Based on polling, primary results, and early voting data, Zohran Mamdani does not need Donald Trump’s help to be elected as New York City’s next mayor on Tuesday. And yet, the president, who is highly unpopular in the city in which he lived for most of his life, still provided an inadvertent assist to the Democratic nominee by endorsing his opponent, former Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent.

In a social media post into which he tried to cram the word “communist” as many times as possible, Trump threatened New Yorkers with repercussions if they were to elect Mamdani as their next mayor.

And if there is one thing New Yorkers like, it’s being threatened.

“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!” Trump wrote. “It can only get worse with a Communist at the helm, and I don’t want to send, as President, good money after bad.”

Mamdani, of course, is not a communist.

In fact, between the two of them, Trump may be the one who is more likely to embrace the ideology’s foundational concept of taking over the means of production.

During his second term, the US government has already taken stakes in US Steel, the chip maker Intel, and companies that produce rare earth minerals.

It is unlikely that Trump is aware of the irony here, seeing how his post professed complete ignorance of the origins of communism.

“His principles have been tested for over a thousand years, and never once have they been successful,” the president wrote of Mamdani.

For what it’s worth, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels only published their Communist Manifesto less than 200 years ago, but who is counting?

And, once again, it doesn’t really matter since Mamdani never claimed to be a communist and doesn’t pursue a communist agenda.

Instead, he just wants rich people to pay more so that living in New York City becomes affordable for regular people.

To Republicans, that is a frightening prospect, and they are petrified that Mamdani could succeed, which is why Trump is throwing his lot in with the unpopular former governor.

“I would much rather see a Democrat, who has had a Record of Success, WIN, than a Communist with no experience and a Record of COMPLETE AND TOTAL FAILURE,” the president wrote. “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”

So, what about Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee?

For him, Trump only has some fashion advice, stating that he “looks much better without the beret.”

Even if the president’s endorsement, or his threats, carried some weight, it comes very late in the race. Early voting has already ended, and more than 700,000 New Yorkers have already cast their ballots. Based on past mayoral elections and turnout projections, that is more than one-third of all expected voters.