US Republican president slams Zohran Mamdani as a ‘communist’, says Andrew Cuomo has a ‘good shot of successful’.
Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has backed former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resolution to run as an impartial within the New York Metropolis mayoral race, renewing his assault towards Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
Requested about Cuomo’s resolution to remain within the contest after shedding the Democratic major to Mamdani, Trump stated on Tuesday that the previous governor can nonetheless win within the basic election in November.
“I feel he ought to keep. I feel he has a shot,” Trump advised reporters.
The previous governor, 67, introduced on Monday his intention to run as an impartial after handily shedding the Democratic contest to Mamdani final month.
However Cuomo has a mountain to climb within the overwhelmingly Democratic metropolis, particularly on condition that he will probably be competing for the anti-Mamdani vote with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who can also be working as an impartial, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
In an early signal of the challenges he’s dealing with, Cuomo’s announcement on X acquired a flood of damaging responses, with many citing his sexual harassment scandals.
Cuomo resigned as New York governor in 2021 after dealing with mounting sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied.
On Tuesday, Trump, a local New Yorker who moved to Florida after his first time period as president in 2021, stopped wanting totally endorsing Cuomo.
Requested whether or not he prefers Cuomo to win, Trump stated: “I don’t need to say. I’m a Republican; he’s a democrat or an impartial.”
“I feel Andrew would have shot of successful. He’s bought to run a tricky marketing campaign. You understand, he’s working towards a communist,” he added, referring to Mamdani.
The US president has been more and more important of Mamdani, 33, a left-wing state legislator who has made affordability the important thing element of his marketing campaign.
Accusing Democrats of being communists or communist sympathisers is a frequent, deceptive assault line by some Republicans. Analysts have advised Al Jazeera that Mamdani’s platform doesn’t comprise the important thing tenets of communism, resembling authorities takeover of trade and personal property.
Final week, Trump recommended that he might use the “super energy” of the White Home to take over New York Metropolis if Mamdani wins.
“As President of the US, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York,” Trump wrote in a social media put up earlier this month.
“Relaxation assured, I maintain all of the levers, and have all of the playing cards. I’ll save New York Metropolis, and make it ‘Sizzling’ and ‘Nice’ once more, identical to I did with the Good Ol’ USA!”
Most of the president’s shut allies, together with a number of members of Congress, have deployed overtly Islamophobic language to assault Mamadani, who’s of South Asian descent.
Final month, the White Home stated that baseless allegations that Mamdani has supported “terrorism” up to now “must be investigated”, with the intent of revoking his US citizenship.
Some shut Trump allies, together with billionaire Invoice Ackman, backed Cuomo through the primaries.
The race to guide the most important US metropolis has been capturing nationwide and worldwide headlines, partly as a result of assaults on Mamdani over his help for Palestinian rights.
On Tuesday, Mamdani’s marketing campaign sarcastically congratulated Cuomo on successful Trump’s backing.
“Clearly, this triumph speaks for itself. The query now’s whether or not Cuomo will embrace Trump’s help publicly or proceed to simply settle for it in personal,” the marketing campaign stated in an announcement.