Taking out a contract

Mayor de Blasio, self-righteous as always, made a big show Wednesday of announcing “that the City of New York is severing all contracts with the Trump Organization.” “The contracts make very clear if a company and the leadership of that company is engaged in criminal activity, we have the right to sever the contract,” and “inciting an insurrection against the United States government clearly constitutes criminal activity,” de Blasio said. Trump’s behavior was horrible, and in our view should serve as grounds for his removal from office. But is it officially criminal yet? The District of Columbia’s attorney general has yet to file, much less prove, incitement charges against Rudy Giuliani, Mo Brooks or Don Trump Jr., for their incendiary talk. A decision on daddy will wait until after Jan. 20. The mayor has long salivated over the symbolically delicious chance to terminate Trump’s four contracts — to run two Central Park skating rinks, the carousel, and a Bronx golf course at Ferry Point. But before the Jan. 6 insurrection, he was constrained by a pesky thing called the First Amendment. New York can’t break a legally binding contract simply because its leader disagrees with a contractor’s political beliefs. Alas, there’s less here than meets the eye. Three of the four contracts were already expiring in April, which means the city is effectively just terminating them about a month early. As for the fourth, Trump’s 20-year-lease at the Bronx links, that comes down to money, money, money. A key provision in the agreement required the course to attract major championship events, which is unlikely now; the PGA just canceled a planned 2022 tournament at another Trump course. Good riddance, we say. Playing 18 holes