Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Did Donald Trump post on Truth Social that 'we have a commie running NYC'?
Executive summary
Reporting shows former President Donald Trump did post on Truth Social calling New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a “communist” and warned he might withhold federal funds if Mamdani won; The Guardian and BBC cite Truth Social posts where Trump used language like “If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins…” and called him a “communist,” and the Guardian quotes Trump’s Truth Social threat about funding [1] [2] [3]. Available sources do not mention an exact quoted line “we have a commie running NYC,” but they document multiple Truth Social posts and public comments where Trump labeled Mamdani a communist or “communist candidate” [1] [2] [3].
1. What the reporting documents: Trump labeled Mamdani “communist” on Truth Social
Multiple outlets cite Truth Social posts in which Trump referred to Zohran Mamdani as a “communist” or “Communist Candidate,” and warned he would be reluctant to send federal funds to New York if Mamdani won; The Guardian reproduces the post saying “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…” [1] [2]. The BBC likewise summarizes that Trump “has referred to the mayor-elect as a communist” and notes his Truth Social activity around the election [3].
2. Did he post the exact phrase “we have a commie running NYC”?
Available sources do not show that precise wording. The provided reporting reproduces different phrasings — notably “If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins…” and other variants calling Mamdani “communist” or “extreme” — but none quote Trump as writing the colloquial sentence “we have a commie running NYC” verbatim [1] [2] [3]. That means the claim about that exact wording is not confirmed in the current reporting.
3. Context: campaign rhetoric, threats to withhold funds, and repetition
The quoted Truth Social posts sit alongside other public comments and interviews in which Trump repeated the theme — for example, The Guardian reports Trump saying on CBS’s 60 Minutes that “It’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a communist running New York…” — showing the messaging was deliberate and repeated across platforms [2]. BBC coverage also places the remarks in the broader post-election exchange as Mamdani won [3].
4. How outlets corroborate and differ
The Guardian reproduces lengthy verbatim lines from Truth Social and references additional remarks Trump made on television, framing the posts as an election-eve intervention; the Guardian also connects the posts to his other Truth Social activity about congestion pricing [1] [2]. The BBC and Guardian agree Trump used “communist” rhetoric, while the BBC emphasizes Mamdani’s rejection of that label and notes reaction from the campaign [3] [2]. Differences are mostly stylistic — the Guardian prints the longer, explicit Truth Social quote; BBC summarizes the substance [1] [3].
5. Reliability and platform considerations
Truth Social is Trump’s dominant communications channel and he posts frequently — Roll Call found he averaged dozens of posts daily, underscoring how central that platform is for his messaging [4]. Independent and mainstream outlets have been able to reproduce his Truth Social text when reporting; however, larger reporting on Truth Social also highlights the platform’s use of AI-generated content elsewhere, which is a separate credibility concern but does not negate text posts documented by reporters [5] [6].
6. Legal and political implications noted by reporting
Both Guardian pieces and other coverage point out that the president’s statements about withholding funds prompted pushback and were framed by critics as improper or unconstitutional threats — Mamdani and others said such withholding would not be lawful [2] [3]. The Guardian notes that the White House had previously sparred with New York over issues like congestion pricing, linking the Truth Social rhetoric to broader federal-state friction [1] [2].
7. Bottom line for the original claim
Reporting supports the substantive claim that Trump used Truth Social to call Zohran Mamdani a “communist” and threaten to limit federal funds if Mamdani won [1] [2] [3]. However, the precise colloquial quote “we have a commie running NYC” is not found in the provided sources — available sources do not mention that exact phrasing — so that specific wording should not be attributed to Trump without additional evidence [1] [2] [3].
Limitations: this analysis relies solely on the provided articles; other outlets or full archives of Trump’s Truth Social posts (including sites like Trump’s Truth archives) may contain further exact wording, but those are not cited here [7].