Featured Image Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Zohran Mamdani, Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Zohran Mamdani, Donald Trump, US News, Politics
In the days since Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York City's latest mayoral elections, some have noticed an apparent shift in Donald Trump's posts.
For those in need of a reminder, the 79-year-old has been a strong opposer of Mamdani - a Democratic socialist, the city's first Muslim mayor of South Asian heritage, who was also born in Africa - both personally and politically for some time now.
As well as previously slamming the 34-year-old's appearance, intelligence and competence in a series of past social media posts, Trump also threatened to withhold funding from New York City if Mamdani were to be elected.
In his victory speech on Wednesday (5 November), Mandami directly addressed the president, with Trump then issuing his own thoughts about his win.
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Since his victory, however, Trump has been spotted taking a sudden interest in grocery costs.
In a post shared yesterday (6 Nov), the president wrote: "Walmart just announced that Prices for a Thanksgiving Dinner is now down 25 per cent.
"AFFORDABILITY is a Republican Stronghold. Hopefully, Republicans will use this irrefutable fact!"
The post was shared on X, which eventually got fact-checked as it was made clear that the number of items had decreased to 15 from 21 in 2024, and had been replaced by Walmart-branded items.
The unexpected post has seemingly confused several onlookers; however, given that Trump has consistently denied that affordability is a problem for America.
In a C-SPAN interview recently, for example, he claimed: "Our energy costs are way down. Our groceries are way down. Everything is way down. And the press does not report it… Thanksgiving meals are 25 per cent down. So I don't want to hear about the affordability."
And in an interview with Fox News, the 79-year-old said that prices were 'already down', but that it was other Republicans who weren't talking about affordability.
In response to a MAGA supporter's questions about the rising economic climate, the president responded: "Beef we have to get down. I think of groceries, it’s an old-fashioned word but it’s a beautiful word. Beef we have to get down but we’ve got prices way down.”
He continued: "I think they are coming down, but they are down already. I think the biggest problem is Republicans don't talk about it. They don't talk about the word affordability and the Democrats lie about it."
It hasn't gone unnoticed that one of Mamdani's key beliefs is that the government has a responsibility to reduce economic inequality, improve affordability and ensure working-class people and ethnic minorities aren't cast aside.
As such, onlookers have joked that Trump's latest social media posts hint that his political enemy might be living in his head rent-free.
"Mamdani and other Dems sweep an election day and suddenly Trump can’t stop talking about affordability," one X user jibed. "Maybe had he spent the last year on that instead of golfing and building a ballroom, he’d have some actual progress."
"It was nice of Mamdani to teach Trump the word 'affordability'. His vocabulary is rather limited and certainly never contained that word," another teased.
A third noted: "Lmao Trump has been nonstop posting about 'affordability' since Zohran won."