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President Donald Trump has told allies in private that he believes progressive Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani is unbeatable in the New York City mayor’s race, according to a new report. The Wall Street Journal cites a senior White House official as saying that the president and his team think the 34-year-old is on course to beat independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in November 4’s election, given his commanding lead in the latest polling. The president is reportedly not sold on the idea of Sliwa dropping out, believing it would not help Cuomo advance his case, despite his own son Eric Trump joining businessmen like Bill Ackman and John Catsimatidis in calling on the GOP man to stand aside. Addressing the race with reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump indicated reluctant support for Cuomo and said, “It’s really a question of would I rather have a Democrat or a communist? And I would rather have a Democrat than a communist.” He also said that, if the Republican nominee dropped out, “maybe Cuomo would have a little bit of a chance, but not much.” For his part, Sliwa has insisted he is not budging and warned that anyone who presented him with a “bribe” to suspend his campaign would be reported to New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump himself is, of course, a native New Yorker, and the Trump Organization retains its headquarters in Manhattan. This means Mamdani’s ascent poses a direct threat to his interests, as the candidate has pledged to raise taxes on the wealthy to bankroll his affordability agenda. Last month, the president threatened to cut federal funding to his hometown if Mamdani won and has since scrapped $18 billion in New York City infrastructure funding, blaming the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. Mamdani, Cuomo, and Sliwa took part in a final televised debate on Wednesday evening in which the front-runner called the ex-state governor “a desperate man, lashing out because he knows that the one thing he’s always cared about – power – is now slipping away from him.” Cuomo hit back by insisting Mamdani was too “divisive” for the job and lashed out at the Queens assemblyman’s comparative lack of experience, commenting: “Zohran is a great actor. He missed his calling. This man never even proposed a bill on housing or education.” As they sparred over everything from homelessness among students to housing policy and events in the Middle East, Mamdani said Cuomo was selling “the politics of the past” and was Trump’s puppet. Sliwa got in several lines this time around, comparing his bickering rivals to “two kids in a schoolyard” and telling them in turn: “Zohran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin, and Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City.” Cuomo has suffered many setbacks of late, not least a supporter’s attempt to set up a “HotGirlsForCuomo” website, which failed spectacularly on Tuesday. He was spotted attending an NBA game between the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden alongside incumbent mayor Eric Adams immediately after last night’s debate, a publicity stunt that could backfire badly given Adams’ widespread unpopularity. Mamdani, meanwhile, has been criticised by conservatives for taking his wife out for sushi.
