Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is locked in a high stakes standoff with President Trump over immigration while giving a blind eye to crime and potentially crippling federal cuts that could be coming.
Wu sounded happily defiant as she blasted the Trump administration for issuing an ultimatum to comply with federal immigration law, invoking the American Revolution and even throwing in Jeffrey Epstein for good measure.
Ahead in the polls by 30 points, she figures she can’t possibly lose by standing up to the president, who is deeply unpopular in Massachusetts.
“Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures,” Wu said on Tuesday in a staged rally. “Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law, and Boston will not back down from who we are and what we stand for.”
Touching all the Democratic Party talking points, she added that “under the Trump administration, groceries are less affordable, housing is harder to build, cures for cancer are farther away, and good news on our economy has been as hard to find as the Epstein list.”
That last cheap shot line proves that she’s not standing on principle as she says, it’s all about politics.
The only question is who will make the next move and what will that bring?
Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi are unlikely to arrest Wu, because that would only make her a bigger progressive hero.
But they could start ordering federal cuts in education, health, and police funding that could dramatically impact Boston residents in a negative way.
Wu seems to be either unaware or unconcerned about Trump’s threats to turn off the funding spigot.
Instead of ratcheting down the rhetoric to avoid a confrontation, Wu is fanning the flames and positioning herself as the voice against Trump’s policies.
But when the migrant crisis began more than a year ago, Wu was virtually silent as Gov. Maura Healey took the lead and most of the flak.
Now that she’s running for re-election, she is positioning herself to score political points, taking on the role of crusader against the evil Donald Trump.
It’s a quick and easy way to win an election in a city which is overwhelmingly Democratic and liberal. She saw it work for her when she testified before a Republican congressional committee, earning plaudits from suckups in City Hall.
She doesn’t really care about public safety or the uptick in crime that is concerning her constituents. While rogue bikers roam the streets and threaten innocent motorists, she stays silent. And when violence mars a festival, again she says nothing.
On issue after issue facing the city, like homelessness, Mass and Cass and fixing the streets, Wu does nothing and has her stooge allies on the City Council stifle any debate or criticism.
But the standoff with Trump and Bondi is serious and stands to severely impact the voters she says she cares about.
Who will make the next move? Wu seems to have played her cards, but Trump still has a few left to play.
Wu was one of 32 mayors and executives who got letters from Bondi demanding they “confirm their commitment to complying with federal law” on immigration and stop imposing laws that forbid the city from cooperating with ICE. The letter did threaten to freeze federal funding.
Patricia Hyde, acting ICE field director for the Boston region, told Fox News that dangerous criminals are being released because of the city’s lax immigration policies.
“Unfortunately this is every day in Boston,” Hyde, a Boston native, said. “It’s a public safety crisis.”