Trump weighs in on NYC mayor Mamdani, government shutdown and ending filibuster
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President Donald Trump called out New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s “very angry” acceptance speech, warning that communism “never works.”
Trump reacted to November’s off-year election results in a “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Wednesday. Republicans Jack Ciattarelli and Winsome Earle-Sears came up short in closely watched gubernatorial races against Democrats Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger in New Jersey and Virginia, respectively. “Democratic socialist” Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York.
The president said he thought New Jersey would perform better, but did not express surprise at the results of the Virginia and New York races.
“I thought New Jersey would do a little better than that,” he admitted. “The Cuomo situation, he had a lot against him, a lot against them. Curtis Sliwa tried hard, but you know, he’s been there before. So, Mamdani had a pretty clear shot.”
Trump said he wanted Mamdani to “do good things” because he loved New York, but criticized the new mayor’s alleged embrace of communism and warned that he should be “respectful” of Washington.
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President Donald Trump gestures after giving a speech during the Americas Business Forum at Kaseya Center on November 5, 2025 in Miami, Florida. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“Look, communism hasn’t worked for a thousand years,” Trump said. “It’s just that communism or the concept of communism hasn’t worked. I doubt it will work this time. … It literally has never worked.”
The commander-in-chief, who told reporters pollsters believed the shutdown was a “huge factor” in the results, called on “radicalized” Democrats to create a “never-before-seen” situation in the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown.
“Them [Democrats] With past shutdowns, always extend the deadline,” he told host Bret Baier. “You know, it’s very easy to extend. This is done all the time. You stretch it, sometimes four or five times. I mean, they just…become literal radical, radicalized lunatics. They should automatically extend it, as soon as they extend it we will make a deal. “As soon as they are, we will make a deal.”
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Trump said he would “love” to work with Democrats to fix health care and expressed his desire to “move forward.”
“We need to work together on health care because Obamacare was a disaster. It’s going to be a big increase, but Obamacare isn’t perfect health care and it’s very expensive. I’d love to work with them to fix that.”
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President Donald Trump speaks to Senate Republicans in the State Dining Room of the White House on November 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump speaks to Republican senators as the US government shutdown reaches its 36th day. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Trump also argued that ending the filibuster could be a way to benefit Congress.
“I think if we got rid of the filibuster, we would approve so many good things, common sense things, wonderful things, that we would be hard to beat,” he said.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
