Kathy come lately.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is jumping on the anti-Trump train — touting herself Monday as the new leader of the
“resistance” against the president’s agenda.
“Once you draw first blood on us, you know we’re coming back hard, and I will be leading the resistance on policies like these where you’re hurting New Yorkers directly,” she proclaimed during an interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”
The assertion is a far cry from Hochul’s comments less than two weeks ago, when she told reporters just the opposite.
“I’ve been asked countless (times) ‘Are you leading the resistance?’ — No, I’m governing the great state of New York,” Hochul said when asked about her shifting stance toward President Trump’s administration.
Hochul’s about-face as the self-proclaimed leader of the resistance drew sneers from Republicans.
“There’s a reason why President Trump has higher poll numbers than Gov. Hochul,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) told The Post.
“Hochul couldn’t lead an Eskimo to ice. Maybe she should focus on the massive resistance being led against her, from our brave corrections officers to her own lieutenant governor. This is nothing more than an attempt to distract from her failures,” said upstate Republican Congressman Nick Langworthy:
“Note to Democrats: if this empty pant suit is your ‘leader’ on anything….you’re doomed,” Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin posted on X.
“Hey @GovKathyHochul the last time you led anything you lost the majority in Congress. Try leading the state not the reisitance (sic) you feckless dope. You’re at 30% for a reason. Resign,” he added in a later post, along with “#HopelessHochul.”
Hochul, as Trump was taking office, publicly embraced a cooperative relationship with the incoming administration, congratulating him on his stunning election victory in a conversation “focused on collaboration,” sources said at the time.
But since the US Department of Transportation moved to put the kibosh on New York’s congestion pricing scheme, Hochul has sung a different tune, holding a profanity-laden press conference where she compared herself to Rambo as she announced a lawsuit to block Trump from undoing the tolling program.
The governor’s campaign then quickly released an ad using tape from the appearance featuring Hochul wearing a windbreaker as she walked in the subway in slow motion, a scene akin to an actual Rambo movie.
Between her fiery subway press conference and her campaign releasing the dramatic supercut, Hochul met with Trump at the White House in a sit-down that her spokesperson described as “frank” and “candid.”
The two have also discussed a possible infusion of federal cash to help rehabilitate Penn Station and make transit upgrades, but the Democrat still has no results to show from her attempts at diplomacy.
Using Trump as a foil may be Hochul’s best bet for raising her dismally sagging approval numbers, pollsters said.
“It’s a plus because she’s making Trump a target. Targets work in politics,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College polling institute, told The Post Monday.
A Siena College poll released last month showed 57% of New Yorkers would prefer someone other than Hochul to run in the 2026 gubernatorial election.
Only 39% of New Yorkers rated her favorably in the same poll.
“Because Hochul doesn’t have a strong identity, she can find one by attacking Trump,” Miringoff added.
Others said that while Hochul’s resistance rebrand might be a wise political move for her, she needs to follow through beyond posting clips online.
“New Yorkers are savvy,” Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist, told The Post.
“You have to come back with receipts that you’ve gone toe-to-toe and won: meaning, gotten concessions or forced action in order to be able to take credit,” he said.
Hochul’s critics noted they’ve never believed her to be anything but anti-Trump.
“She is just readily looking for ways to push back at him for political gain,” New York state Conservative Party chairman Jerry Kassar told The Post.
“She says one thing and she does another, but she’s dealing with a New Yorker who is very intuitive on false rhetoric and his position versus hers has really not changed no matter how she reacts,” Kassar said.
Hochul’s campaign is beginning to hum as she seeks re-election for a second full term.
She won her first full term in 2022 after taking over following the 2021 resignation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, under whom she served as lieutenant governor.
Hochul announced last week that she’s bringing on a new campaign manager, Preston Elliott, a political vet who previously worked on campaigns for Montana Sen. Jon Tester and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, among others.
