Zohran Mamdani Congratulates Cuomo on Trump Endorsement
Kiss of Death
President Trump admitted during his “60 Minutes” interview broadcast Sunday that if he had to choose between the Democratic candidate in this week’s New York mayoral election, Zohran Mamdani, and former Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, he would choose the latter.
The shrug in the direction of Cuomo is representative of the interest of the MAGA movement and the far right in general in making Mamdani the new MAGA bogeyman. After all, he represents a number of concepts that crop up regularly in social media outlets like Fox News and the Republican Party: he’s a democratic socialist, he’s young, he’s not white, he will soon, most likely, lead New York City.
The wave of misinformation around Mamdani reflects confusion in both parties over how exactly to explain the 34-year-old insurgent candidate. He raised money through small dollar donations and a sophisticated but simple social media presence, putting a spotlight on the city’s affordability crisis. It faced aggressive opposition from the city’s wealthy interests, to no notable effect. Some see Mamdani’s rise as a potential model for the future of the Democratic Party, a reality that has unflatteringly irked and wrong-footed that party’s leaders.
As a result, Trump and his allies attempted to portray Mamdani as a “communist.” In late September, Trump claimed that if Mamdani won the election, he would withdraw federal funding from New York City (something the Trump White House began doing just hours after the shutdown began on October 1, by, among other things, freezing funding for New York’s infrastructure projects).
Perhaps encouraged by the political allies and donors they both share, Trump has been hinting for some time that he views his former foe, Cuomo — whom Mamdani beat for the Democratic nomination — as a better candidate for New York. During the “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday, Trump made it official, throwing his weight behind Cuomo as the supposed lesser evil.
“It’s going to be hard for me as president to give a lot of money to New York. Because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” Trump said.
“So I don’t know if he won, and I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it’s going to come down to a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m going to pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” he said.
Mamdani jumped on Trump’s remarks as one last opportunity to troll Cuomo.
“Congratulations, Andrew Cuomo. I know how hard you worked for this,” Mamdani posted on Instagram.
—Nicole LaFond
Curtis Sliwa campaigned with a COVID quarantine rioter
The final stretch of the New York City mayoral race has given us yet another example of how extremist politics has become the norm for the Republican Party.
With voting set to take place Tuesday, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa spent last Sunday morning campaigning alongside city council candidate Heschy Tischler. Tischler, who describes himself as part of “Team Trump,” is an activist in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. Tischler was widely noted as an active member of protests against COVID quarantine measures in the community that ultimately turned violent. In 2021, he pleaded guilty to inciting a riot for his role in these protests, which included an attack on a local journalist.
Sliwa’s endorsement of Tischler is all the more hypocritical given that the longtime mayoral candidate first made his name as an anti-crime vigilante. Time and time again, MAGA Republicans show us that their supposed concerns about law and order do not extend to their own political allies.
-Hunter Walker
GOP will soon need a new CR
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Republican leaders are discussing how to address the GOP continuing resolution (CR) passed by the House and set to expire on November 21.
“We’re very careful about the timeline. We’re very frustrated with it,” Johnson said at a news conference Monday, adding that GOP leaders would discuss options.
The House, of course, has been out of session since House Republicans passed the GOP CR on September 19. It was 45 days ago. Johnson will have to bring them back in order to pass any new CR.
GOP leaders are reportedly privately discussing a new CR that would take effect in early 2026. Meanwhile, some senators are reportedly pushing for a deal that would involve a package of appropriations bills alongside a new CR — which would reopen the government — and a vote to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies.
Republican leaders insisted they would not pass any appropriations bills or measures to extend subsidies without an agreement to reopen the government.
-Emine Yucel
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