resident Trump said Sunday said he will meet with D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George, the likely future mayor of the District whom Mr. Trump described as a “communist.”
Mr. Trump blasted Ms. Lewis George, who calls herself a democratic socialist, for her prior political stances and said he will not let those affect the District’s governance.
“Janeese Lewis George, the Communist who is almost certainly going to be elected Mayor of Washington, D.C., has stated that she wants to empty the prisons, make D.C. a Sanctuary City, oppose ICE, welcome Criminal Illegal Aliens back into our beloved Capital, resist Anti-Crime Crackdowns, Defund the Police, continue and expand Cashless Bail, and so many other Capital destroying things,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“I will meet with Janeese Lewis George, but must forewarn everyone that Washington, D.C., is again a Safe and Prestigious Community. Many people, including myself, have worked long and hard to get it there, and we will not let it be destroyed by a Communist adherent who has no intention to, Make Washington Great Again!” the president wrote.
Ms. Lewis George trounced her moderate competitor, former councilman Kenyan McDuffie, in the June 16 Democratic primary for the mayor post.
Democratic voters heavily outnumber Republicans in the District, all but assuring that she will be elected mayor in the general election this fall.
The councilwoman ran on affordability issues, such as lowering the cost of childcare and expanding rent control properties in the District, and has also been a critic of Mr. Trump’s federal intervention in the city, particularly in law enforcement matters.
In a backhanded way though, Ms. Lewis George credited Mr. Trump’s earlier criticisms of her as helping spur her victory at the ballot box.
“It motivated people to get to the polls,” she told a press gaggle on election night when she held a commanding lead. “I heard that today when I went to the polls, that residents came up to me and said, ’You know what? If Trump doesn’t like you, I love you.’”
The federal government holds much more power over the District than it does over New York, Minneapolis or other left-leaning U.S. cities though, making an all-resistance strategy for Ms. Lewis George a much tougher road for her.
Ms. Lewis George joins a number of acknowledged socialists to win high office in major cities. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is a democratic socialist, as is New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Mr. Mamdani’s political capital seems to be appreciating, with his endorsements helping three other members of the Democratic Socialists of America win Democratic congressional primaries in the state, although they were all is safely blue districts.
Mr. Trump appears to be spoiling for a fight with current leaders of the left-wing movement.
“The Communists are finally making their move. I’ve been waiting and preparing for this for a long time,” Mr. Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social. “It’s easy to be a Communist — All you have to do is say, ‘I’ll give you everything,’ but that means you’re taking it away from others that have earned it.”
“Over thousands of years, that Ideology has not worked once,” he said. “The game is on. Enjoy watching!”
