Why Hochul insists on blaming Trump for New York’s woes

For one clue as to why Gov. Kathy Hochul’s favorability rating is at its lowest point in a year, look no further than at her lame comments Tuesday on Bruce Blakeman’s meeting with President Donald Trump.

Her challenger is “going to keep kowtowing” to the prez, hissed Hochul; “Blakeman’s groveling at Trump’s feet — getting his marching orders to jack up costs,” echoed a spokesman.

By contrast, when she met Trump, she boasted, her goal was to “try to find a way to get [federal] money turned back on.”

Huh? How is that not “groveling”?

And what a coincidence that Trump in that meeting pressed her to greenlight a natural-gas pipeline — which she soon did just that.

That is, she got her “marching orders” to bring down costs — because that’s what the president’s program is all about.

And, by the way, Nassau County under Blakeman are doing a heck of a lot better than the state as a whole under Hochul.

It’s simply good for New York when its leaders find ways to work with the president, as even socialist boy Mayor Zohran Mamdani understands.

Yet Hochul seems to think her best path to re-election centers is to dump on Trump, as if he’s the cause of all New York’s problems.

New York residents don’t buy that, which is why the Siena poll found just 41% of them giving her a favorable rating, vs. 46% unfavorable.

They realize Dems dominate government here, and have run New York as a one-party state for years.

Yet more think the state’s on the wrong track (48%) than the right one (38%). Specifically:

• On “reducing crime,” 53% say the state’s on the wrong track, vs. just 38% who say the opposite.

• On “creating more affordable housing,” it’s 57%-31%, wrong track.

• On “addressing the cost of living,” 67%-27%.

You certainly can’t fault voters on the cost issue: Last year’s US News ranking put New York as the 6th-highest cost of living. Housing, energy costs and, of course, taxes especially are through the roof.

And while Hochul (when not preaching Orange Man Bad) claims she’s tackling “affordability,” she’s already broken her vow not to raise taxes three times this year — by pushing a pied-à-terre tax, hitting businesses on R&D expenses and OK’ing new pension giveaways that will force local taxes higher.

Plus, Hochul still backs the state’s insane climate law, which will shoot up prices (on just about everything) even more — though she’s been trying to delay some of the pain until after she’s safely reelected.

Voters are right: New York is certainly on the wrong track, and Trump didn’t put it there.

How damning that the woman in charge of the Empire State is trying to pretend it’s his fault.