You know the cliché, “You can take the boy out of New York, but you can’t take New York out of the boy.” Like many elderly Queens natives, Donald Trump, 79, left his hometown for the sunnier climes of Florida, where there are no income taxes and no inheritance taxes. Besides, the people back home don’t like him very much.
He was just in Queens this past weekend for the US Open tennis tournament and was loudly jeered and booed, just like the last time he went, 10 years ago.
Worse, his fellow New Yorkers voted against him overwhelmingly in three straight elections. Now, he says he’s worried his hometown is going to elect a “communist” mayor. He claims he wants to prevent that, but I’m not convinced.
The leading candidate in this year’s mayoral election also grew up in Queens, but that’s where the similarities end.
Zohran Mamdani, 33, was born in Uganda of Indian parents and came to America at the age of seven. He became a naturalized US citizen only seven years ago; since then, has won three terms in the New York State Assembly. But what seems to draw the most attention is that he is an outspoken pro-Palestinian Muslim running to lead the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.
President Trump said he is working hard to prevent Mamdani from moving into Gracie Mansion. He has been trying to buy off two of his opponents with government sinecures if they’ll only drop out and give disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo, 67, a better chance to defeat the young Democratic nominee.
Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams lost June’s Democratic primary to Mamdani. The Republican nominee is Curtis Sliwa. Polls show they are running far behind Cuomo, who trails Mamdani in 11 or 13 polls cited by The New York Times. Administration posts and ambassadorships have been dangled before them, but both say they’re not interested, at least for now.
Sliwa may think the three Democrats will knock each other out and give him a dark horse victory, but that seems highly unlikely.
Many in the Jewish community are fearful of Mamdani, but not as many as you’d think. He has the endorsements of some prominent Jews, and a recent survey shows he is leading among Jewish voters at 37% while the rest are split among the three other candidates.
Mamdani, a founder of Students for Justice in Palestine in college, is an outspoken critic of Israel, accusing it of genocide in Gaza. He said he joined the Democratic Socialists of America because of their stance on Israel and wants all mayoral candidates to pledge to boycott Israel, the Forward reported.
Since winning the Democratic primary for mayor, he has sought to soften some of his anti-Israel rhetoric. He promised to “protect Jewish New Yorkers amid this rising antisemitism” and “ensure the flourishing of Jewish life.”
But he also has said that as mayor, he would want to permanently halt the city pension funds’ investments in Israel Bonds and end all economic ties with the Israeli government. Cuomo and Adams, who are running as independents, oppose divestment.
Who does Trump want to become mayor?
Trump and Cuomo have clashed previously, so why does Trump want to help him become mayor? I’m not convinced he does.
I suspect Trump secretly wants Mamdani to win despite pronouncements like “I’d prefer not to have a communist mayor.”
Trump and his allies have been trying to make Mamdani the face of the Democratic Party, which they variously portray as far Left, socialist, communist, antisemitic, pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, anti-police, and anti-American. White House aide Stephen Miller suggested that he is the result of too many immigrants voting.
Look for the GOP to use this election as a litmus test: support Mamdani and you’re anti-Israel, an antisemite, and by extension so is your party.
This strategy plays to Trump’s strength. He is at his best in attack mode, especially since his administration is beset by unpopular programs, rising inflation and unemployment, shrinking approval ratings, anemic job growth, strained relations with American allies, a chaotic tariff war, and two shooting wars he said he would settle on Day One, but are still raging and getting worse.
Trump is likely also rooting for Mamdani in the hopes he will spark an exodus of Jewish voters and donors to the GOP.
It fits with Trump’s fear of losing next year’s midterm elections, when the entire House and one third of the Senate go before voters. If Democrats win majorities in either chamber, they will have subpoena power, hold investigations, and possibly a third impeachment.
There’s also a plausible alternative scenario: Trump would actually like Cuomo to win so he can take credit for it by having cleared the field. He will inevitably seek to use that to his political advantage.
The two Queens natives have something else in common besides the desire for power. Cuomo was forced to resign from the governorship in the face of sexual harassment accusations. This week, a federal appeals court upheld an $83.3 million jury award against Trump in connection with a related case where he was found liable for sexual abuse.
Trump’s opposition to Mamdani may be motivated by racism and Islamophobia as well as a fear that the young man’s progressive ideas may be what the Democrats need to wake up and energize their base. Many see the New York mayoral race as a battle between the party’s old establishment and what Sen. Bernie Sanders called “the future of the Democratic Party.”
In his recent cabinet meeting, Trump said he was “looking into” a federal takeover of New York City. “We’re going to bring New York back,” he declared.
That fits with Trump ordering the Justice Department to drop bribery and fraud charges against Adams in April, claiming he needed the mayor’s help in the administration’s immigration crackdown in his city.
Trump’s heavy-handed meddling could backfire and deliver a Mamdani victory.
Also at stake in this mayoral race is the future of the Democratic Party’s relationship with the Jewish community and with Israel, which for the first time may not converge. It also points to the reality that Israel is rapidly fading as a political priority for mainstream Jews.
You can see it playing out within the nation’s largest Jewish population. If you’re not worried about that, you haven’t been paying attention.
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.