12-08-2025
‘Trump's worst nightmare': Mamdani targets the president in his general election bid
NEW YORK — Affordability was at the center of Zohran Mamdani's winning primary campaign for New York City mayor. President Donald Trump has become the focus of his general election bid.
The Democratic nominee launched a five-borough tour 'against Trump' on Monday to amplify how he believes the president will harm New York City — and why Mamdani thinks he should be elected to lead the vanguard.
He's also tying opponents Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa closely to Trump, adopting a classic Democratic general election playbook by casting two fellow Democrats and the GOP nominee as the president's favored picks.
Mamdani's recalibration comes as Trump announced he's activating the National Guard to respond to crime in Washington, listing New York and Chicago among the cities that could be next in line. It also follows a New York Times story about how Trump has talked with Cuomo as the president considers involving himself in the election. Cuomo has denied discussing the race with Trump.
'We see far too many parallels between Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo, far too many stories that make clear that both administrations have been characterized by corruption, by a sense of impunity,' Mamdani told reporters Monday at the offices of influential labor union 1199SEIU, which endorsed Cuomo in the primary but is backing Mamdani in the general election.
The young state assemblymember who stunned the Democratic establishment by defeating Cuomo in June — despite the former governor's universal name recognition and a $25 million PAC in his corner — now faces the task of winning the November election by a hefty enough margin to bolster his mandate. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is still seeking the endorsements of party leaders, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
But with or without them, he's going after Trump — and anyone he argues would be used by Trump against New Yorkers.
He noted Monday that Cuomo conversed with Trump, Adams' criminal fraud case was dropped at the urging of the White House, and that Sliwa shares a political party with the president.
'My administration will be Donald Trump's worst nightmare,' Mamdani declared last week, arguing his policies will lift up the same working-class voters the president has left behind with cuts to health care and food benefits.
Mamdani had help Monday from Rep. Jerry Nadler, a manager during Trump's first impeachment trial. While battleground Democrats worry that Mamdani's socialist views will be a liability next year as the party looks to win back the House, Nadler said Mamdani can prove otherwise by triumphing over Trump.
'Every seat matters, every race matters, and who is mayor of New York is crucial,' Nadler said. 'New York City needs a leader who won't give Trump an inch, who won't flinch or bargain away our rights.'
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.'
A version of this story first appeared in Monday's New York Playbook PM. Subscribe here.
