New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani spoke to supporters at a canvass launch event in Brooklyn's Prospect Park on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)
Following Mamdani's primary victory, Trump immediately criticized him as a "100% Communist Lunatic."
The president has continued to repeatedly deride Mamdani as a communist in the ensuing months, while warning that New York City would become "a communist city" if Mamdani wins November's mayoral election.
"We should never be in a position where we're talking about a communist," Trump said in his Fox and Friends interview.
POLL POSITION: JUST HOW LARGE IS MAMDANI'S LEAD IN THE NYC MAYORAL RACE?
The Ugandan-born Mamdani, who would become New York City's first Muslim and first millennial mayor if elected, has denied being a communist.
With less than two months to go until Election Day, Mamdani holds a commanding lead over his mayoral rivals in the Democrat-dominated city, according to two new polls.
Mamdani is sitting on 22-point margin leads over Cuomo and the rest of the field in surveys released this week from Quinnipiac University and New York Times/Siena College.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams officially launched his independent re-election bid, on June 26, 2025 in New York City (AP)
Trump, a native New Yorker who now calls Florida home, has urged that the field narrow in order to defeat Mamdani.
"I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one on one. And I think that's a race that could be won," Trump said last week.
MAMDANI RIVALS DEFIANT AGAINST DROPPING OUT DESPITE FACING LONG ODDS IN NYC MAYOR BATTLE
On Friday, the president said in his ‘Fox and Friends’ interview, "I think they have to have one stay. And it would look to me like Cuomo frankly is leading the other two."
But he added that Cuomo's "still way behind. It almost looks like even one candidate wouldn't work at this point."
"I’m not looking at the polls too carefully, but it would look like he is going to win and that is a rebellion. It is a rebellion against bad candidates, OK? They’re tired of it," Trump added.
Trump also criticized Sliwa.
"Look, I'm a Republican, but Curtis is not exactly primetime," the president claimed.
Sliwa, in a Fox News Digital interview last month, said that he hasn't had "any conversations with President Donald Trump, who I've known over the years."
"We've had a love-hate relationship. Everybody knows that," Sliwa added.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The Quinnipiac poll suggested that if Adams ended his re-election campaign, Mamdani would lead Cuomo 46%-30% with Sliwa at 17%.
But the New York Times/Siena survey pointed to Mamdani edging Cuomo 48%-44% in a hypothetical two-candidate match-up.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-reveals-new-nickname-mamdani-weeks-before-election-day