Yesterday, at the last possible minute, President Trump endorsed Andrew Cuomo in a typically antic Truth Social post. From that perspective, it’s an act of ethical heroism. He’s doing something that is not in his best interests or those of his party. Trump clearly loves New York City even though it doesn’t love him. He is choosing the future welfare of the city’s mostly Democratic residents over what will benefit his party, the Republican Party, by throwing the weight and prestige of his office behind a Democrat (running as an Independent, but never mind) rather than the GOP spoiler, Curtis Sliwa.
Kudos for the President. Making sure as few people as possible vote for Sliwa, who is on the way to becoming New York City’s Harold Staasen, is contrary to principles of party loyalty but the right thing to do. Trump’s endorsement:
“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival! It can only get worse with a Communist at the helm, and I don’t want to send, as President, good money after bad. It is my obligation to run the Nation, and it is my strong conviction that New York City will be a Complete and Total Economic and Social Disaster should Mamdani win. A vote for Curtis Sliwa (who looks much better without the beret!) is a vote for Mamdani. Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”
Trump being Trump and reflexively perverse, he just had to do the right thing in the worst possible way, threatening the city and its residents in the process. Thus did he cross over the line from endorsing a candidate (normal, ethical) to threatening the city if it doesn’t do what he wants. That’s election interference, because he is applying coercion, or what feels like it.
In typical Trump fashion, he doesn’t say outright that he will punish New York City if its citizens doesn’t follow his directive, just that it “is highly unlikely” that he will support helping out the city when it inevitably crashes thanks to an extreme, incompetent mayor. He adds that he doesn’t want to send “good money after bad,” but then nobody wants to send good money after bad. As usual when he is trying to create doubt and apprehension, Trump says what he would like to do or might do rather than being straightforward. It can be a useful device in negotiating or, his favorite pastime, trolling. It is not appropriate in this situation.
Naturally the Democrat Trump wants to win immediately tried to reject the endorsement (which it was), rightly fearing that he had just lost the Trump Deranged vote. “President Trump doesn’t support me,” Cuomo said. “He opposes Mamdani. He believes that Mamdani is an existential threat to New York… He believes he’ll bankrupt New York, so he opposes Mamdani.”
Right. So he endorsed you.
Cuomo also said, “Now, the President calls him a communist, New Yorkers call him a socialist, but that turns off a lot of New Yorkers.” The President calls Mamdani a communist because that’s what he is. It “turns off” New Yorkers to state the truth? No wonder they’re stuck between voting for a fanatic demagogue or a creep.
As for Mamdani, he just lied. “The MAGA movement’s embrace of Andrew Cuomo is reflective of Donald Trump’s understanding that this would be the best mayor for him,” he said. “Not the best mayor for New York City, not the best mayor for New Yorkers, but the best mayor for Donald Trump and his administration.”
How could Cuomo possibly be the best mayor for Trump, his administration, or the party? Trump is right that Mamdani’s Marxist policies will demonstrate how far wrong the trajectory of the Democratic Party is and will give the GOP wonderful material to campaign against in next year’s mid-terms. When Mamdani wins and leaves chaos in his wake, Trump will be able to say, “See? You should have listened to me!”
He’s also right about that beret. Sliwa is a fool to keep wearing it: the man’s running against a communist while dressing like Che Guevara.
Ethics Alarms 
I’m waiting for the Democratic Party Talking Points to be released that sexual harassers like Cuomo and Trump stick together. Do they really believe that voters will think Trump is endorsing Cuomo because it’s good for the President and his party?
I really don’t think that it is coercion to say that he will not use federal funds to bail out the people of New York who vote for all the free stuff promised.
To be honest I really do not know why the federal government funds SNAP when this is a state issue not a federal one. If state residents want to provide food assistance without strings that should be on them and they can pay the costs through higher state taxes. I just asked Governor Moore on his Facebook page why he does not simply raise taxes to provide these benefits if so many Marylanders believe they are a priority. Each state has different needs so let each state deal with the problem.
Ok, I really do know why they demand the feds pay. It is because they don’t want to and letting someone else rack up huge deficits each year to fund all those entitlement programs is far better politically than to require their voters to pick up the tab.
One of the first lessons I learned about managing debt was that you don’t borrow money for things you won’t have when the bill comes due. If you cannot pay the food bill each month without borrowing to do so you need to cut out the wants and focus only on the needs. Where are all those financial experts I keep hearing about.
I’m not sure trolling and negotiating are much different from each other.
I’m not sure the NYC voters have the capacity to be coerced. The people voting for Mamdani are so far gone as to be capable of being declared incompetent. As a New Yorker friend, raised on Long Island, long since living in the Hudson Valley, advised me, “New Yorkers will vote for anyone who says they will freeze their rent.” The majority of NYC voters are actually excited about Mamdani. Evidently no one in the five boroughs has heard of there not being anything such as a free lunch. Of course, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised insofar as a number of them have repeatedly elected the great economics undergrad Sandy Cortez to represent them in Congress.
I continue to be amazed that New Yorkers are voting for an Islamist Communist. What’s wrong with these people?
Ourt twenty-one year old son’s theory: “People voting for Mamdani simply want free stuff.” It just might be that simple. Mamdani says he is going to freeze rent. Yet, the NYC mayor has absolutely no authority over rent costs. It is an empty promise that people hear and think, “cool. My rent is not going to go up. Wahoo!”
jvb
Well, he could pursue new or revised ordinances that allow the mayor to influence rent. It is not necessarily an empty promise if there were viable pathways to accomplishing it.
I’ve also heard “landlords” is synonymous with “Jews.”
In support of your son’s observation:
Zohran Mamdani knows how to win. Not just in New York — Mamdani’s campaign shows how to inspire voters nationwide.
By Amanda Marcotte
From Salon. In other words, “Promise them Free Stuff!” Pretty soon the Democratic Socialists, Democrats, will model the Mexican PRI and give you a new washing machine once you show them your ballot confirming you’ve voted for them.
[A round of hilarious applause for the Curtis Sliwa/Che Guevara cap observation.]
Mamdani will become the face of the Democrat party if we wins the race, together with AOC, Jasmine Crockett and other leftwing radicals. This will push the Democrats further leftward, and as NYC descends into something not good, this will be good for the GOP in the midterms, and in 2028. This effect will be magnified if the Democrats loose in Virginia or New Jersey.
My guess is that Donald Trump knows that pretty well, and he also knows that endorsing Sliwa is not going to help the chances of the GOP in any election. This endorsement makes Trump look ethical, but it puts Cuomo in a bind as the endorsement taste like a poison pill (and maybe it is). The threats uttered by Trump sound like “Nice city you have, it would be bad if something happened to it”, but it is red meat to Trump’s base. So my impression is that the political aspect of the endorsement trumps the ethical aspect. (Personally I am OK with Realpolitik where ethics is downstream from politics, but that is another discussion).
A couple of days ago we had a thread about whether Curtis Sliwa was ethically required to have dropped out of the race. I believe that that thread was left hanging with the discussion unfinished. Maybe we can pick this up again tomorrow after the election results are in, with Mamdani winning over Cuomo with a margin smaller than the total vote for Sliwa.