President Donald Trump and his allies wrongly accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of hypocrisy on Monday, according to a Mamdani spokesperson, after a clip went viral among MAGA circles showing a city official suggesting a system to ensure stores were “focused on everyday New Yorkers,” which was widely compared to the voter ID bill Trump zealously advocates for.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani holds up bananas as he speaks at a food distribution center on July 27, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Mamdani then called New York City Economic Development Corporation head Jeanny Pak to the podium to elaborate, and she said “we are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be sort of a library card-esque [system] and also we manage who’s buying and that is focused on everyday New Yorkers.”
MAGA, seizing on the opportunity to attack socialist Mamdani and promote the SAVE Act, alleged the comments meant that Democrats support ID for some things, such as city-run grocery stores, but won’t support proof-of-citizenship to register to vote.
“I wish they’d have an ID to access the voting booth,” Trump said when asked about Mamdani’s potential ID requirement, also accusing the mayor of having “a thing where you had to have two different IDs to shovel snow.”
