup Fever

The Mayor takes a totally necessary trip to a migrant-killing kingdom, and other links to start your day.

9:50 AM EST on November 28, 2022

(Fauzan Saari / Unsplash)

These days, a cough is fairly simple to come by. With children back in school and swapping germs, and families gathering for the holidays, along with the raging, ongoing pandemic, it’s simple enough to spike a slight temperature. 

Another highly transmissible sickness making the rounds: World Cup fever. And folks, Mayor Eric Adams has it bad.

Over the weekend, Adams announced that after a conference on antisemitism in Greece, he’d be taking a four-day trip to Qatar next weekend to learn more about hosting a World Cup. 

Putting aside the fact that New York City is but one of sixteen 2026 host cities spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and that New York is home to gigantic international events on a regular basis, or even that the games themselves will not be played in New York City but rather in New Jersey, or that Adams might not even by mayor in 2026 (also: Adams is leaving the city with the highest Jewish population in the world to learn about antisemitism?), there are some major questions we have about this trip. 

Who’s paying for it? Apparently, City Hall tells the Post, that’s still being worked out. When the last mayor, Bill de Blasio, went abroad for several days, it cost taxpayers over $16,000. Expenditures like these are definitely something to consider for a mayor who’s asking city agencies to cut their budgets to the bone

Are any other mayors from major North American cities attending alongside Adams? Unclear!

What does the mayor personally have to see that can’t be done by other city officials? Maybe Adams feels like he has to go himself because top mayoral advisor Frank Carone, who traveled to Israel and South Korea for the administration, is leaving City Hall

Whose idea was this? We’ve had some recent history with someone governing through watching TV, so would love to know how long this has been in the works.

We’ve reached out to City Hall with questions about the trip, and will update when they respond.

Still stuffed from Thanksgiving? No matter—feast on some links!

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