President Donald Trump has continued to slight Mayor Zohran Mamdani and socialism after a mayor-endorsed sweep took over Tuesday’s New York primaries.
The president has referred to the democratic socialists Mamdani endorsed as “communists” and said that their policies won’t work.
Here’s what to know.
On Tuesday night, three Mamdani-backed candidates, two of whom are DSA members, snagged big victories in congressional primaries for the state. Darializa Avila Chevalier, alongside Claire Valdez and Brad Lander, all defeated establishment Democrats.
Trump, who has called Mamdani a communist multiple times before, first wrote on Truth Social around 2:30 a.m. after the sweep, “America the Beautiful will NEVER be a Communist Country!!!”
The next morning, the president posted about the mayor and the candidates directly, writing “Mayor Mamdani pulled through 3 solid Communists, and has received loud and universal applause from the Fake News Media.”
“Congratulations Mr. Mayor! I went 16-0 last night, helping to elect wonderful American Patriots, and the Media doesn’t say a word.”
During a press conference on Wednesday, Trump was also asked about the candidates.
“They’re going radical left,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “I watched that woman last night. That’s not a socialist. I know socialists. That woman is a communist.” It wasn’t immediately clear to which candidate Trump was referencing.
He then said that if a democratic socialist were to be a presidential nominee, it could make it easier for Republicans.
“If you look throughout history, go back thousands of years, you’ve always had socialism and communism by different names,” the president said. “It’s never ever worked.”
During the same press conference, however, Trump called Mamdani a “very nice guy.”
“He’s a charming guy, good looking guy, we talk.”
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by USA TODAY Network.
Earlier this month, Trump said that Mamdani was pushing companies out of the city, and that if it continued, would “end up in hunger or squalor.”
“I don’t understand why he thinks it’s OK for all these companies that pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes a year to leave,” Trump said to reporters.
“Because you’re not going to have any tax base, and you’re going to end up in hunger and squalor and death and destruction.”
This isn’t a new gripe the president has with the mayor. He has publicly disagreed with Mamdani’s new pied-à-terre tax proposal, which targets wealthier residents.
Despite Trump’s comments, the two have had their disagreements, but their in-person meetings have typically gone well despite ideological and political differences.
“It was a productive meeting focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City and the need to deliver affordability to New Yorkers,” Mamdani said in the White House after their first face-to-face talk.
“He wants to see no crime. He wants to see housing being built. He wants to see rents coming down, all things that I agree with,” Trump continued after the meeting.
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