President Donald Trump is supposedly making threats against the New York City mayoral frontrunner, Zohran Mamdani.
Trump in an interview on Sunday doubled down on his assertion that Mamdani is a communist and said the Democratic primary winner must “do the right thing” if he’s elected mayor of NYC or else he’ll withhold federal funding.
“I can’t imagine it, but let’s say this, if he does get in I’m going to be president and he is going to have to do the right thing, but they’re not getting any money. He’s got to do the right thing,” Trump said on Fox News‘ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“Whoever’s mayor of New York is going to have to behave themselves or the federal government is coming down very tough on them financially.”
READ: Zohran Mamdani’s victory represents a seismic shift in Democratic politics (June 25, 2025)
Mamdani is a 33-year-old democratic socialist and New York State Assembly member, who made history by winning the 2025 Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Born in Uganda to Indian parents, Mamdani moved to Queens at age seven and later studied Africana Studies at Bowdoin College. His campaign, backed by more than 20,000 volunteers and a surge of small-dollar donations, defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo by about seven points, with strong support from young, diverse voters in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan.
Mamdani is now the first Muslim and Indian-American nominee for NYC mayor, with a platform sharply focused on housing, transit, and income inequality.
His progressive agenda includes free buses, a $30 minimum wage by 2030, universal childcare, a city-owned grocery system, and a $65 million investment in gender-affirming healthcare. He also supports reducing NYPD funding and shifting public safety duties to civilian agencies.
READ: Zohran Mamdani set to defeat Cuomo in Democratic primary for New York City mayor(June 25, 2025)
While Mamdani’s views on Israel and class-based racial politics have drawn criticism from moderates and pro-Israel groups, they have galvanized a new coalition of left-leaning New Yorkers. As he heads into the general election against Republican Curtis Sliwa, independent Jim Walden, and incumbent Eric Adams (running outside the primary), Mamdani’s campaign is testing the boundaries of progressive politics in America’s largest city.
On Sunday, Mamdani said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that he’s “had to start to get used to the fact that the president will talk about how I look, how I sound, where I’m from, who I am, ultimately, because he wants to distract from what I’m fighting for.”
He added, “I’m fighting for the very working people that he ran a campaign to empower, that he has since then betrayed. And when we talk about my politics, I call myself a democrat socialist in many ways inspired by the words of Dr. King from decades ago who said, ‘Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism. There has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country.’ And as income inequality has declined nationwide, it has increased in New York City. And, ultimately, what we need is a city where every single person can thrive.”