The TOI Correspondent from Washington: US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to withhold federal funds from New York City if it voted for Democrat candidate Zohran Mamdani as mayor, setting him on a collision course with progressive American cities and states that lean Democratic and also generate more revenue. In a Monday morning Truth Social post, Trump bluntly said, “he (Mamdani) 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’s threat shocked Democrats, some of whom warned that if the president is going to withhold federal funds from NYC if Mamdani is elected mayor, then NYC should stop paying federal taxes.
Blue states such as California and New York typically generate more tax revenue and lead in total tax collection compared to Red MAGA-voting states. They also contribute more in federal taxes than they receive back in federal funding. Demands to withhold federal contributions have also been heard in California, which is also at the receiving end of Trump’s ire.
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Mamdani, whose mother is the Indian filmmaker Mira Nair, is leading by double digits against his nearest rival, Independent Andrew Cuomo, in the Mayoral election set for November 4, 2025. His funky, social media-driven campaign has energised the progressive left wing of the Democratic Party whom Trump characterises as communists. Trump’s MAGA radicals are also attacking Mamdani’s part- Muslim heritage (his father Mahmood Mamdani is a Ugandan Muslim of Indian heritage, born in Mumbai), warning that he will “jihadise” NYC just as they believe Mayor Sadiq Khan has done with London. The idea of two of the world’s leading cities being led by men of Muslim faith had triggered MAGA fundamentalists who believe the UK and the US need to re-establish Christian primacy. “President Trump says it won’t matter if Mamdani is Mayor because he won’t release federal funds to Mamdani. Sadly, it’s going to be very bad for our country & the party when Mamdani is Mayor because his Islamic ideology will inspire acts of Jihad that get innocent people killed,” Trump acolyte and social media gadabout Linda Loomer, who wields enormous influence in the Trump White House, wrote on X.Loomer has also gotten after California lawmaker, Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, accusing him of sharing a stage with HAMAS supporters over the weekend at an Arab Conference, and calling him a “self hating Hindu…who acts more like a Muslim” while “real Hindus are being slaughtered by jihadists”
