NEW YORK (news agencies) — President Donald Trump has a new political foil: New York’s Democratic nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
The president, who has a history of spewing sometimes vile insults at rivals, has in recent days escalated his attacks against the 33-year-old self-described democratic socialist. Trump has threatened to arrest Mamdani, to deport him and even to take over the country’s largest city if he wins the general election in November.
“As President of the United States, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York. Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards,” Trump wrote in an ominous message on his Truth Social site Wednesday morning. “I’ll save New York City, and make it ′Hot′ and ′Great′ again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!”
Mamdani’s surprise victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has given Republicans a new target as they seek to paint the entire Democratic Party as extreme and out of touch with voters heading into elections this fall in New Jersey and Virginia and next year’s high-stakes midterm elections. Since Mamdani’s win, they have repeatedly highlighted his most controversial past comments and positions, casting him as dangerous, a communist, and an antisemite, and trying to tie him to all other Democratic officials.
That has included intense criticism of his platform, as well as blatantly xenophobic and Islamophobic attacks.
If Mamdani wins, he would become the city’s furthest-left mayor in modern history. He ran on a platform that included opening city-run grocery stores, making buses free, freezing rent on rent-stabilized apartments, and raising property taxes on “ richer and whiter neighborhoods.”
Though he softened his stance as he campaigned, he called the New York Police Department “racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety” in a 2020 social media post, and in others, called for abolishing the entire prison system.
He has also drawn intense criticism from members of both parties over his pro-Palestinian advocacy. That has included describing Israel’s war in Gaza as “genocide,” his refusal to disavow use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which is seen as a call to violence for many Jews. Also, for his refusal to support the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state.
His rise has sparked infighting and highlighted divisions among national Democratic officials, donors and political operatives. While many progressives have celebrated, seeing him as the future of a party aligned with leaders like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, moderates have bemoaned the election’s outcome as a setback in their quest to broaden Democrats’ appeal and move past the more controversial policies that appears to have alienated some voters in recent elections.
Trump unleashed some of his sharpest threats against Mamdani Tuesday, during a visit to a new migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades.
If Mamdani blocks ICE agents from making arrests in the city, “Well, then we’ll have to arrest him,” he said. “Look, we don’t need a communist in this country. But if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation.”
Trump also amplified a false allegation that Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents and came to New York when he was 7, is in the country illegally.
“A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally. We’re going to look at everything,” he said.
Mamdani, who is Muslim, became a naturalized American citizen a few years after he graduated from college. If elected, he would be the city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor.
Mamdani addressed the criticism during an appearance Wednesday, telling reporters that Trump is focusing on him to distract the public from the Republican mega tax and spending cuts bill that is moving through Congress.
