President Donald Trump is renewing his threats against New York City, suggesting he’ll withhold federal funds and deploy the National Guard, as he did in other major cities, if Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor.
Speaking Tuesday at the White House, Trump hurled insults at the Democratic candidate anew.
“We have a Communist, 33 years old, doesn’t know a thing, probably never worked a day in his life, and he sort of caught on. I’m not going to send a lot of money to New York,” Trump said. “We’re not going to ruin one of our great cities, because we’ll make that great. We will clean up the crime in about 30 days.”
“It took 12 days to do Washington, DC, so New York is bigger, and Chicago, we’ve already made a lot of progress despite fighting from the government. All of these cities, we want to clean them up,” he added. “We don’t like that opposition. But if somebody is going to be a communist mayor of New York. It’s a fluke if he gets in.”
The comments add to an arsenal Trump has wielded against the city. A day after Eric Adams dropped his reelection bid, Trump called Mamdani “one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican party,” and threatened to withhold federal funds should he win. He called him a Communist, as he did again Tuesday.
Mamdani had no immediate comment on the latest jab. He appeared at an event with Gov. Kathy Hochul Tuesday night, their first joint appearance since she endorsed him a month ago, noting some philosophical differences. Hochul has pledged to have Mamdani’s back, as well as New York’s state, when it comes to Trump.
The Democratic nominee is set to take the stage Thursday, along with independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, for the first mayoral general election debate on WNBC. Here’s how to watch it live.
Mayor Eric Adams said he couldn’t raise money after his campaign was dogged for months by never-ending rumors and pressure about dropping out. Now that he has exited the race, some are wondering how the roughly 9 percent of the vote he had in many polls will shake up the race. NBC New York’s Melissa Russo reports.
In at least one earlier debate, Cuomo made working with Trump a key component of his upside. Both Mamdani and Cuomo acknowledged the politically-charged relationship with Washington, and both pledged to stand up to the president when it came to securing funds for New York City.
Cuomo said Mamdani didn’t have the experience. Mamdani said he didn’t have Cuomo’s baggage.
Mamdani, 33, would be the city’s youngest and most liberal mayor in generations if elected. He beat Cuomo decisively in the Democratic primary by campaigning on a promise to lower the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities.