President Donald Trump criticized New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s fiery election-night remarks, calling his acceptance speech “very angry” and warning that the socialist ideas Mamdani espouses “have never worked anywhere.”
Appearing on Special Report with Bret Baier, Trump weighed in on the results of the off-year elections that saw Republicans fall short in several key races.
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, a member of the New York State Assembly, was elected mayor of New York City after defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
Trump said he was not surprised by the outcome of the mayoral race but took issue with Mamdani’s tone and ideology.
“I thought it was a very angry speech,” Trump said. “Certainly angry toward me, and 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.”
The president said he would like to see Mamdani succeed for the sake of New York but warned that his political philosophy was fundamentally flawed.
“Look, for a thousand years, communism has not worked,” Trump said. “It’s just communism, or the concept of communism, has not worked. I tend to doubt it’s going to work this time. It’s literally never worked.”
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, campaigned on an agenda that includes expanding rent control, raising taxes on corporations, and reshaping the city’s policing policies. His election marks the first time a DSA-aligned candidate has been chosen to lead the nation’s largest city.
Trump said Mamdani should “be respectful” toward Washington and warned that his confrontational tone could strain relations between city and federal officials.
“I’d like for him to do well because I love New York,” the president said. “But he should be respectful of the federal government. He’s got to work with us.”
Trump said he believes Democrats have become “radicalized” over the shutdown and blamed them for refusing to extend funding deadlines that would allow the government to reopen.
“They always extend the deadline in past shutdowns,” he said. “You know, an extension is very easy. It’s done all the time. You extend, sometimes you extend four or five times. They just become radical, radicalized lunatics actually, in a true sense. They should automatically extend, and we will make a deal as soon as they do.”
The president said he remains confident that an agreement will be reached once Democrats agree to resume negotiations. “We will make a deal as soon as Democrats extend,” he said.
Trump also addressed broader policy issues during the interview, including his renewed call to abolish the Senate filibuster. The president argued that ending the 60-vote threshold for most legislation would allow Congress to approve “commonsense things” more efficiently.
“I think that if we got rid of the filibuster, we would approve so many good things, wonderful things, that it would be hard to beat us,” he said.
Trump expressed a willingness to work with Democrats on health care reform, saying both parties should focus on practical solutions rather than partisan fights.
“We ought to work on health care together because Obamacare has been a disaster,” he said. “It’s going to get a big increase, but Obamacare is not great health care, and it’s very expensive. I’d love to work with them to fix it.”
The president’s remarks on Mamdani reflect growing friction between the White House and radical Democrats who have celebrated the New York lawmaker’s victory as a triumph for their movement.