Democratic socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani fired warning shots at President Trump on Wednesday — threatening to “utilize the courts” if the commander-in-chief follows through with his threats to defund the Big Apple.
Mamdani wasted little time in making clear he intends to stand up to the Republican president as he vowed not to be intimated in the wake of his election victory.
“The first thing is, you actually utilize the courts. You stop treating things as being law just by virtue of the fact that President Trump is saying them,” a fired-up mayor-elect told “Good Morning America” when asked exactly how he planned to push back against Trump’s earlier threats.
“You can look at the example of California, where you find the attorney general, the governor and the mayor of LA coming together, filing a lawsuit in opposition to the deployment of the National Guard.”
Mamdani later doubled down and defended his decision to use his victory speech to taunt Trump directly.
“I have said time and again that I will work with the president if he wants to work together to deliver on his campaign promises of cheaper groceries or a lower cost of living,” Mamdani told NY1 as he kicked off his post-election media interviews.
“But for too long, what New Yorkers have seen is a mayor who has been willing to work with the president at the expense of those New Yorkers. I want to make it very clear that if the president looks to come after the people of this city, I will be there standing up for them every step of the way.”
In the lead-up to the election, Trump — who repeatedly ripped Mamdani as a “Communist” — had vowed to withhold federal funds from the city if New Yorkers voted the socialist in.
“Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up,” Mamdani told his victory party.
“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
Trump quickly fired back in a Truth Social post, “…AND SO IT BEGINS!”
Hours later, Trump stopped short of mentioning Mamdani by name as he acknowledged the widespread Republican losses in various elections across the country.
“We had that big, beautiful victory exactly one year ago,” Trump told Republican senators at a White House breakfast.
“And last night it was, you know, not expected to be a victory. It was very Democrat areas. But I don’t think it was good for Republicans. I’m not sure it was good for anybody.”
“We had an interesting evening, and we learned a lot, and we’re going to talk about that, and I’ll say a few remarks, and then after that, I’ll ask the press to leave,” he added.
