NEW YORK (AP) — Zoran Mandani He wasted little time as New York’s next mayor, making it clear that he sees part of his new role as standing up to the president of the United States. was threatening If he won, he would not only cut off the city’s finances, but also arrest him and deport him from the country.
Mamdani, a Democrat, addressed the Republican president at length directly from the podium. his victory party Tuesday night in Brooklyn.
“Donald Trump, I know you’re watching, so I have four words for you: Turn up the volume,” he said, before declaring, “If there’s anyone who can show the people betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it’s the city that produced him.”
Born in Uganda, Mamdani became a naturalized American citizen after graduating from university. personification of resistance.
“New York will continue to be a city of immigrants. Built by immigrants, driven by immigrants, and starting tonight, it will continue to be a city of immigrants,” he said. “President Trump, listen to me. To get to any of us, you have to get through all of us.”
President Trump, who had spent months insulting Mamdani and warning that the city would be destroyed if he won, seemed to be watching.
“…And so it begins!” Mamdani said, posted on social media.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist who campaigned on far-left progressive policies and an upbeat optimism that stands in stark contrast to Trump’s dark, hard-line tactics, is expected to continue to face the president’s relentless political bashing, with the federal government seeking to block his policies.
“Mayor Trump”
The Trump administration has targeted cities like Los Angeles and Washington, leaving New York relatively unscathed. dispatch the National Guard. The current mayor, Eric Adams, enjoys an unusual alliance with the Republican president, whose administration federal corruption case dismissed He opposed the mayor so he could better support the president’s immigration policies.
Mr. Trump has threatened to cut federal funding to the city and stage a complete takeover, a threat that became the cornerstone of Mr. Mamdani’s rivals’ campaign against him.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference that if Mamdani wins, “he’ll be Trump’s mayor.” their final debateHe warned that Mamdani was too inexperienced and too much of a target to negotiate effectively with the president.
As Mr. Mamdani rose from an unknown state representative to a star in the Democratic Party, Mr. Trump and members of his party gleefully exploited his most controversial policy proposals and past statements to position him as the face of a new Democratic Party out of step with ordinary Americans.
“Democrats have capitulated to the radical socialist Zoran Mamdani and the far-left mob who are now running the show,” Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement Tuesday night. “They proudly embrace defunding the police, abolishing ICE, imposing the death penalty on hard-working Americans, and replacing common sense with chaos. Every House Democrat is foolishly complicit in the destruction of their party, and voters will make them pay for it in 2026.”
echo of trump
Nearly a decade ago, Mr. Trump was a bold but untested candidate who built a populist coalition, leveraged social media, garnered media attention and promised a wave of change before scoring his own remarkable political victory.
The same qualities that propelled the Republican to the White House in 2016 helped Mamdani become the soon-to-be mayor of President Trump’s hometown and the nation’s largest city.
But rather than seeing Mamdani as a Democratic analogue for his own power grab, President Trump has installed him as a key foil and reason for trying to punish or subdue the city.
They both seem ready for it.
Most presidents don’t take the time to engage with local elected officials, but President Trump doesn’t, and New York City has special meaning to him.
The Queens-born former reality star rose to fame in Manhattan, where she rose from a gilded penthouse to become a TV star and later launched her own TV show. His unlikely presidential campaign After getting off the golden escalator.
President Trump has focused specifically on cities, trying to block congestion pricing programs and halting city construction. New tunnel under the Hudson River He also insisted on holding the event during last year’s return presidential campaign. Great success at Madison Square Garden Despite being unpopular in town.
Trump made a rare appearance as the city prepares to choose its next mayor. He falsely labeled Mamdani a communist and threatened to confiscate federal funds from the city or take over the city if Mamdani was elected.
Then, in the fall, Trump administration intermediaries approached Mr. Adams and tried to persuade him to abandon his re-election campaign to block Mr. Mamdani’s path to victory.
On the eve of the election, Trump said Mamdani would likely cut federal funding to cities if he won, writing on social media that it was “highly unlikely that we would send any federal funding beyond the bare minimum required.”
White House press secretary Caroline Levitt declined Tuesday to say what kind of funds President Trump plans to withhold.
But he had already sought to punish the city this year, part of a broader pattern of asserting power over Democratic elected officials who criticized him, including cutting off funding for some infrastructure projects during the government shutdown and seeking to cut subsidies meant to defray the costs of immigration.
This threat resonated with some voters.
Amy Snyder, an arts adviser who voted for Mr. Cuomo, said she was concerned that Mr. Mamdani would “not be able to stand up to Mr. Trump.”
Ariel Keohane, a registered Republican who voted for Mr. Cuomo but has voted for Mr. Trump many times, said he expected the president to do everything in his power to prevent Mr. Mamdani from achieving his policy goals and hoped it would work.
“President Trump will probably have to send in the National Guard and ICE agents as well,” Keohane said.
Wassef Chaudhry, a volunteer with Mamdani’s campaign, said he fully expected Trump to try to punish the city in retaliation for the Democratic Socialists’ victory.
“I know he’s going to try hard, but we’re ready,” said Chaudhry, who works in finance. “We fought against the establishment, and we will do the same against the president.”
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Price reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Philip Marcello and Jake Offenhertz contributed to this report.
