The political feud between US President Donald Trump and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani escalated sharply on Wednesday, with Mamdani accusing Trump of targeting him out of desperation and using him as a distraction from policies that harm working-class Americans.
Addressing the media, Mamdani — a Democratic Socialist and potential history-making candidate as the first Muslim, South Asian, and immigrant mayor of New York City in generations — pushed back strongly against Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric.
“Yesterday, Donald Trump said that I should be arrested, that I should be deported, that I should be de-naturalised, and he said those things about me, someone who stands to be the first immigrant mayor of this city in generations, someone who would also be the first Muslim and the first South Asian mayor in the city’s history,” Mamdani said.
Zohran Mamdani said Trump’s words revealed not just personal animosity but also an attempt to shift the public’s attention away from substantive issues.
“…Less so because of who I am, because of where I come from, because of how I look or how I speak, and more so because he wants to distract from what I fight for,” he said.
Zohran Mamdani Accuses Trump of Betraying Working-Class Americans
Zohran Mamdani claimed that Trump’s policies have systematically betrayed the very Americans he once promised to uplift.
“I fight for working people. I fight for the very people that have been priced out of this city, and I fight for the same people that he said he was fighting for,” he said.
>“This is the same President who ran on a campaign of cheaper groceries, who ran on a campaign about easing a suffocating cost of living crisis, and ultimately, it is easier for him to fan the flames of division than to acknowledge how he has betrayed those working-class Americans, not just in the city, but across this country.”
He also accused Trump of using legislative power to undermine basic social protections.
“And how he continues to betray them, because we know that he would rather speak about me than speak about the legislation that he is shepherding through Washington, DC, legislation that will quite literally take healthcare away from Americans, legislation that will steal food from the hungry, legislation that looks to build upon one of the largest transfers of wealth we’ve seen in recent history in his first administration, and do it once again for the very Americans who already have enough,” he added.
Trump Threatens Action Against Mamdani
In recent days, Trump has intensified his attacks, calling Mamdani a “Communist Lunatic” and threatening to intervene in New York City’s affairs if he wins.
“As President of the United States, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York. Rest assured, I hold all the levers and have all the cards,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. I’ll save New York City, and make it ‘Hot’ and ‘Great’ again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!” he added.
Mamdani expressed concern not just for himself but for other immigrants.
“And ultimately what I feel for is that if this is what Donald Trump and his administration feel comfortable about saying, about the Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City, imagine what they feel comfortable saying and doing about immigrants whose names they don’t even know,” he said.
He thanked his supporters, including the state governor and labor movement leaders, for their support during the controversy.