President Donald J. Trump on Friday reportedly derided Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s upstart Democratic mayoral hopeful, labeling him “my little communist” while framing Mamdani’s surprising rise as a rebuke of the city’s political establishment.
Appearing on Fox & Friends, Mr. Trump was asked by co-host Ainsley Earhardt about the Queens politician’s momentum in the race.
The president responded with a mixture of humor and alarm, casting Mamdani’s candidacy as emblematic of both Democratic mismanagement and voter frustration.
“It’s amazing,” Mr. Trump said with a laugh. “I call him ‘my little communist’ — he’s my little communist mayor! But, you know, he has to come to Washington for money, a lot of money, and it is amazing, I was so surprised by this.”
Mr. Trump then shifted his criticism to Mamdani’s competitors in the Democratic primary, suggesting their weakness has created an opening for a far-left figure to gain traction.
“Even the other two candidates, you look at the candidates, maybe one-on-one somebody could beat him and I’m not looking at the polls too carefully, but it would look like he is going to win and that is a rebellion,” he said. “It is a rebellion against bad candidates, OK? They’re tired of it.”
To Mr. Trump, Mamdani’s rise is less an endorsement of his democratic socialist platform than a symptom of deep discontent among voters long taken for granted by city Democrats. “They are seeing things happening, we have taxes being put on us in New York by Democrats that are so bad that even Democrats are revolting,” the president said. “It is not possible for a Democrat to lose. The presidential election, I did great in New York, I did great considering — I did great. There are a lot of questions on booths and votes.”
Mr. Trump returned to his sharpest line of attack on Mamdani, warning against normalizing far-left ideology. “But we should never be in a position where we’re talking about a communist,” he said.
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist who built his career in Queens, has unnerved mainstream Democrats with his unexpected primary win and unapologetically progressive campaign platform.
His insurgent candidacy has exposed rifts within the party and raised questions about whether New York’s political machine can contain its left flank.
Yet Mr. Trump’s comments underscored how conservatives view Mamdani’s rise: not simply as an internal Democratic struggle but as evidence of how far left the party’s base has moved, even in America’s largest city.
For Mr. Trump, the issue is not just Mamdani’s ideology but what it signals about the failure of New York Democrats to manage taxes, crime, and basic services. “They’re tired of it,” he said.
Framing the race as part of a broader revolt against ineffective governance, the president insisted that Mamdani’s ascent is a warning sign.
For conservatives, it is further proof that a city long dominated by one party has drifted so far left that voters are left choosing between “bad candidates” and one Mr. Trump dismisses outright as “my little communist.”
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