How Trump Can Stop the New York Agenda by Zohran Mamdani Mamdani

Moments after Zohran Mamdani’s battle to become the next mayor of New York City, the rising political star is on her next fight: taking on the president of the United States.

In his victory speech on Tuesday, Mamdani turned to the cameras to note the President directly:

Minutes later, Trump responded to his social media truth on social media: “… and so it began!”

Since Mamdani won the Democratic Party in June, President Donald Trump has declared the 34-year-old “Communist” the future of the Democratic Party.

In the lead up to the mayoral election, Trump endorsed Andrew Cuomo – a former Democrat Governor running as an independent – and told Mamdani, he would burn the city.

This is not the first time that Trump, a born and raised New Yorker, has tested the affairs of the city, from attacking immigration attacks to attacking planting for a policy he opposes.

But Mamdani doesn’t seem to end.

“If anyone can show a country betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it’s the city that raised him,” he said in his speech.

Since coming to office, Trump has used federal power against many Democratic cities that have sent National Guard troops and cracked down on US immigration.

He has also cut billions in funding to cities since the government shutdown on 1 October, including New York, where he froze $18bn (£13.6bn) in Federal infrastructure projects.

Political experts have told the BBC Trump is vulnerable – and could thwart Mamdani’s campaign to reduce the cost of living.

The self-described Democratic Socialist who campaigned for free and faster buses, leased the repair of rental groceries and universal grocery stores and other grocery purposes.

“The reality is that the mayor-elect has to focus his attention on President Trump and the attacks in New York, as opposed to all the issues he wants to deal with,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history at Princeton University. “It’s a problem for the city and it’s also a problem and a challenge for the mayor-elect to stay focused.”

Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

Mamdani, a former state assemblyman, faces several challenges from Trump in carrying out his ambitious policy goals, policy experts said.

He suggested he could raise $10bn in revenue by increasing taxes for wealthy corporations and New York’s top one percent – but this would require approval from the state’s governor.

Democratic governor Kathy Hochul, who faces a tough re-election bid next year, has not hesitated to support Mamdani’s tax plan. Trump Ally Elise Stefanik says she will seek the Republican nomination for the state’s top job.

Trump could poison more holes in these plans if he cuts more federal funding, which last year made up about $8.5bn, or 7% of the city’s total budget.

“There is a money issue to do anything in town,” Mr. Zelizer said. “But if the Federal Dollars start to deplete, that’s going to be very difficult to do anything new.”

The funds are used for a host of services, including the housing department, emergency response to disasters, and educational meals for educational cafeterias and educational students, according to the New York City Independent Budget Office.

Trump did not specify which Federal funds he would target.

New York is legally required to provide some of these services, such as funding for homeless shelters. That means that without federal funding, the city and state government will have to make up the difference, putting pressure on other programs, a senior research official and Sen Senior City Independent Budget Office official said.

“There are a lot of contingency plans that can be drawn up at the city and state level for a whole range of situations,” he said.

Trump will likely face legal challenges for withholding funds approved by Congress, which includes food aid, said Justin de Benedictis-Kensner of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

“But the process of getting the funds to the people who need them has slowed down,” he said.

Trump has also used the threat of law enforcement against Democratic-led cities. He stationed National Guard troops across the country including in Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon and Washington DC, framing cities that needed federal troops.

He is close to being blocked from sending troops to the largest US city, but political experts say that could change.

“He has a template,” Mr. Zelizer said. “It’s hard to imagine it not happening.”

Mamdani said he will return to legal challenges to address a National Guard deployment in New York, as have other states. Many cases are in Limbo, and are working their way through the courts.

Political experts also expect him to expand his crackdown on immigration in New York, which has been a sanctuary city since the 1980s. That means the city limits co-operation with federal immigration authorities.

The administration has already lost the enforcement of immigration courts in the city, where US immigration agents and Customs (Ice) agents arrive at Mandatory Immigration.

Current mayor Eric Adams is more active with the administration. But Mamdani — who came to the U.S. from Uganda when she was seven — signed up for a different course.

He said that New York “will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, run by immigrants, and until tonight, led by an immigrant”.

“So, listen to me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you have to get to all of us,” he said on election night.

Adams made Trump’s Department of Justice drop the federal bribery and indictments against him. The move was brought about by the resignation of the Top New York Prosecutor, who claimed that Adams’ lawyers had asked Justice Department officials to drop the case in exchange for Trump’s immigration policies.

Mamdani will probably take time to develop a strategy for responding to Trump’s first moves, since he will not be in office until January, said Bob Science Professor at Columbia University.

Other Democratic leaders in the city have taken a different approach, including progressive Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who has often pushed against the President. Trump threatened to pull the World Cup games from his Massachusetts City.

In San Francisco, Mayor Daniel Lurie is reportedly leaning on tech industry leaders to eliminate National Guard troops from the city, arguing it would affect the economy.

Mamdani could make similar moves in New York to avoid federal troops, calling Wall Street street leaders from a city where Trump said his career in real estate, Mr. Shapiro said.

In a “Trump-Profiring” New York City policy document, the mayor-elect said he would hire an additional 200 lawyers to respond to the “Presidential” Trump Administration.

Mamdani faces major challenges in trying to implement his ambitious policy Agenda, so he can pick and choose his battles with anti-trumpet yorkers on some policies on some policies for some policies for some policies, said de benedictic-kesner.

“I think he will engage with Trump if it helps him accomplish his policy goals,” he said. “And I think that he’s a smart politician that he’s not going to do that unless it’s going to be done.”