US Republican president slams Zohran Mamdani as a ‘communist’, says Andrew Cuomo has a ‘good shot of profitable’.
Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has backed former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s choice to run as an unbiased within the New York Metropolis mayoral race, renewing his assault towards Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
Requested about Cuomo’s choice to remain within the contest after dropping the Democratic main to Mamdani, Trump stated on Tuesday that the previous governor can nonetheless win within the common election in November.
“I believe he ought to keep. I believe he has a shot,” Trump instructed reporters.
The previous governor, 67, announced on Monday his intention to run as an unbiased after handily dropping the Democratic contest to Mamdani final month.
However Cuomo has a mountain to climb within the overwhelmingly Democratic metropolis, particularly on condition that he shall be competing for the anti-Mamdani vote with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who can be working as an unbiased, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
In an early signal of the challenges he’s going through, Cuomo’s announcement on X obtained a flood of unfavorable responses, with many citing his sexual harassment scandals.
Cuomo resigned as New York governor in 2021 after going through 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 in need of totally endorsing Cuomo.
Requested whether or not he prefers Cuomo to win, Trump stated: “I don’t wish to say. I’m a Republican; he’s a democrat or an unbiased.”
“I believe Andrew would have a very good shot of profitable. He’s obtained to run a tricky marketing campaign. You recognize, he’s working towards a communist,” he added, referring to Mamdani.
The US president has been more and more vital of Mamdani, 33, a left-wing state legislator who has made affordability the important thing part of his marketing campaign.
Accusing Democrats of being communists or communist sympathisers is a frequent, deceptive assault line by some Republicans. Analysts have told Al Jazeera that Mamdani’s platform doesn’t comprise the important thing tenets of communism, corresponding to authorities takeover of trade and personal property.
Final week, Trump prompt that he may use the “great energy” of the White Home to take over New York Metropolis if Mamdani wins.
“As President of the USA, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York,” Trump wrote in a social media publish 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!”
Lots 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 “ought to 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 biggest US metropolis has been capturing nationwide and worldwide headlines, partially because of the assaults on Mamdani over his assist for Palestinian rights.
On Tuesday, Mamdani’s marketing campaign sarcastically congratulated Cuomo on profitable Trump’s backing.
“Clearly, this triumph speaks for itself. The query now’s whether or not Cuomo will embrace Trump’s assist publicly or proceed to simply settle for it in personal,” the marketing campaign stated in an announcement.