Trump Rips Mamdani Victory Speech as ‘Very Angry,’ ‘Dangerous’
President Donald Trump didn’t mince words Wednesday night when reacting to Zohran Mamdani’s fiery victory speech, calling the New York City mayor-elect’s remarks “very angry” and “dangerous,” while warning him to show more respect toward Washington.
In a sit-down with Fox News host Bret Baier, Trump said Mamdani’s combative tone set the wrong precedent for someone about to lead America’s largest city. “I thought it was a very angry speech, certainly angry toward me,” Trump said. “I think he should be very nice to me, you know? I’m the one that sort of has to approve a lot of things coming to him, so he’s off to a bad start.”
Mamdani, 34, is a self-declared democratic socialist who took repeated shots at Trump throughout his campaign and doubled down on election night. “To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us,” Mamdani said to cheers from his supporters.
Trump, however, dismissed the bravado as reckless. “That’s a very dangerous statement for him to make,” he said. “He has to be a little bit respectful of Washington, because if he’s not, he doesn’t have a chance of succeeding.”
The president also took issue with Mamdani’s policy vision, which includes rent freezes, taxpayer-funded bus fares, and city-run grocery stores. “Look, for a thousand years, communism has not worked,” Trump said. “I tend to doubt it’s going to work this time.”
Still, Trump said his criticism wasn’t personal—his concern was for the future of the city. “I would like to see the new mayor do well because I love New York,” Trump said. “I really love New York. I want to make the city succeed. I don’t want to make him succeed. I want to make the city succeed, and we’ll see what happens.”
In the final stretch of the mayoral race, Trump threw his support behind former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the primary. Despite Trump’s endorsement, Cuomo finished a distant second to Mamdani, while Republican Curtis Sliwa trailed in third.
Mamdani began assembling his administration on Wednesday, tapping several prominent progressive figures for his transition team, including former de Blasio aide Elana Leopold, ex-FTC Chair Lina Khan, former housing chief Maria Torres-Springer, and public health official Melanie Hartzog.
As Mamdani prepares to take office, his rocky relationship with Washington appears to be off to a tense start—and President Trump made it clear that the mayor-elect may find few favors from the federal government if he continues on this path.