President Donald Trump reiterated his threat Tuesday that New York City Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani would not get federal funds if elected next month.
In remarks carried live on Newsmax, Trump compared his administration's support of New York City to that of Argentina, where U.S. aid is contingent on the country adopting favorable policies.
"It's a little like New York. We have a problem, we have a communist who's 33 years old, he doesn't know a damn thing, he's never worked a day in his life. And he's sort of caught on. I'm not going to send a lot of money to New York. I don't have to," the president said.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old Muslim born in Uganda, defeated the establishment candidate Andrew Cuomo in the spring primary in what some observers see as a battle for the soul of the modern Democratic Party.
Mamdani will now face Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the general election in November. Current Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the race last month.
"The money comes all through the White House and if they're going to be sending us stupid policies, communist policies, which is proven for thousands of years doesn't work. We don't have to prove it again. We're not going to ruin one of our great cities. We will make that great, we will clean up the crime in about 30 days. It took 12 days to do Washington, D.C., so New York is bigger," Trump added.
Mamdani has rejected the communist label from his critics and refers to himself as a "democratic socialist," proposing free bus rides, a $30 minimum wage, and city-owned grocery stores.
Trump made similar threats to pull funds from the city last month, to which Mamdani mocked the president saying, "I think that Donald Trump is going through the stages of grief. He began with denial, where he said that there was no way we could win this race and that he would use every tool at his disposal to ensure that that was the case."
The latest poll out of Quinnipiac University taken last week shows Mamdani leading the three-man race with 46% of the vote, with Cuomo trailing by double digits at 33%.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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