New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani responded to Vice President JD Vance’s claims about the Trump administration’s achievements in New York with a brief video that quickly gained traction online. Vance had posted on X on Monday, listing what he described as the administration’s accomplishments for the city and state.
Among the accomplishments Vance highlighted was a “Safer Communities” section, which claimed a 48% drop in murders and the lowest crime rate ever recorded for both New York State and New York City. He also pointed to efforts to curb illegal immigration in the city, including the removal of five “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens. The vice president also cited economic gains under Trump, including protected wages, an average tax refund of $3,843, and what he called a “historic investment” of more than $472 billion in the city by tech companies Micron, Anthropic, and IBM.
However, the vice president’s claims were soon challenged by a Community Note shortly after going live, which pointed out that several of the accomplishments Vance touted were policies implemented by Mamdani, a Democrat, earlier this year. In contrast, others used inflated figures to paint a distorted picture of investment. “Several figures here aren’t federal results or NY-specific,” the note read. “The $472B combines U.S. wide pledges: Micron’s $250B is nationwide (NY site $100B); Anthropic’s $50B covers TX and NY. The 48% murder drop is from NY’s state-run GIVE program (28 departments, Jan — May 2026).” Micron’s investment in New York totals $100 billion, with the rest of its $250 billion plan distributed nationwide, according to the New York Governor’s Office. Anthropic’s $50 billion investment was also split between Texas and New York, as noted in the Community Note.
Mamdani responds with a meme
Mamdani responded with a 9-second video featuring online prankster Olly Bee, known as the “world’s hardest worker.” The December 2025 clip shows Bee in a high-visibility vest, playfully assisting a subway train and its passengers. Some viewers saw it as a tongue-in-cheek response to Vance’s claims, while others debated its intended meaning or simply found it humorous.
Mamdani’s quote-tweet comes a little under a week after Vance was questioned about whether Trump was going “soft” on the New York mayor. The vice president responded, “New York City has a very special place in his heart. Obviously, it’s where he raised his family. It’s where he called home for many, many years… He’s aware of the dangers of communism, and certainly he recognizes Mamdani as really far out there.”
“The president is under no illusions that this guy is dangerous, and he’s bad for the United States of America. He’s bad for our country,” Vance went on to claim. “Our movement, if it’s about anything, it’s about beating communists like Mamdani from ever having power [in] a national office.”
Meanwhile, American voters will decide the fate of the first two years of President Donald Trump’s second term in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Polls and nonpartisan analysts currently favor Democrats to reclaim the House from Republicans. Democrats are heavily favored to gain control of the House in this week’s U.S. midterm elections, with analyst Nate Silver’s forecast model giving them an 82% chance.
Published: Nov 4, 2026 05:30 am