Trump ramps up his attacks against NYC's Zohran Mamdani as GOP seizes on
new foe
[July 03, 2025]
By JILL COLVIN and ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has a new political foil: New
York’s Democratic nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
The president, who has a history of spewing sometimes vile insults at
rivals, has in recent days escalated his attacks against the 33-year-old
self-described democratic socialist. Trump has threatened to arrest
Mamdani, to deport him and even to take over the country's largest city
if he wins the general election in November.
“As President of the United States, I’m not going to let this Communist
Lunatic destroy New York. Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have
all the cards,” Trump wrote in an ominous message on his Truth Social
site Wednesday morning. “I’ll save New York City, and make it ′Hot′ and
′Great′ again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!”
Mamdani’s surprise victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has
given Republicans a new target as they seek to paint the entire
Democratic Party as extreme and out of touch with voters heading into
elections this fall in New Jersey and Virginia and next year’s
high-stakes midterm elections. Since Mamdani's win, they have repeatedly
highlighted his most controversial past comments and positions, casting
him as dangerous, a communist, and an antisemite, and trying to tie him
to all other Democratic officials.
That has included intense criticism of his platform, as well as
blatantly xenophobic and Islamophobic attacks.
If Mamdani wins, he would become the city’s furthest-left mayor in
modern history. He ran on a platform that included opening city-run
grocery stores, making buses free, freezing rent on rent-stabilized
apartments, and raising property taxes on “ richer and whiter
neighborhoods.”
Though he softened his stance as he campaigned, he called the New York
Police Department “racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public
safety” in a 2020 social media post, and in others, called for
abolishing the entire prison system.
He has also drawn intense criticism from members of both parties over
his pro-Palestinian advocacy. That has included describing Israel’s war
in Gaza as “genocide,” his refusal to disavow use of the phrase
“globalize the intifada,” which is seen as a call to violence for many
Jews. Also, for his refusal to support the right of Israel to exist as a
Jewish state.
His rise has sparked infighting and highlighted divisions among national
Democratic officials, donors and political operatives. While many
progressives have celebrated, seeing him as the future of a party
aligned with leaders like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, moderates have bemoaned the election's outcome
as a setback in their quest to broaden Democrats’ appeal and move past
the more controversial policies that appears to have alienated some
voters in recent elections.
Trump threatens Mamdani's citizenship
Trump unleashed some of his sharpest threats against Mamdani Tuesday,
during a visit to a new migrant detention center in the Florida
Everglades.
If Mamdani blocks ICE agents from making arrests in the city, “Well,
then we’ll have to arrest him,” he said. “Look, we don’t need a
communist in this country. But if we have one, I’m going to be watching
over him very carefully on behalf of the nation.”
Trump also amplified a false allegation that Mamdani, who was born in
Uganda to Indian parents and came to New York when he was 7, is in the
country illegally.
“A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally. We’re going to look at
everything,” he said.
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President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable at "Alligator
Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training
and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP
Photo/Evan Vucci)
Mamdani, who is Muslim, became a naturalized American citizen a few
years after he graduated from college. If elected, he would be the
city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor.
Mamdani addressed the criticism during an appearance Wednesday,
telling reporters that Trump is focusing on him to distract the
public from the Republican mega tax and spending cuts bill that is
moving through Congress.
“Donald Trump said that I should be arrested. He said that I should
be deported. He said that I should be denaturalized. And he said
those things about me ... because he wants to distract from what I
fight for,” he said. “I fight for the same people that he said he
was fighting for. This is the same president who ran on a campaign
of cheaper groceries, who ran on a campaign about easing the
suffocating cost of living crisis. And ultimately, it is easier for
him to fan the flames of division than to acknowledge the ways in
which he has betrayed those working-class Americans.”
Conservatives have turned their focus on Mamdani
Until Mamdani's win, Trump and other Republicans had struggled to
find a compelling foil. He frequently invokes his predecessor, Joe
Biden. But with Democrats out of power and without a clear party
leader, Trump has bounced from one official to the next, recently
focusing his ire on Texas progressive Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Since Mamdani’s national rise and toppling of Cuomo, conservative
politicians and commentators have turned their focus on him.
That effort was on display Wednesday, when Republicans blasted House
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries for defending Mamdani.
“Leader’ Jeffries Just Bent the Knee to Commie Mamdani,” the
National Republican Congressional Committee wrote in an email blast,
adding: “This radical platform is the future of the Democrat Party,
and voters should be terrified.”
The attacks have been brewing.
Weeks before the primary, Vickie Paladino, a Republican member of
the New York City Council, called for Mamdani to be deported. After
Mamdani declared victory over Cuomo last week, Rep. Randy Fine, a
Florida Republican, wrote on X that “If Mamdani has his way, NYC
classrooms won’t be teaching the Constitution in civics class.
They’ll be teaching Sharia Law.”
Another Republican congressman, Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas,
circulated a video of Mamdani eating a rice dish with his hands on X
and wrote, “Civilized people in America don’t eat like this. If you
refuse to adopt Western customs, go back to the Third World.”
Republican Rep. Andy Ogles, of Tennessee, has referred to Mamdani as
“little muhammad” and late last month wrote a letter to U.S.
Attorney General Pam Bondi calling for the Justice Department to
investigate whether Mamdani should be denaturalized as a citizen.
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