President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to seize federal control of New York City if democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani wins. Trump’s promised to “have a lot of fun” with a Mayor Mamdani, whom Trump called “not very capable,” a “Communist” and a “total nut job.”
Here are answers to questions about the limits — and powers — of Trump intervening to “run” an American city.
Can Trump “take over” New York City?
“He cannot take over the city, period,” said Richard Briffault, a Columbia professor and the law school’s authority on local and state government. But, Briffault said, “There are a lot of ways he can interfere with or harass the city… There are ways in which he can make life difficult.”
Absent insurrection or other extraordinary circumstances, our federal system and Constitution give broad sovereignty to states to govern their own affairs. Still, Trump can try a combination of controlling actions short of total control: federal lawsuits, targeted investigations, executive orders, congressionally-passed laws, agency regulations, National Guard deployments, grant clawbacks, ignoring contractual obligations, funding cuts — the city’s budget is about $7.4 billion federal funded, or 6.4% of total spending — flooding the city with federal agents and even arresting local officials. Those actions are certain to be challenged in court.
It’s unclear the extent to which courts would restrict Trump’s authority to broaden his power over the city, said Aaron Saiger, a professor at Fordham law school and director of its Urban Law Center.
“The president does not have authority to do many of these things, and I expect them to stop him,” Saiger said of the courts, but he’s not 100% confident they will.
It’s not even clear what Trump means by taking over the city, Saiger said.
Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Credit: Ed Quinn
“We don’t know what the president can do until he tries it, because he has been perhaps the most aggressive expander of presidential power in my lifetime certainly, and his approach is to exert power and see if anyone can stop him.”
And, he said, a president has “many, many levers by which to induce the government of the City of New York to conform to its wishes, and if all of them were to be used it would be difficult indeed to resist.”
What exactly has Trump threatened?
On Tuesday, at a White House Cabinet meeting, Trump said: “If a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to.” He promised “to straighten out New York, and maybe I’m going to straighten it out from Washington.” Trump previewed one of the layers he’d use to seek to wield dominion over a Mamdani mayoralty.
“He needs the money through the White House,” Trump said. “He needs a lot. He will behave.”
What has Trump threatened to do to Mamdani specifically?
Asked about Mamdani’s promise to defy Trump’s federal immigration enforcers, Trump said: “Well, then we’ll have to arrest him.”
What has Zohran Mamdani said?
Reacting later Tuesday after Trump’s comments, Mamdani’s campaign said in a statement:”Donald Trump has once again chosen to treat democracy like a suggestion and insult the more than half a million New Yorkers who voted for Zohran Mamdani’s leadership and a city they can afford.
“Zohran Mamdani won with a mandate, receiving the most primary votes in New York City history and as mayor, he will not allow Donald Trump to tear this city apart.Instead, he will be a model for what leadership should look like: laser-focused on the cost-of-living crisis and protecting the freedoms and liberties that make this country incomparable.”
How has Trump sought to exert control over New York in the past?
During Trump’s first term, his administration sought to cut justice-related funding to sanctuary cities like New York but ultimately lost the ensuing legal battles, and the funding remained in place. And earlier this year, he took steps to rescind nearly $200 million in migrant-crisis reimbursements that had already been allocated to the city, which is now suing. Some of the money was unilaterally withdrawn from a city bank account.
Where else has Trump used federal resources against the wishes of local officials?
In the spring, in Los Angeles, the Trump administration called up the California National Guard to quell protest and some unrest stemming from mass immigration detentions and arrests. California sued, and while a lower court ordered Trump to return control to the state, a federal appeals court backed Trump and said he could keep control of the Guard. (California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has vowed to keep fighting.)
And in recent days, heavily armed federal agents, some on horseback, blocked streets and marched over soccer fields and other parts of Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park, in one of the city’s most heavily immigrant neighborhoods.
“What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation,” Mayor Karen Bass said. “It’s the way a city looks before a coup.”
Is this the first time Trump has threatened to take over an American city?
No, he said in February that the federal government should “take over” Washington, D.C., but he hasn’t followed through on the threat.
Trump said he thinks those who run Washington are “not doing the job” to combat homelessness and crime.
“I think that we should govern District of Columbia,” Trump told the press on Air Force One.
“We should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely flawlessly beautiful. And I think we should take over Washington, D.C. Make it safe,” said Trump.
A federal takeover could end the home rule that has afforded D.C. a measure of self-governance since 1973, but is still substantially bound to Congress’ whims, including Congress approving the district’s budget.
Unlike D.C., which is a federal district, New York is a sovereign state, with vastly more independence.
Said Saiger, the Fordham professor: “D.C’s entirely different.”
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.