President Donald Trump wants New York City’s mayor-elect to play nice with Washington.
Trump, 79, issued a word of caution to Zohran Mamdani after the 34-year-old democratic socialist name-dropped the president in an impassioned speech that followed his decisive victory in the closely watched New York City mayoral race.
“I thought it was a very angry speech—certainly angry toward me—and I think he should be very nice to me,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier on Wednesday. “You know, I’m the one that sort of has to approve a lot of things coming to him. So he’s off to a bad start.”
Trump has consistently threatened to withhold federal funding from New York if Mamdani wins, writing in a Truth Social screed on Monday that it was “highly unlikely” he would fund his “beloved first home” if the Democratic nominee takes the election.
Mamdani came out guns blazing in Brooklyn on Tuesday night after he secured 50.4 percent of the vote against independent Andrew Cuomo’s 41.6 percent and Republican Curtis Sliwa’s 7.1 percent, making him New York’s first Muslim mayor and the youngest in over a century.
As he addressed a boisterous crowd of supporters, Mamdani repeatedly namechecked the biggest name tuned in to his fiery victory speech.
“Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching,” he said. “I have four words for you: Turn the volume up!”
Mamdani blasted Trump, a native New Yorker, as a “despot” who needed to be stopped.
“New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants. And as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” he said. “So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”
“I think it’s a very dangerous statement for him to make,” Trump retorted. “He has to be a little bit respectful of Washington, because if he’s not, he doesn’t have a chance of succeeding, and I want to make him succeed. I want to make the city succeed,” he said before u-turning, “I don’t want to make him succeed.”
Trump offered a tepid endorsement of Cuomo on Monday night in a Hail Mary attempt to slow Mamdani’s momentum, but none of his attacks swayed New York City voters, who turned out in record numbers to cast their votes for the fast-rising Democratic star.
Trump has insisted on branding Mamdani—a democratic socialist—as a “communist” in a line of attack that is echoed throughout MAGAworld.
“The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate,” Mamdani hit back in his speech. “I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a Democratic Socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.”
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