Miami: Just days after warning that he would curb federal funds if Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral race, US President Donald Trump appeared to dial back his remarks following Mamdani’s decisive victory.

Speaking at the America Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday, Trump, who has repeatedly referred to Mamdani as a “communist”, suggested he was willing to offer limited support to the new administration in New York.

“The communist, Marxist socialists and globalists had their chance, and they delivered nothing but disaster. And now let's see how a communist does in New York,” Trump said. “We're going to see how that works out. And we'll help them. We'll help them. We want New York to be successful. We'll help them a little bit, maybe.”

The shift comes after Trump’s stern warning ahead of Election Day, when he said he would restrict federal funding “other than the very minimum as required” if Mamdani became mayor. In a Truth Social post last week, he claimed New York would face a “complete and total disaster” under Mamdani and vowed not to send “good money after bad.”

Despite softening his tone on financial support, Trump maintained his criticism of Mamdani’s political beliefs.

“If you want to see what Congressional Democrats wish to do to America, just look at the results of yesterday's election in New York, where their party installed a communist as the mayor of the largest city in the nation,” he said. “Remember, I said we will never have a socialist elected to any post in our country? I used to say that ... we skipped socialists, we put in the communists instead.”

Historic win for Zohran Mamdani

Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, secured a landmark victory to become New York City’s first Muslim mayor and its youngest leader in more than a century. The 34-year-old from Queens defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Born in Uganda to filmmaker Mira Nair and academic Mahmood Mamdani, the new mayor received over a million votes — the highest for any New York mayoral candidate in three decades, according to The Hill. Mamdani won 50.6 per cent of the vote, while Cuomo finished with 41.7 per cent.

At his victory celebration, Mamdani honoured his Indian heritage with a nod to Jawaharlal Nehru’s 1947 “Tryst with Destiny” speech.

“I'm reminded of Jawahar Lal Nehru's words. 'A moment comes but rarely in history when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance,'” Mamdani told supporters. “Tonight, New York has done just that. This new era demands clarity, courage, and vision, not excuses.”