Zohran Mamdani shrugged off a Truth Social attack from President Donald Trump on Friday and stood in Crown Heights to defend a proposed surcharge on luxury second homes, casting himself as a mayor with a mandate and a governor backing his play.
Trump posted Thursday night that Mamdani was “DESTROYING New York,” ripped what he called “TAX, TAX, TAX Policies,” and claimed residents were fleeing the five boroughs. Asked by the Judge Street Journal whether the two men had had a falling out, Trump said, “No, not at all. He’s going to ruin the city, however. His policies are no good.”
Mamdani wasn’t buying it. He drew a line between disagreement and personal rupture, kept his tone flat, and moved on. “The President and I both want the city to succeed,” Mamdani said. “The thing that we have in common is that we are both New Yorkers,” he added, and when a reporter pressed him on whether he’d soften his approach to keep peace with Washington, the answer was short: “I will always be myself,” he said.
The backdrop to all of this is a $5.4 billion budget hole that City Hall is trying to seal without hacking apart core services. That’s the number Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration put on the table when she announced, earlier this week, that she’d ask state lawmakers to let New York City impose a surcharge on non-primary residences worth more than $5 million. The tax wouldn’t touch primary homes or apartments with full-time tenants. It’s aimed squarely at second homes and investor-owned units sitting empty while the city bleeds cash.
Hochul’s backing is worth real money. Her office projects the surcharge would push at least $500 million a year into city coffers. That’s not everything Mamdani wanted. He’s been pressing Albany for broader income tax and corporate tax increases, and those aren’t moving yet. But the pied-à-terre surcharge is a concrete piece of revenue, and Mamdani made clear Friday he wasn’t going to let the Trump noise drown it out.
“93% approve of the pied-à-terre tax,” Mamdani said at the Crown Heights press conference, citing polling his team says shows overwhelming public support. The revenue, he argued, would pay for “essential city services like free childcare, cleaner streets and safer neighborhoods.” City Council Speaker Julie Menin backed the proposal too, calling it a reasonable path to new revenue that doesn’t squeeze working New Yorkers.
For Mamdani, this is the second time Hochul has moved his way in a big-ticket policy fight. In January, she committed $1.2 billion to fund his universal childcare plan, the first sign that the two could find common ground despite the chronic friction between City Hall and Albany. The luxury home tax alignment suggests that pattern isn’t a fluke. It doesn’t mean the two agree on everything. Mamdani still wants more from the state than Hochul’s offering. But twice now she’s handed him something he can take back to the city and show voters.
That’s the context Trump’s Truth Social post landed in. Mamdani’s week had been good. He’d gotten a major fiscal ally in the governor, watched public polling validate his revenue pitch, and lined up the Council speaker behind him. Then, Thursday night, the president logged on.
Mamdani’s answer wasn’t defensive. He cast the dispute as ideological rather than some ruptured relationship, noted that he and Trump share at least one thing in common as New Yorkers, and declined to soften his agenda to smooth things over with Washington. He’s done this before. He’ll do it again.
AMNY’s coverage of the Friday press conference captured the full exchange, including Mamdani’s comments on immigration enforcement and the broader Trump relationship.
What’s next is Albany. State lawmakers still have to pass the legislation enabling the surcharge before a single dollar of that $500 million projection becomes real. Mamdani will keep pushing for the broader tax hikes that didn’t make it into Hochul’s proposal. The $5.4 billion gap isn’t closed by one surcharge on $5 million apartments. That math is the mayor’s problem to solve, and he’s not done making the case.