New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had few words — two, mainly — when asked to respond to President Donald Trump slighting him in the State of the Union in a comment about city snow removal jobs: “Thank you.”
That’s the answer Mamdani gave reporters who gathered to watch him build a snowman with some kids on Wednesday — when public school students, at the mayor’s direction, returned to class in person after a day off.
“I’d like to say, ‘Thank you,'” Mamdani said. Incidentally, Trump gave the program national press.
The mayor said 1,400 New Yorkers signed up for the snow removal job program just on Tuesday, the day Trump tossed that barb. He also said the added support for his city workers is instrumental. These shovelers helped clear more than 16,000 crosswalks, more than 4,000 hydrants, and more than 7,000 bus stops, Mamdani said.
Trump had also mentioned having frequent conversations with Mamdani. He called him a “nice guy, bad policies” in the State of the Union. Mamdani acknowledged he and Trump speak but declined to elaborate the content of those conversations — beyond saying they were about the best interest of New York City
In his annual address to America Tuesday night, Trump targeted him.
He pointed to the mayor’s opposition to a national law that would require identification to vote as being in stark contrast to his administration’s support of an emergency snow shovelers program in which three forms of identification, including a Social Security number, are required in order to get a temp job shoveling snow.
“Even the new communist mayor of New York City — I think he’s a nice guy, actually, speaking to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy, just said they want people to shovel snow but if you apply for that job you need to show two original forms of ID and a Social Security card,” Trump said.
“Yet they don’t want identification for the greatest privilege of all: Voting in America,” the president said.
In New York, people have to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote, but don’t have to show ID when they cast their ballots.
Trump called the snow program evidence of Democratic inconsistency. The two have mostly taken an agreeable approach since meeting at the White House in November, following Trump’s insult-ridden yet failed campaign to keep the Democrat from office. That same approach was evident in the State of the Union exchange.
So what about those snow shoveling jobs?
The city had been offering up to $30 an hour for emergency snow shovelers during the storm — an attempt to both support New Yorkers in need of quick cash and the mayor’s pledges to expedite snow removal.
First, potential applications need to meet three conditions to be eligible to register for the program: 1) At least 18 years old; 2) Eligible to work in the United States; (3) Able to perform heavy physical labor.
It was the registration part to which Trump was referring. People have to show up near a sanitation garage — on a walk-in basis or with an appointment — with the following documents:
- Two original forms of ID, plus copies (if possible) and;
- Social Security number (bring card, if possible)
(More info on emergency snow shoveler registration here.)
Ultimately, snow plowing and removal efforts went pretty well across four of the five boroughs, at least. Staten Island, which got hit the hardest — some spots saw more than 2 feet of snow — called it absurd that Mamdani resumed in-person classes a day after the winter storm moved out. Leaders there say roads remained impassable. They say they’ll sit down with the Mamdani administration to chart a path forward.
