President Donald Trump couldn’t stand it. One moment, a young up-and-coming city leader was lighting up the stage with a bold jab that sent the crowd into chaos — and the next, Trump was stewing in Florida, watching it all unfold in real time.
By the end of Tuesday night, Trump’s frustration had only grown. And one of his targets that evening was none other than New York City’s newly elected mayor — a political newcomer who’d managed to get right under Trump’s skin.
Hours after the results came in for Zohran Mamdani, Trump lashed out from a business forum in Miami, calling the new leader’s victory speech “dangerous.”
The outburst followed months of Trump ridiculing the 34-year-old democratic socialist as a “communist,” threatening to arrest and deport him, and vowing to withhold federal funds if he ever won.
Mamdani, fully aware Trump was watching, used his election-night speech to deliver a pointed rebuke.
“Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up,” he declared to thunderous applause. “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
Mamdani was born in Uganda, came to the United States to attend college and became a naturalized U.S. citizen after graduation, according to PBS News.
“New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” the new mayor stated. “So, hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”
That line struck a nerve. Speaking in Miami later that night, Trump boasted about his own “consequential election victory” before pivoting to the New York results. “We lost a little bit of sovereignty last night in New York, but we’ll take care of it,” he said, a remark that many online viewed as both petty and thin-skinned.
By the next day, his mood hadn’t improved. In a follow-up interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, Trump called Mamdani’s remarks “very angry.”
“I thought it was a very angry speech, certainly angry toward me, and I think he should be very nice to me, you know, I’m the one that sort of has to approve a lot of things coming to him. So, he’s off to a bad start,” Trump declared with a veiled threat mixed with a plea.
Baier then asked him what he thought of Mamdani’s election night remarks, including about turning up the volume.
“I think it’s a very dangerous statement for him to make. He has to be a little bit respectful of Washington, because if he’s not, he doesn’t have a chance of succeeding,” Trump warned, still hoping for some respect.
Online critics saw right through Trump.
“Mamdani’s speech is angry ‘towards you’ because unlike you, he can read a room! MILLIONS OF US ARE ‘ANGRY TOWARDS YOU’”, said one user on Threads.
To which another responded, “He’s so clueless.”
“He’s not going to kiss Trump’s ass. Trump is Running Scared because every election from now on is going to flip blue,” someone else mocked.
“He calls it dangerous because he’s terrified of the reaction Mamdani got when he said it,” said one viewer on Threads.
Another added, “Trump calling Mamdani’s speech “dangerous” because it criticized him says everything.”
Moments later, Trump attempted a clumsy reversal, insisting, “I want to make him succeed. I want to make the city succeed. I don’t want to make him succeed — I want to make the city succeed.”
When asked if he had reached out to congratulate Mamdani after the historic win, Trump hesitated, then shifted the responsibility. “Uh, I would say he should reach out to us really,” he said. “I think he should reach out. I’m here. We’ll see what happens. But I would think it would be more appropriate for him to reach out to us.”
The moment said everything. Rather than following presidential protocol — traditionally, it’s the president who calls to congratulate newly elected officials — Trump flipped the script to reassert control. Even in defeat, he couldn’t stomach the optics of extending respect to someone he’d spent months trying to discredit.
Once again, many on social media took notice and the backlash was fierce.
And one summed up the sentiment simply: “Sensitive AF.”
“Is the president threatening the mayor of NYC?” another asked.
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