Mayor's populist wave of hypocrisy

THE old line that “politics ain’t beanbag” is an all-purpose warning to those with weak stomachs and soft hearts. Yet even hardened New Yorkers must be shocked by the crude cynicism of Mayor de Blasio.

Facing re-election just as subway riders endure a “summer of hell,” de Blasio was caught off guard by demands that he do something. He seemed perplexed that New Yorkers sweltering through derailments and delays would look to him for answers.

Don’t they know he’s busy napping? Besides, the wisdom of Ed Koch’s view that the public blames the mayor if a sparrow dies in Central Park is lost on the current occupant of City Hall.

When Rip Van de Blasio finally stirred himself, his first move was to duck responsibility by blaming MTA leaders. The agency doesn’t need more money, he said, just better management, as if he knows anything about good management.

When that didn’t fly and Gov. Cuomo demanded the city kick in millions for urgent repairs, the mayor hit back, saying it was the governor’s responsibility because the MTA is a state agency.

“He’s responsible. It’s clear. Just take ownership and fix the problem,” a sweaty de Blasio told reporters. He delivered the attack on Cuomo as he ditched his SUV convoy and took a rare ride on the subway to play Everyman.

There is an element of truth to de Blasio’s claims, but neither was a satisfactory answer in the midst of the underground chaos and the fear it was causing.

It was at that point the mayor opened his progressive playbook to the section on Class Warfare and seized on his favorite boob bait: tax the rich.

“We need a millionaires tax so people who travel in first class pay their share so the rest of us can get around,” the mayor announced Sunday. “It’s about time they pay a little more so the rest of us can afford to make ends meet.”

Notice that “rest of us” refrain? This from a landlord whose rental properties are worth millions while he lives in free public housing and travels by taxpayer-financed motorcade.

It’s also worth noting two other fictions in the mayor’s scam plan. First, the tax de Blasio is proposing is not a “millionaires tax,” according to The Post. It would hit single filers earning at least $500,000 and couples earning $1 million by raising the top city income tax rate from 3.876 percent to 4.41 percent.

The resulting combined city and state top rates of about 13 percent would provide another incentive to head for the exits.

The second point is that the mayor made his tax plea just after he was forced to release e-mails showing top donors had direct access to him, often getting answers to their re- quests within minutes. These donors are millionaires, too, so the mayor was corresponding with his peers — but, to keep his street cred, he must pretend he’s against the rich instead of being cozy with them.

So de Blasio shifted gears from decrepit subways to income inequality without a hint of embarrassment. He even threw in another redistribution goodie, saying that some of the $700 million from his “millionaires tax” could be used to fund discounts for poor riders.

Even when the leader of the GOPled state Senate shot down the idea of a new tax, the mayor was not deterred. He also admitted he hadn’t sounded out any legislators, and that the proposed hike was pretty much the same one he unsuccessfully pushed to fund pre-kindergarten in 2014.

No shame, no matter. New Yorkers are being treated to days of headlines about a funding scheme that isn’t designed to happen and won’t.

It is the ultimate Fake News, brought to you by a mayor who only pretends to care.

The episode is a microcosm of the last three-and-one-half years. As the quality of life frays and street disorder grows, the mayor responds with nonsense, deception and non sequiturs.

His gibberish aims to make it look as if he has a plan for governing in a second term. In truth, he has only a plan to win by further dividing the city along race, ethnic and income lines.

If he does win four more years, he would immediately begin traveling the country to make himself a national player and a possible contender for 2020.

Surely New York can do better.