#De Blasio’s staff can no longer stop him from making a fool of himself

Mayor de Blasio plainly thought he was going to show bold, forward-looking leadership last Thursday — but all he ended up demonstrating is that he no longer has any advisers able (or willing) to stop him from making a fool of himself.

He used the launch of a city COVID-19 testing lab as the pretext for a rare in-person press conference, where he made a big deal of presenting his “vision” for the city’s recovery from the pandemic and lockdowns.

Yet he didn’t offer more than a few vague principles — even though he announced the start of recovery planning months ago, making a big deal of setting up various advisory panels to start thinking things through then.

Reporters across the spectrum quickly pointed this out — whereupon Hizzoner fled the podium, leaving journalists lined up with more questions poised.

His la-de-da “four core principles” are trivial boilerplate: continue to fight back against the virus, invest in “innovation to make us a stronger hub for public health research,” create “high-quality jobs” and focus on underserved communities.

How about saving the jobs the city’s still losing? Making office workers feel safe returning? Reviving the city’s cultural life?

This, as he continues to make decisions off the cuff even about something as vital as getting schools reopened. After he made new concessions to the United Federation of Teachers last week without even talking to folks who have to run each school, the principals’ union came out for putting the public-school system in state receivership.

Either no one remains in de Blasio’s inner circle who can see that he was about to step on a rake, or those with any sense are too busy looking for their next job to bother saving him from himself.