U.S. President Donald Trump on the 5th (local time) labeled Democratic New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who won the election, a "communist."
At the America Business Forum in Miami, Florida, that day, President Trump said, "If you want to know what congressional Democrats want to do to America, look at yesterday's New York City election results," adding, "Democrats have seated a communist as mayor of the country's biggest city." Mamdani is a progressive within the Democratic Party who identifies as a "democratic socialist."
Trump went on to claim, "As I have warned for years, our enemies are trying to turn America into communist Cuba and socialist Venezuela." He added, "Miami will soon become a refuge for those fleeing New York City communism." Trump framed it as "now the choice is between 'communism or common sense.'"
Miami is where many refugees who fled Cuba's communist regime in the past settled. Trump emphasized, "As long as I am in the White House, the United States will not be communized."
Even before the election, Trump warned that if Mamdani won, the federal government could limit funding to New York City. At the forum that day, he again signaled the possibility of cuts, saying, "Now let's see how a communist does in New York," and "we might help a little less."
Experts analyzed that Trump criticized the New York election results unusually strongly with the intention of covering defeats elsewhere. In the election on the 4th, the ruling Republican Party suffered crushing defeats to the Democrats in key battlegrounds, including the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races and major contests in California.
According to the political outlet Politico, Republicans are trading blame over the election losses. Trump distanced himself on social media, saying, "My name (TRUMP) was not on the ballot, and the (federal government) shutdown is the reason for the loss." Trump's aides shifted responsibility to the candidates, saying, "The candidates' qualifications were terrible."
Axios reported that at a breakfast with Republican senators on the 5th, Trump also blamed the election losses on the shutdown, which has dragged on for more than a month. Trump said, "The shutdown hurt Republicans far more than Democrats," and pressed for the abolition of the Senate filibuster (a lawful tactic to obstruct proceedings) to end it quickly.
U.S. media outlets including CNN said, "Trump is trying to make Mamdani's democratic socialist stance appear as if it represents the entire Democratic Party." Analysts say the strategy is to highlight the competition between moderates and progressives within the Democratic Party to foment internal strife and peel away centrist voters.
Meanwhile, Trump spent considerable time touting his record as he marked the first anniversary of his presidential victory that day (elected on Nov. 5, 2024). "On Nov. 5, 2024, Americans took back our government and sovereignty," he said, adding, "We lost a bit of sovereignty in New York last night, but we will handle it well."