The president, who has a history of spewing sometimes vile insults at rivals, has in recent days escalated his attacks against the 33-year-old self-described democratic socialist. Trump has threatened to arrest Mamdani, to deport him and even to take over the country’s largest city if he wins the general election in November.

‘Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards. I’ll save New York City,’ the president says. Mr. Curl covered the White House for a dozen years as a correspondent for the Washington Times. He also ran the Drudge Report for four years as the morning editor.