In the interview, that aired Nov. 2, Norah O’Donnell pressed Trump about comparisons between him and Mamdani. Both men, she noted, had built populist movements. Both came from Queens. Both were accused by critics of disrupting the political norm.
“Some people have compared him to a left-wing version of you, charismatic, breaking the old rules. What do you think about that?” O’Donnell asked the POTUS.
‘Turn the volume up!’
But Mamdani refused to trade insults and instead opted to play hardball.
During his victory speech, he stood proudly in front of supporters and delivered a direct message to the 79-year-old president: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up!”
It wasn’t just a clapback – it was a warning. Mamdani’s campaign had long positioned itself as the antithesis to Trump-era politics, especially on immigration and economic inequality. He made it clear that his mayoralty would be a direct challenge to the kind of nationalism and division Trump represents.
“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani told supporters Nov. 4, per Reuters. “And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. This is not only how we stop Trump, it’s how we stop the next one.”
But for Trump, he won’t be stopped – it’s just the beginning, he writes.
“…AND SO IT BEGINS!” he wrote on Truth Social only hours after the mayoral ballots were counted.
