President Donald Trump dialed back his earlier threats to cut off federal funding to New York City, striking an unexpectedly softer note after Zohran Mamdani’s landslide victory in the city’s mayoral race.
Speaking at an economic conference in Miami, Trump offered what sounded like a reluctant olive branch to his hometown — though not without a few sharp jabs at the city’s newly elected Democratic Socialist leader.
“The communist, Marxist socialists and globalists had their chance, and they delivered nothing but disaster. And now let’s see how a communist does in New York,” Trump said, his tone somewhere between mocking and measured.
He added, “We’re going to see how that works out. And we’ll help him. We’ll help him. We want New York to be successful. We’ll help him a little bit, maybe.”
Just minutes before that moment of semi-generosity, Trump had unloaded on Mamdani — and by extension, the Democratic Party — from the same Miami stage.
“If you want to see what Congressional Democrats wish to do to America, just look at the results of yesterday’s election in New York — where their party installed a communist as the mayor of the largest city in the nation,” Trump told the audience at the American Business Forum. “Remember, I said we will never have a socialist elected to any post in our country? I used to say that … we skipped socialists, we put in the communists instead.”
He wasn’t done. “Take a look at what’s happening in different parts of the world – but now the Democrats are so extreme that Miami will soon be the refuge for those fleeing communism in New York City,” he continued, drawing laughs and applause from the crowd.
Trump’s remarks marked his first substantial reaction to the stunning outcome in New York, where Mamdani — a progressive state assemblyman and self-identified socialist — defeated Republican Curtis Sliwa and independent candidate Andrew Cuomo. Trump had endorsed Cuomo just one day before the polls closed, calling him “the only adult left in New York politics.”
Before the election, Trump warned he might cut federal support for the city “other than the very minimum as required” if Mamdani won. His remarks in Miami marked a clear step back from that threat, though he left little doubt about his skepticism toward Mamdani’s leadership.
Watch the clip below:
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "And now let's see how a communist does in New York… We'll help him, we want New York to be successful. We'll help him — a little bit, maybe." pic.twitter.com/qS1EYDsmG5
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 5, 2025
