Turn the volume up: Mamdani roars back at Trump
New Delhi, Nov 5: New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani delivered a fiery victory speech that doubled as a direct message to President Donald Trump, vowing to challenge the influence of billionaires and usher in a new era of economic and social justice for working-class New Yorkers.
“Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up!” Mamdani declared to roaring applause, drawing cheers from a jubilant crowd gathered at his campaign headquarters.
Zohran Mamdani promised sweeping reforms targeting inequality and housing injustice.
“The Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants,” he said, announcing plans for a citywide rent freeze. “We will end the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks.”
Mamdani also pledged to stand by workers and unions, putting labour rights at the heart of his agenda.
“We will stand alongside unions and expand labour protections,” he said. “Because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed.”
In a pointed attack on Trump’s hardline immigration stance, Mamdani reaffirmed the city’s identity as a refuge for newcomers.
“New York is a city of immigrants, built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and now, led by an immigrant,” he proclaimed. “So hear me, President Trump: to get to any of us, you have to get through all of us.”
Mamdani’s victory marks a watershed moment in American politics, the rise of a young, Muslim, African-born progressive to lead the nation’s largest city.
Reflecting on his ascent, he told supporters, “The conventional wisdom will tell you I am far from the perfect candidate. I am young. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most offending of all, I refuse to apologise for any of this. But tonight proves that convention has held us back, and the promise of the future will no longer be a relic of the past.”
In a speech rich with historical allusion and moral fervour, Mamdani invoked American socialist Eugene Debs, saying, “The sun may have set over our city this evening. But as Eugene Debs once said, ‘I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.’”
He dedicated his win to working-class New Yorkers, warehouse workers, delivery riders, cooks, and cleaners, whose “hands have never been allowed to hold power.”
Mamdani said it was their courage and solidarity that powered his movement.
“My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty,” he said, referring to his victory over former Governor Andrew Cuomo. “Let tonight be the final time I utter his name as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few.”
Concluding with a promise to deliver “a city we can afford” and “a government that serves the people,” Mamdani thanked his supporters for making history.
“On January 1st, I will be sworn in as the mayor of New York City,” he said. “And that is because of you.”
