It’s rare for The New York Post to understate a story in a headline, but late Sunday, the tabloid posted a piece titled “De Blasio speaks to crowd of only 20 people in New Hampshire.” The reality was even bleaker. Of the 20 people, fourteen were on the panel being hosted by the New York City mayor about mental health. Just six people sat in the audience, not counting the few reporters who were there out of professional duty.

De Blasio is used to small crowds outside of his home city. Despite having visited Iowa four times since his election in 2014, he spoke to another paltry audience in Sioux City last month, this time telling around two dozen people that he thinks “this is a country waiting to be unified.” By whom? De Blasio didn’t say. But if a politician visits a primary state and talks about the need for unity, they almost certainly think they’re the one who can bring Americans together.



“I’ve been clear I’m certainly not ruling out a run for the presidency,” he said in Iowa last month. “I’ve also said that as a progressive, as someone who believes that we need to change this country—we need to change the Democratic Party—I am going to go all around this country talking about the changes I think we need.”



It increasingly seems that no one is listening. Even ostensible allies are urging de Blasio to concentrate on his day job. One former aide told Politico that for de Blasio to even consider a 2020 bid is “fucking insane.” After all, being the mayor of over eight million people is difficult enough. “N.Y.C. is at an inflection point,” one former ally said, “and the chief executive should focus on his responsibility to guide the city through what are likely to be difficult times.” De Blasio’s own wife has said it’s “not the right time” for a presidential campaign.



But de Blasio persists in his flirtation with national politics, apparently in the belief that he has more than a non-existent chance of besting an enormous Democratic field that contains many politicians who are more widely known and more popular. Instead of ushering in a new progressive golden age in one of America’s most liberal cities, de Blasio’s administration is mired in controversy and incompetence—and yet the mayor continues in his hopeless, self-defeating quest to graduate from a bit player to a leading figure on the national stage.