The real Eric Adams scandal is that, in a city of 8.3 million people, this clown was somehow the best we had to offer.

Adams, a Democrat, became the first mayor in the city’s history to be indicted while in office. (Though, New York being New York, he’s not the first to be criminally investigated.) The federal inquiry concluded with five criminal charges, all related to campaign donations and bribes that Adams allegedly received from the Turkish government.

After the news broke on Wednesday evening, the beleaguered mayor released a recorded statement proclaiming his innocence. Then, reportedly, he went out clubbing.

Time will tell whether the charges lead to Adams’s conviction or resignation. But if there were any justice in the world, he would have been indicted long ago - for criminal levels of incompetence.

Last month, for example, he spoke at an event commemorating Indian independence, the New York Post reported. He was surrounded by banners reading “Mayor Adams Celebrates the Indian Community.” Unfortunately, during his remarks, he repeatedly referred to India and its diaspora community as “Pakistan.”

Days later, at the Democratic National Convention, Adams was asked about his ongoing federal corruption inquiry. His reply, per the New York Post: “One of the gifts that I have that really made me good at being a mayor is my ability to sexualize and stay focused.” What?

Then, back in New York, he attended an event raising awareness for prostate cancer. There, he appeared unaware that men are, uhh, much more likely than women to have prostates.

Other highlights of the Adams mayoralty include his curious response to a reporter’s question about how he’d summarize 2023 in “one word.” His reply: “New York. This is a place where every day you wake up you could experience everything from a plane crashing into our Trade Center through a person who’s celebrating a new business that’s open. This is a very, very complicated city, and that’s why it’s the greatest city on the globe.”

That moment was almost as unhinged as his answer to a question about the “best concert” he’d ever attended. Adams cited an infamous 1990 Brooklyn concert: “At that concert, there was a rainstorm and the lights fell on Curtis Mayfield and they actually paralyzed him at that concert.” To be clear, this tragic accident happened before Mayfield had begun to play.

On another occasion, Adams compared himself to Mohandas K. Gandhi. (“I’m Gandhi-like. I think like Gandhi. I act like Gandhi,” Adams said.) Then there was the time he said migrants were the solution to the city’s lifeguard shortage because they are “excellent swimmers.”

Yet another time, he appeared to lie about carrying a photo of a fallen officer in his wallet. He then had his staff cover his tracks by printing out a black-and-white photo that they distressed with fresh coffee stains to make it look older. (The mayor’s spokesman did not dispute that the photo had been recently created by a City Hall aide, the New York Times reported at the time.)

Or who can forget when Adams blamed his homeless accountant, evicted after allegations of embezzling funds from a co-op, for getting the address wrong on the then-mayoral candidate’s tax returns?

Adams’s address had come under scrutiny during his run for mayor because news reports suggested he was actually living in New Jersey at the time. To allay suspicions, he gave reporters a tour of a Brooklyn apartment he claimed to live in. The tour raised more questions than it answered. Such as: Given his veganism, why was the fridge stocked with salmon? (His campaign said the food belonged to his adult son, whose apartment Adams was definitely not pretending to live in.)

Eventually, of course, Adams changed his residence to Gracie Mansion. Since becoming mayor, he’s notched impressive achievements, such as offering consultants from McKinsey $4 million to invent trash bins.

Somehow, these high jinks haven’t received much national attention until now. Perhaps there are just too many weirdos on the national political scene these days crowding out clown coverage. Still, we New Yorkers are used to being the center of the media world, and the fact that Adams wasn’t already a national laughingstock is rather embarrassing.

Maybe the most embarrassing part of this saga is the circumstances of his indictment. What did the Turkish government get for its alleged bribes? According to the Justice Department: expedited permitting for a new consular building. This quid pro quo (at least the “quo” part) would not have existed if our city ran a functional permitting process.

Catherine Rampell is a Washington Post columnist.