STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said she was educating her colleagues as she spent three minutes Friday on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives blasting socialist ideology and the proposed policies of incoming NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani. <\/p>\n
\u201cSocialism is communism light,\u201d said Malliotakis, a Republican who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. <\/p>\n
A self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, the mayor-elect was visiting Washington, D.C. on Friday for a first-ever meeting with President Donald Trump. <\/p>\n
With Mamdani due in town, Malliotakis set his proposed policies, such as government-run grocery stores, in her crosshairs. <\/p>\n
\u201cYes, he says he\u2019s a socialist. But guess what my friends, those are policies straight out of the communist playbook of Karl Marx.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mamdani has consistently rejected the suggestion he is a communist, after being labeled that way through the course of the mayoral campaign by the president and other foes. <\/p>\n
Earlier this year on NBC\u2019s Meet the Press<\/a>, Mamdani said \u201cI am not a communist,\u201d and continued, \u201cwhen we talk about my politics, I call myself a Democratic socialist, in many ways inspired by the words of Dr. King from decades ago, who said, call it Democracy or call it Democratic socialism, there has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God\u2019s children in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n Malliotakis, however, said Friday that \u201csocialism is the first step to communism,\u201d and called socialist policies \u201cthe antithesis of the American dream.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMillions of immigrants in this country fled their homeland to come to the United States to escape socialism and communism,\u201d she said. \u201cJust ask your constituents from Russia, from Poland, from Albania, from China, from Korea, from Vietnam, from Venezuela or Cuba where my mother fled in 1959 to escape the very things that our new socialist mayor in New York City says he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n She went on to say, \u201cNew York City chose to learn the hard way what socialism is. And we, those of us who did not vote for this guy (Mamdani) are going to pay the price.\u201d <\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s transition team did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.<\/p>\n A surprising visit<\/p>\n Malliotakis\u2019 comments came before a meeting that some expected to be a bitter face-off between the president and mayor-elect. Instead, the two were friendly when appearing in front of reporters, speaking repeatedly of their shared goals to help Trump\u2019s hometown rather than their combustible differences.<\/p>\n Trump, who had in the past called Mamdani a \u201c100% Communist Lunatic\u201d and a \u201ctotal nut job,\u201d spoke openly of how impressed he was with the man who had called his administration \u201cauthoritarian.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually,\u201d Trump said as Mamdani stood next to him in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n Until now, the men have been political foils who galvanized their supporters by taking on each other, and it\u2019s unclear how those backers will react to their genial get-together and complimentary words.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to be helping him, to make everybody\u2019s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I really appreciate about the president is that the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n Mamdani and Trump said they discussed housing affordability and the cost of groceries and utilities, as Mamdani successfully used frustration over inflation to get elected, just as the president did in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have,\u201d the president said of Mamdani about inflationary issues.<\/p>\n Before the meeting, in an appearance on Fox News, Malliotakis had predicted that the president would find a \u201cpath forward\u201d with Mamdani, noting that \u201cthe campaign\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier in the week, Malliotakis had found one reason to strike a more positive note about the mayor-elect, posting on X, \u201cI\u2019m cautiously optimistic about the Mayor-elect\u2019s decision to keep @nypdpc Tisch. BUT this will only work out for New Yorkers & our officers if he takes her advice & recommendations,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHe has already reversed course on replacing cops with social workers for domestic incidents. That\u2019s good news.\u201d <\/p>\n In a written statement on Saturday, Malliotakis said of the meeting between Mamdani and Trump, \u201cClearly, our president and mayor-elect had a positive first meeting. If they can meet in the middle, it will be a good thing for New Yorkers. <\/p>\n \u201cAs our city\u2019s only Republican representative in Washington, I\u2019ll push back on Mamdani\u2019s socialist agenda but will also fight any attempt to punish New York. I\u2019ll work with both the president and mayor to deliver critical funding for public safety, housing, transportation, infrastructure and our hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n Associated Press material was used in this report.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Rep. 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