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President Donald Trump says he was shocked by the key endorsement New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani landed this weekend.
Hours after Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York backed Mamdani, Trump took to social media early Monday to give the endorsement a big thumbs down. And the president suggested that federal funding for the nation’s most populous city could be in jeopardy.
“Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has Endorsed the ‘”Liddle” Communist,’ Zohran Mamdani, running for Mayor of New York. This is a rather shocking development, and a very bad one for New York City,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist state lawmaker from the New York City borough of Queens, rocked the political world in June with his convincing win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates to capture the Democratic Party’s mayoral nomination in the nation’s most populous city.
TRUMP REVEALS NEW NICKNAME FOR MAMDANI
New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani spoke to supporters at a canvass launch event in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)
Following Mamdani’s primary victory, Trump immediately criticized him as a “100% Communist Lunatic.”
The president has continued to repeatedly deride Mamdani as a communist in the ensuing months, while warning that New York City would become “a communist city” if Mamdani wins November’s mayoral election.
“I call him my little communist. He’s my little communist mayor,” Trump said of Mamdani during an extended studio interview Friday on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.”
Trump, in his social media post, also hinted at restricting federal funding for New York City if Mamdani wins November’s mayoral election.
“How can such a thing happen? Washington will be watching this situation very closely. No reason to be sending good money after bad!” the president said.
