Trump says he'd 'rather have a Democrat than a Communist' as NYC mayoral race nears finish

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: With New York City’s mayoral race heading into its final stretch, President Donald Trump is not exactly thrilled with the direction things are going. 

Speaking to reporters during a White House press gaggle on Tuesday, October 21, Trump sounded the alarm over what he called a potential “communist” takeover of New York City.

Donald Trump laments about New York

“Well, I looked at the polls, and it looks like we're going to have a communist as the mayor of New York,” he said. “It'll be very interesting. But here's the good news. He's got to go through the White House; everything goes through the White House. At least this White House, it does.”

While he stopped short of endorsing anyone, Trump wasn’t too optimistic about how things were shaping up. When asked if he’d tell Republican hopeful Curtis Sliwa to bow out, Trump hinted that even if Sliwa stepped aside, things wouldn’t necessarily get rosier for ex-Gov Andrew Cuomo.

“If he [Sliwa] dropped out, he's not going to win. And not looking too good for Cuomo either,” Trump said. “Maybe if he dropped out, Cuomo would have a little bit of a chance. But not much. Because it looks like the lead is—it’s not a great lead, but it’s big enough that he should be able to win.” 

Pressed by reporters on whether he’d actually meet with Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old Democratic Socialist who’s now leading in the polls, Trump said yes. “Yeah, I’ll speak to him,” Trump said. “I think I have an obligation to speak to him.”

But Trump couldn’t hide his frustration over what he sees as New York’s downward spiral.

“I love New York. I've always loved New York. I just can't believe a thing like this is happening,” he said, recalling his own departure from the Empire State. “I left New York, and we had a mayor, [Bill] de Blasio, who was a disaster… New York was a hot city. And now it’s — it's sad to see what's happening, frankly.”

“With the communist in charge… look, you just go back a thousand years. I mean, it's been done many times, a thousand years. It's never worked once. So it's not going to work now," he added.

Donald Trump threatens to freeze funds, send troops 

If Mamdani does take City Hall, Trump is ready to play hardball. Earlier this month, he hinted he might freeze federal funding and even send in the National Guard to clean up crime like he has in some other major cities.

“We have a Communist, 33 years old, doesn't know a thing, probably never worked a day in his life, and he sort of caught on,” Trump said at the White House. “I'm not going to send a lot of money to New York. We're not going to ruin one of our great cities, because we'll make that great. We will clean up the crime in about 30 days.”

“It took 12 days to do Washington, DC, so New York is bigger, and Chicago, we've already made a lot of progress despite fighting from the government,” he continued. “All of these cities, we want to clean them up. We don't like that opposition. But if somebody is going to be a communist mayor of New York. It's a fluke if he gets in.” 

Zohran Mamdani's progressive platform

Mamdani is an Assemblyman from Queens and a proud card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He has been running an unapologetically leftist campaign.

He’s pushed for legalizing prostitution, taxing the wealthy, and cutting deals with progressives across the country. He has already bagged endorsements from far-left Democrats, Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and Sen Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

A day after Eric Adams dropped out of the mayoral race, Trump called Mamdani “one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican party" while mocking the latter's progressive politics.

That said, with just two weeks until Election Day on November 4, New Yorkers might be staring down one of the most ideologically charged races in decades.