ISLAMABAD: Former US President Donald Trump on Tuesday night posted a cryptic message, “So, it begins!”, on his social media platform Truth Social, shortly after Zohran Mamdani delivered his victory speech as New York City’s new mayor, a post widely interpreted as a veiled threat toward the progressive politician.
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, had directly challenged Trump in his remarks, saying, “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up!”
“In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light,” Mamdani declared to a cheering crowd. “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
The 33-year-old Democrat, known for his outspoken socialist stance, pledged to “end the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Donald Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks.”
His economic plan includes raising the corporate tax rate to match New Jersey’s 11.5 percent and imposing a 2 percent wealth tax on New Yorkers earning more than one million dollars annually.
Mamdani also announced ambitious social policies, promising to freeze rents for all tenants in rent-stabilized apartments and to hold negligent landlords accountable. “The Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants,” he said.
As part of his affordability agenda, Mamdani vowed to make city buses fare-free, describing public transport as “a right, not a privilege.” He said the initiative would be funded through increased taxes on corporations and the city’s wealthiest residents.
Trump’s latest post, “AND SO IT BEGINS,” marked a continuation of his long-running hostility toward Mamdani. During the campaign, Trump had repeatedly attacked him, calling him “a 100% communist lunatic” and “not very smart.”
In previous statements, Trump warned he would withhold federal funds from New York if Mamdani became mayor. “If you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting money sending it there,” he said at a rally, urging voters to back Mamdani’s rival, former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Trump has also mocked Mamdani’s appearance and intelligence, once telling CBS’s 60 Minutes that he was “much better looking” than the new mayor. When interviewer Norah O’Donnell referred to Mamdani as a socialist, Trump interjected, “Communist, not a socialist — he’s far worse than a socialist.”
In his previous statements, Trump had warned that Mamdani could face arrest if he interfered with federal immigration operations. Responding to Mamdani’s pledge to prevent masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from “deporting our neighbors,” Trump said at a news conference, “Well, then, we’ll have to arrest him.”
Could the exchange signal an impending clash between Mamdani’s left-wing populism and Trump’s conservative resurgence ahead of the next presidential election cycle, setting the stage for a potentially volatile relationship between City Hall and Washington?
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