Malliotakis blasts socialism on House floor on same day Mamdani and Trump meet

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said she was educating her colleagues as she spent three minutes Friday on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives blasting socialist ideology and the proposed policies of incoming NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani.

“Socialism is communism light,” said Malliotakis, a Republican who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn.

A self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, the mayor-elect was visiting Washington, D.C. on Friday for a first-ever meeting with President Donald Trump.

With Mamdani due in town, Malliotakis set his proposed policies, such as government-run grocery stores, in her crosshairs.

“Yes, he says he’s a socialist. But guess what my friends, those are policies straight out of the communist playbook of Karl Marx.”

Mamdani has consistently rejected the suggestion he is a communist, after being labeled that way through the course of the mayoral campaign by the president and other foes.

Earlier this year on NBC’s Meet the Press, Mamdani said “I am not a communist,” and continued, “when we talk about my politics, I call myself a Democratic socialist, in many ways inspired by the words of Dr. King from decades ago, who said, call it Democracy or call it Democratic socialism, there has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country.”

Malliotakis, however, said Friday that “socialism is the first step to communism,” and called socialist policies “the antithesis of the American dream.”

“Millions of immigrants in this country fled their homeland to come to the United States to escape socialism and communism,” she said. “Just ask your constituents from Russia, from Poland, from Albania, from China, from Korea, from Vietnam, from Venezuela or Cuba where my mother fled in 1959 to escape the very things that our new socialist mayor in New York City says he wants.”

She went on to say, “New York City chose to learn the hard way what socialism is. And we, those of us who did not vote for this guy (Mamdani) are going to pay the price.”

Mamdani’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

A surprising visit

Malliotakis’ comments came before a meeting that some expected to be a bitter face-off between the president and mayor-elect. Instead, the two were friendly when appearing in front of reporters, speaking repeatedly of their shared goals to help Trump’s hometown rather than their combustible differences.

Trump, who had in the past called Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job,” spoke openly of how impressed he was with the man who had called his administration “authoritarian.”

“I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually,” Trump said as Mamdani stood next to him in the Oval Office.

Until now, the men have been political foils who galvanized their supporters by taking on each other, and it’s unclear how those backers will react to their genial get-together and complimentary words.

“We’re going to be helping him, to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York,” the president said.

“What I really appreciate about the president is that the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani and Trump said they discussed housing affordability and the cost of groceries and utilities, as Mamdani successfully used frustration over inflation to get elected, just as the president did in the 2024 election.

“Some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have,” the president said of Mamdani about inflationary issues.

Before the meeting, in an appearance on Fox News, Malliotakis had predicted that the president would find a “path forward” with Mamdani, noting that “the campaign’s over.”

Earlier in the week, Malliotakis had found one reason to strike a more positive note about the mayor-elect, posting on X, “I’m cautiously optimistic about the Mayor-elect’s decision to keep @nypdpc Tisch. BUT this will only work out for New Yorkers & our officers if he takes her advice & recommendations,” she wrote. “He has already reversed course on replacing cops with social workers for domestic incidents. That’s good news.”

In a written statement on Saturday, Malliotakis said of the meeting between Mamdani and Trump, “Clearly, our president and mayor-elect had a positive first meeting. If they can meet in the middle, it will be a good thing for New Yorkers.

“As our city’s only Republican representative in Washington, I’ll push back on Mamdani’s socialist agenda but will also fight any attempt to punish New York. I’ll work with both the president and mayor to deliver critical funding for public safety, housing, transportation, infrastructure and our hospitals.”