President Trump says NYC rent freeze will turn buildings "into ghettos and slums"
President Trump rebuked New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Rent Guidelines Board's rent freeze Friday.
The rent freeze may have hit closer to home for the president because at one point in time, the Trumps owned 14,000 rent-stabilized apartments.
"Everybody will continue leaving New York"
Mr. Trump brought up the issue while speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition policy conference in Washington.
"But what the mayor doesn't say is that these buildings will soon turn into ghettos and slums, and that everybody will continue leaving New York," he said. "And as this spreads throughout the country, very much like an uncontrollable form of cancer, the country itself will be taken down. It will be Third World, strictly Third World."
With the midterm elections looming, the president apparently sees the combination of Mamdani's success in backing three left-of-center congressional candidates and the rent freeze as an opportunity to mobilize his base – not only in New York, but all over the country.
"Everyone needs to get out and vote in the midterms," Mr. Trump said. "We have to win this election. This election is very vital."
Democratic socialist wins spark concerns
Political experts see the president's speech as a calculated political move, saying that voters can expect to hear more of the so-called "Red Menace" rhetoric as Republicans and Democrats duke it out over control of Congress.
"He may be onto something. I'm talking to purple district Republicans who are telling me that they're concerned about this idea of socialism growing into their neighborhoods, and they may be voting Republican where otherwise they wouldn't," political analyst J.C. Polanco said.
The president's strategy is already worrying some Democrats in swing districts, such as Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen on Long Island. Suozzi and Gillen are banding together to call themselves centrist Democrats, telling voters not all Democrats adhere to left-of-center views.
The mayor's team, meanwhile, continued to bask in the victory of making good on a campaign promise to freeze the rent.
When asked for comment about what the president said, a spokesman for Mamdani referred CBS News New York to the mayor's statement from Thursday night after the Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze rents for two years.
"This is a historic victory for New York City tenants ... This is the relief that working people across our city deserve," the statement said, in part. "I'll continue working to deliver a more affordable city by building and preserving affordable housing, lowering building operating costs like insurance, and ensuring tenants know their rights."
