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Mayor Eric Adams of New York said on Saturday that former President Donald J. Trump should not be called a “fascist” or compared to Adolf Hitler, a rejection of Democrats’ closing focus in the final days of the 2024 campaign on the eve of Mr. Trump’s rally in Midtown Manhattan.
The embattled mayor, who has been indicted on federal bribery and corruption charges, made the comments at a time when Mr. Trump has been trying to make inroads with Black voters, and especially Black men, in his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
Ms. Harris has said in recent days that she agrees with Mr. Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly, that the former president meets the definition of a fascist. Mr. Kelly also described Mr. Trump as offering praise for Hitler.
Mr. Adams, mayor of America’s largest city and one of the country’s most prominent Black elected officials, was briefing reporters about security plans ahead of Mr. Trump’s rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden when he was asked if he believed the former president was a fascist.
“I have had those terms hurled at me by some political leaders in the city, using terms like Hitler and fascist,” said Mr. Adams, a former police officer. “My answer is no. I know what Hitler has done and I know what a fascist regime looks like.”
He added, “I think we could all dial down the temperature.”
Mr. Adams said that he had heard people say “that the former president should not be able to have a rally in Madison Square Garden.”
“I strongly disagree,” he said. “This is America, this is New York. And I think that it’s important that we allow individuals to exercise their right to get their message clear to New Yorkers.”
Mr. Adams said the city was prepared to ensure a “peaceful” rally, amid concerns about protests.
“I think that we must be extremely cautious of the heat we turn up today, pre-election is going to have to be the heat we’re going to have to govern in,” he said. “And I think we need to show a level of respectable communication.”
Ms. Harris has been making the case in the final days of her campaign that Mr. Trump is unstable and unfit for office, using the words of people who served with him.
Mr. Trump praised Mr. Adams last month, shortly after the indictment against the mayor was unsealed. Mr. Trump, who has been indicted four times in the last two years and was convicted of falsifying business records in a Manhattan trial earlier this year, suggested that Mr. Adams’s indictment was politically motivated because he had been critical of the Biden administration.
Should Mr. Trump win the 2024 election, he would be in a position to grant Mr. Adams clemency in his federal case.
“When people called me fascist and other terminologies, I didn’t like it,” Mr. Adams said. “And I don’t think it’s fitting to anyone to state that the former president is equal to being Hitler.”
“I just think that this is a city where we have the largest Jewish population,” the mayor said. “Antisemitism is on the rise nationally. We need to do everything we can to push back on that level of antisemitic tone and antisemitic issues that we’re facing in the city.”
Mr. Adams has been careful in what he has said about Mr. Trump. He condemned President Biden over the migrant crisis, which became a political albatross for the mayor as thousands of undocumented immigrants arrived in New York.
Mr. Adams declined to answer a reporter’s question about whether he has been in touch with the Trump campaign about the rally or any other issues.
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