‘Trump's worst nightmare': Mamdani targets the president in his general election bid
Trump has questioned Mamdani's citizenship, vowed to arrest him if he interferes with federal agents' crackdown on illegal immigration and threatened to cut federal funding to New York City if Mamdani doesn't 'do the right thing.'
'Comrade Mamdani is the American people's worst nightmare,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Monday, charging that the Democratic nominee's policies will tank the economy, increase crime and favor undocumented immigrants over American citizens. 'The American people have repeatedly rejected this Communist agenda and the more Mamdani shares his radical policies, the more the American people will recoil.'
Mamdani identifies as a democratic socialist and has said he is not a communist. And Communist Party leaders don't count him as a member.
Cuomo, making another bid for mayor after losing by nearly 13 points in the June Democratic primary, has argued that Trump would step all over Mamdani. Cuomo said he already stood up to Trump as governor during the Covid pandemic.
'Trump will flatten him like a pancake,' Cuomo posted on X. 'In 2020, Trump sent the National Guard into other states. Not New York. There's only one person in this race who can stand up to Trump: the one who already has, successfully and effectively.'
(Cuomo used another food simile in a June primary debate, saying Trump would cut into Mamdani 'like a hot knife through butter.')
Adams, the incumbent mayor, has said he is not beholden to anyone, including the president. He has insisted that he seeks a working relationship with Trump for the benefit of the city.
And Sliwa, the longshot Republican making a repeat bid for mayor, has no direct relationship with Trump at all. In fact, the GOP nominee has encouraged Trump to stay out of the race for mayor.
Mamdani said Monday he's open to dialogue with Trump if it benefits New Yorkers and that as mayor he would combat the president's agenda by staffing up city agencies, including the Law Department, and investing in legal representation for immigrants subject to deportation proceedings.
'Much of that fight back, that has to be delivered forcefully, rhetorically, through conversations, both public and private,' Mamdani said. 'But there's also the act of governance that is its own fight back, a governance that is actually characterized by competence and by compassion.'
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