Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump seems to be afraid of a 33-year-old immigrant from Africa with a name almost as unusual as Barack Hussein Obama. It is Zohran Kwame Mamdani. He is running for mayor of New York City as a Democrat and unless Trump pulls a rabbit out of his MAGA hat, will probably win. Trump is apparently scared of the prospect of Mamdani winning, even though he could then attack Mamdani as a socialist.
What Trump is trying to do is get independent candidate Eric Adams, the current mayor, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, to drop out, turning the race into a head-to-head contest of Mamdani against former NY governor Andrew Cuomo. Trump is being egged on by some of his billionaire donors in NYC who are very afraid of Mamdani. What Trump is considering is offering Adams and Sliwa jobs in his administration. It probably won't work, though, because Trump tends to offer pretty minor jobs, like ambassador to Tuvalu. Both Adams and Sliwa have worked in law enforcement, so something like director or deputy director of the FBI might be of interest to them and would be a big upgrade compared to who's there now.
Another possibility is that Republican megadonor John Catsimatidis, who owns the Gristedes and D'Agostino supermarket chains, and who is petrified of Mamdani, could offer either or both a well-paying job in one of his companies. Problem is that neither one knows much about vegetables, so something in federal law enforcement might be more attractive.
There are also a couple of other problems. First, Adams and Sliwa probably couldn't get their names off the ballot, even if they dropped out soon. Second, there is no guarantee that their supporters would switch to Cuomo. Some might switch to Mamdani and some might stay home and not vote, so the stunt could fail. Right now, Sliwa is polling at 17%, Adams is at 9%, Cuomo is at 23%, and Mamdani is at 42%. So for Cuomo to win, Adams and Sliwa would have to drop out and most of their supporters switch to Cuomo. (V)