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Trump threatens to punish New York if Mamdani wins [1]
['Daily Kos Staff']
Date: 2025-09-15
On Monday, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding to New York City if Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani wins, yet another corrupt attempt to influence the outcome of the race.
Trump made the comment after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed Mamdani in the upcoming election, saying that while she does not agree with Mamdani on everything, he is the one she trusts most to stand up to Trump.
That clearly pissed off Trump, who fired off this missive on Truth Social:
Governor Kathy Hochul of New York has Endorsed the ‘”Liddle’ Communist,” Zohran Mamdani, running for Mayor of New York. This is a rather shocking development, and a very bad one for New York City. How can such a thing happen? Washington will be watching this situation very closely. No reason to be sending good money after bad!
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has made her distaste for Trump clear.
Of course, it is illegal for Trump to withhold funds. A federal judge in August blocked Trump from withholding federal dollars to “sanctuary” cities, ruling that the move amounted to a "coercive threat."
Trump, for his part, has been trying to meddle in the New York City mayoral contest to keep Mamdani from winning. He has privately been working to help former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo consolidate the vote to keep Mamdani from winning.
To do that, Trump has tried to entice current Mayor Eric Adams with a role in his administration to get him to drop out of the race, in the hopes that Adams' voters would coalesce behind Cuomo. Adams, who already benefited from Trump’s corrupt actions when Trump ordered federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against Adams, said he has no plans to drop out.
And Trump attacked the GOP nominee, Curtis Sliwa, saying that he is "not exactly prime time" and criticizing Sliwa for wanting to have cats in the mayoral residence. Seriously.
Hochul, who endorsed Mamdani in an op-ed in The New York Times, said she chose to throw her weight behind the Democratic nominee in part because Mamdani is the only candidate she can trust to stand up to Trump.
"In light of the abhorrent and destructive policies coming out of Washington every day, I needed to know the next mayor will not be someone who would surrender one inch to President Trump," Hochul wrote.
"Anyone who accepts his [Trump's] tainted influence or benefits from it is compromised from the start,” Hochul added, taking a swipe at both Cuomo and Adams.
Trump's meddling in the race, however, is not working.
Polling shows Mamdani with an overwhelming lead. A New York Times/Siena College survey released Sept. 9 showed Mamdani with nearly a majority of the vote at 46% in a four-way race. The same poll showed that even if the race was just between Mamdani and Cuomo, Mamdani still leads with 48% to Cuomo's 44%.
[END]
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/15/2343631/-Trump-threatens-to-punish-New-York-if-Mamdani-wins?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_4&pm_medium=web
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