‘We have tremendous power’: Trump threatens federal takeover of New York City if Zohran Mamdani wins

Published 2 days ago• 3 minute read

S President Donald Trump on Tuesday (July 8) threatened federal intervention in New York City’s governance if Zohran Mamdani, a progressive state assemblyman and Democratic mayoral candidate, is elected.

Trump labeled Mamdani a “communist” and said such a result would not be tolerated under his watch.

“If a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting, in comments reported by The Post. “But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places where we have to.”

“New York City will run properly,” he added. “I’m going to bring New York back. I love New York.”

Trump declined to name a preferred candidate in the city’s upcoming mayoral election, saying, “I’m not getting involved,” but used the moment to slam Mamdani.

Trump made clear he was considering using executive authority to intervene directly in city governance.

“Maybe we’re going to have to straighten it out from Washington,” Trump said. “We’re going to do something for New York. I can’t tell you what yet, but we’re going to make New York great again. Also, we’re going to make it great again with the country.”

In a continuation of the theme, Trump also floated the possibility of taking over administration of Washington, D.C., citing concerns over crime and mismanagement.

“We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,” Trump said. “We could run D.C. We're looking at D.C. We don't want crime in D.C. We want the city to run well.”

He elaborated: "I mean, in the sense that we would we would run it so good, it would be run so proper, we'd get the best person to run it. And we know the crime would be down to a minimum, would be much less," the president continued. "And, you know, we're thinking about doing it, to be honest with you. We want a capital that's run flawlessly, and it wouldn't be hard for us to do it. And we've had a good relationship with the mayor and we're testing it to see if it works."

While Trump did not outline legal steps for such a takeover, his comments are likely to stir strong reactions, given the traditionally autonomous nature of municipal governance in both New York City and Washington, D.C.

Mamdani has not yet publicly responded to Trump’s remarks.

Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist and current New York State Assembly member, has officially won the Democratic primary in the race for New York City mayor, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Mamdani now advances to the November general election, where he will face a diverse slate of challengers:

Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent after exiting the Democratic primary amid a bribery investigation that was later dismissed.

Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and frequent conservative media personality.

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