By Gram Slattery
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump said on Tuesday any Jewish person who votes for New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is a “stupid person,” the latest in a string of comments over the course of the U.S. president’s career suggesting that Jewish Americans vote against their own interests.
“Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
His social media post followed comments on Monday in which he urged New Yorkers to vote for former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is trailing Mamdani in the polls. He also threatened to withhold federal funds from New York City if Mamdani wins the Tuesday election.
Mamdani, who identifies as Muslim, has been critical of the current Israeli government but vehemently rejects accusations of anti-Semitism, which he has faced from many Republican leaders.
Mamdani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump and his fellow Republicans have been unpopular among Jewish Americans for many years, a fact that is known to rankle the president. In a September 2024 Pew Research Center survey, Trump trailed then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris by some 32 percentage points.
“If I don’t win this election – and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens because if 40%, I mean, 60% of the people are voting for the enemy – Israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years,” Trump told an Israeli-American summit ahead of his election last year.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Daniel Wallis)
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