Zohran Mamdani, the Indian-origin mayoral candidate in New York City, has strongly criticized former President Donald Trump over his recent remarks calling for Mamdani’s arrest, denaturalisation, and deportation.
The 33-year-old democratic socialist accused Trump of inciting division to distract from his administration’s failures, particularly towards America’s working-class citizens.
In a viral social media clip, Mamdani made it clear that he has no intention of backing down. Yesterday, Donald Trump declared that I must be arrested. He declared that I must be deported. He declared that I must be denaturalised.". And he said all that about me, a person who would potentially be the first immigrant mayor of this city in centuries, a person who would also be the first Muslim and the first South Asian mayor in the history of this city," Mamdani said at a rally being held at the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council headquarters in New York.
Mamdani went on to add that Trump's hostility was not so much because of his identity, but rather his political ideology. "It is less so because of who I am, because of where I come from, because of how I look or how I speak, and more so because he wants to distract from what I fight for. I fight for working people," he vowed.
Mamdani recently made news after he bested former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in a high-profile Democratic primary. His surprise win has amplified Republican attacks, who have tried to brand him as radially left-wing and disconnected from most voters. Trump has kept up a barrage of mocks since the primary, calling him a "communist" and a "lunatic" and even insulting his appearance.
Responding to these sustained attacks, Mamdani stated, "Ultimately it is easier for him to foment the fires of division than to admit the ways in which he has betrayed those working-class Americans not only in this city but throughout this country and the ways in which he still betrays them."
He also lambasted Trump's signature legislative bill, the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill," currently pending a decisive vote in Congress. Mamdani chided Trump for deploying him as a diversion from the bill's contentious aspects. He cautioned that the bill, if enacted, would mean colossal reductions in healthcare and food support programs.
"Law that will take food away from the hungry. Law that seeks to capitalize on one of the biggest retransfer of wealth we have ever seen under his first term and do so again for the same very Americans who are fed up," Mamdani said.
Trump, in an incendiary post on his site Truth Social, went even further with the rhetoric, saying, "As President of the United States, I'm not going to let this Communist Lunatic ruin New York. Don't worry, I have all the levers, and all the cards. I'll save New York City, and make it 'Hot' and 'Great' again, like I saved the Good Ol' USA!"
At the same time, Republican congressional leaders had a tough time pushing ahead with a vote on President Trump's signature tax and spending bill on Wednesday. In-party disputes held proceedings up, with detractors expressing alarm at the way the bill would cause the national deficit to soar while destroying major aspects of the social safety net.
The bill, which has already been approved by the Senate, is awaiting its final endorsement in the House of Representatives but is subjected to intense opposition from within Trump's own party. While debate rages on, Mamdani stands firm, portraying himself as a defender of working-class Americans and a critic of Trump's domestic policy.
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