Trump Tries to Convince New York That He’ll Do Some Extra Retribution If It Elects Mamdani
This is your TPM evening briefing.
President Donald Trump, in his second term, has been notably fixated on his home city and its local governance. Early this year, he bought off mayor Eric Adams by making a criminal indictment hanging over his head disappear. Then, as Adams faced ghastly polling numbers and a trio of general election challengers — among them the charismatic Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani — members of Trump’s administration reportedly brainstormed various ways to induce Adams afresh, hoping to push him to drop his reelection bid and unify the anti-Mamdani vote around a single candidate. Adams did drop out on Sunday — without, at least as far as we know, cutting any deal with the Trump administration.
Now, Trump has made his latest foray into the New York City mayoral race with some more subtle election interference on Truth Social Monday.
Trump’s been fixated on Mamdani’s candidacy for some time now, painting the candidate — who ran a successful primary campaign by focusing narrowly on affordability issues — as some sort of radical, far-left lunatic. In his Truth Social post on Monday, Trump did his usual thing of calling Mamdani a communist (that’s different than a Democratic socialist) and then tried out a new tack: he threatened to withhold federal funding from NYC if Mamdani is elected.
“He is going to have problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great City. Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist promises. He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him?” Trump wrote.
But is this really about Mamdani? Trump has been looking for ways to withhold federal funding from NYC and blue cities generally since he first came back into office. He’s been doing it under the guise of a clampdown on states and municipalities that have sanctuary protections in place that might interfere with his mass detention and deportation campaign. It’s all a cover to punish parts of the country that didn’t vote for him and to show their Democratic leaders who is actually in charge. That’s also what his ongoing deployment of National Guard troops to U.S. cities run by Democrats is all about, despite the transparent claims of a a tough-on-crime crackdown.
Trump’s been musing about how he might withhold federal funding from blue cities since before he was back in the White House and one of his Justice Department’s first actions upon his return involved issuing a warning to state and local officials who didn’t cooperate with Trump’s deportation agenda. In April, Trump signed an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Krisi Noem to begin tracking “states and local jurisdictions that obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws (sanctuary jurisdictions).” The president also directed Russ Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, to “identify appropriate Federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions, including grants and contracts, for suspension or termination, as appropriate.”
In threatening to strip New York City of its federal funding if Mamdani wins, Trump is simply trying to repackage something that his administration is already actively looking to do. Making it about the NYC mayoral race just gives him another chance to pile on to the Republican Party’s ongoing demonization of a popular and energizing leftist political candidate.
Bribery, Election Interference or Both!
While he did not mention Mayor Adams in his Truth Social post on Monday, the Trump administration’s aforementioned, reported efforts to entice Adams to drop out to help consolidate Democratic votes for disgraced former New York Gov. and independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo — whom Mamdani handily beat for the Democratic nomination — lingered over his final weeks in the race. There had been several reports that the Trump and Adams team were discussing a possible Housing and Urban Development post or a potential ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia, which would be a comical gift for a man who was initially indicted for alleged corruption involving another middle eastern country, Turkey.
The first time the Trump administration brought Mayor Adams under their thumb ties into the above as well. Earlier this year the politically compromised Justice Department attempted to dismiss those corruption charges against Adams, reportedly in a bid to force Adams to allow ICE to roam free in protected spaces across the city. The DOJ sought to get the charges dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could bring them back at any time if Adams strayed from their good graces. Ultimately, a judge dismissed the charges with prejudice.
It was another form of this ongoing dynamic as Trump uses his second term to, among other things, flex power over spaces he does not have direct authority over (cities and states where Democrats are in charge).
Meanwhile, Looming Government Shutdown
Republican leadership in Congress is pulling out all the stops today to paint any potential government shutdown as a problem caused by Democrats even though they hold the majority in both chambers. Republicans need a handful of Democrats to join them in order to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said the Senate would vote on the House-passed CR on Tuesday. As of right now, Democrats are not planning to support the legislation (though there are some reports that Dems might help Republicans pass a 10-day CR) and are, at least as of Monday evening, sticking to their demands that Republicans extend Obamacare subsidies in exchange for their votes.
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