 "'He should be nice to Washington': Trump reacts to Mamdani's victory speech")
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) responded to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s fiery victory speech, calling it “very angry” and warning the newly elected leader to be “a little bit respectful of Washington.”
Trump’s remarks came during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, where he was asked about Mamdani’s speech in which the Democratic Socialist had directly taunted him following his historic win.
“It’s a very dangerous statement to make, actually,” Trump said. “He has to be a little bit respectful of Washington because if he is not, he doesn’t have a chance of succeeding. And I want the city to succeed, so we’ll see what happens.”
When asked whether he planned to reach out to Mamdani, Trump replied, “I would say he should reach out to us. That would be more appropriate.”
What did Mamdani say about Trump?
Zohran Mamdani, 34, the Democratic Socialist who won the New York City mayoral race by defeating Trump-backed rivals Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa.
Addressing supporters after his win, Mamdani said the result demonstrated how to “defeat Trump” and vowed that New York would be “light in this moment of political darkness".
Speaking directly to the US President, Mamdani said: “To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us. So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up!”
During the campaign, Trump had warned he would block federal funds and place the city under federal control if Mamdani won. He also labelled Mamdani a “100 per cent communist lunatic”, calling his success a “dangerous shift” for the Democratic Party.
Communism has never worked: Trump
Speaking on Fox News, Trump reiterated his criticism of communist ideology. “Look, for a thousand years, communism has not worked,” he said. “It’s just communism, or the concept of communism, has not worked. I tend to doubt it’s going to work this time. It’s literally never worked.”
Earlier in the day, Trump addressed the America Business Forum in Miami, Florida, where he again called Mamdani a communist.
“On November 5, 2024, the American people reclaimed our government. We restored our sovereignty. We lost a little bit of sovereignty last night in New York, but we’ll take care of it — don’t worry about it,” he told the audience.
Trump accused Democrats of “installing a communist” to lead America’s largest city but added that he still wanted New York to succeed.
“But the communists, Marxists, socialists and globalists had their chance, and they delivered nothing but disaster. Now let’s see how a communist does in New York,” he said. “We’re going to see how that works out.”
Trump blames government shutdown for Republican losses
Trump also attributed recent Republican electoral setbacks to the ongoing government shutdown, which has now stretched into its fifth week.
“They [Democrats] always extend the deadline in past shutdowns,” Trump said. “You know, an extension is very easy — it’s done all the time. They’ve just become radicalised lunatics, actually, in a true sense. They should automatically extend, and we will make a deal as soon as they do.”
Trump said while he was not surprised by the election results of the Virginia and New York races, he expected New Jersey to do a "little better".
"I thought New Jersey would do a little bit better than that," Trump said. "The Cuomo situation, it's just, he had too many things against him. He had a lot of things against them. Curtis Sliwa tried very hard, but, you know, he's been there before. So, it was a pretty open shot that Mamdani had."
(with inputs from agencies)