President Trump is making clear his distaste for the presumptive Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, calling him a “pure communist” who needs to “do the right thing” or face the consequences. Mr. Mamdani on Sunday laughed off the president’s previous accusation that he was a communist.
Mr. Trump and his administration have been relatively happy with their relationship with Mayor Adams, who got his federal indictment dismissed by the Justice Department in exchange for compliance with immigration enforcement efforts. The president says that if Mr. Mamdani prevails in November, then he needs to accept the administration’s deportation plans, as well.
“He’s a communist. I think it’s very bad for New York. I don’t know that he’s gonna get in … But he’s a communist and he’s a pure communist. I think he admits it,” Mr. Trump told Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“I can’t imagine it, but let’s say this: if he does get in, I’m gonna be president and he’s gonna have to do the right thing or they’re not getting any money,” Mr. Trump said. “He’s gotta do the right thing. It’s shocking … I mean, he’s a communist who’s gonna be mayor of New York. So, I was very surprised.”
Mr. Trump made clear that whoever wins — including Mr. Adams, who is running as an independent, or Governor Cuomo, who is also mulling a general election run — needs to comply with his policy aims.
“I can tell you this — whoever is mayor of New York is going to have to behave themselves or the federal government is coming down very tough on them financially,” Mr. Trump said Sunday.
The president called Mr. Mamdani a communist in a Truth Social post earlier this week, after Mr. Cuomo conceded the primary election and Mr. Mamdani became the presumptive winner. The ranked-choice voting system is expected to confirm Mr. Mamdani’s victory sometime this week.
Mr. Mamdani was asked about the president’s comments from earlier this week during his own appearance on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. When asked if he was a communist, Mr. Mamdani chuckled and said, “No, I am not.”
“I have already had to start to get used to the fact that the president will talk about how I look, how I sound, where I’m from, who I am, ultimately because he wants to distract from what I’m fighting for, and I’m fighting for the the very working people that he ran a campaign to empower that he has since betrayed,” Mr. Mamdani said Sunday.
“I call myself a democratic socialist, in many ways inspired by the words of Dr. King … who said, ‘Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism — there has to be a better distribution of wealth for all God’s children in this country,’” he said.
Mr. Trump is not the only Washington politician who has expressed concerns about Mr. Mamdani’s candidacy. Even fellow Democrats from New York have so far refused to endorse Mr. Mamdani because of some of his past statements.
The House Democratic leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries — who told the Sun earlier this month that he would back whoever won his party’s nomination — said Sunday that he is withholding his endorsement for the time being.
Mr. Jeffries says Mr. Mamdani’s defense of the phrase “globalize the intifada” is a major concern for him. The minority leader represents a sizable Jewish population in Brooklyn.
“‘Globalizing the intifada’ … is not an acceptable phrase and he’s gonna have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward,” he said on ABC News’s “This Week” on Sunday.
“With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think that our nominee is gonna have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the city of New York, which has been an unacceptable development,” Mr. Jeffries added.
“Any mayor — whether you’re a Democratic mayor, a Republican mayor, an independent mayor — has got to commit to the safety and wellbeing of all of the people of the city of New York,” he said.
Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand have similarly so far refused to offer their support to Mr. Mamdani.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
