New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo was pressed from the left by 11th Hour host Stephanie Ruhle over sharing mutual donors with President Trump during a taped interview, Monday night. Cuomo was unwilling to admit why Republicans would be willing to align themselves with him, and made an effort to create distance between the two sides by attacking Trump.
The machine Democrat, now running as an Independent, was asked as to why he was backed by Trump donors. After Cuomo played dumb, the MSNBC host pushed further, repeatedly in an attempt to tie Cuomo to a figure greatly hated by the left (Click “expand”):
RUHLE: You share a lot of his same donors right now. There are a lot of New Yorkers who are very excited about your campaign, who are also very excited about Donald Trump. Don't tell me that's not true.
CUOMO: Are there New Yorkers who gave money to me and gave money to Donald Trump? Of course. Of course.
RUHLE: Why is that an “of course”?
CUOMO: Well, why not? If you are a New Yorker, you know Donald Trump, you know me. Many of them would give money to Donald Trump and give money to me. And money —
RUHLE: Why? What do you and Donald Trump share in common?
CUOMO: We’re New Yorkers. They know me. They know him.
RUHLE: But let's just stay on this. And I don't want to take too much more of your time, because I'm surprised by this. You think that something about Donald Trump makes someone give Donald Trump a check and Andrew Cuomo a check? What is that thing that the two of you both share?
CUOMO: I think that people who know him and people who know me. I think —
RUHLE: What are those things?
CUOMO: The personal knowledge he lived here, I live here. You may be a friend of Donald Trump. You may know me. You may contribute to him. You may contribute to me.
In fact, Cuomo had a history of receiving donations from Trump-friendly backers (including Trump himself, once upon a time).
It’s no secret that those with the means to do so will donate to their preferred (and likely to win) candidates in order to curry political favor. The prospect of Mamdani, a self-professed Democratic Socialist, becoming mayor of the world’s capitalism capital could be disastrous for businesses of all sizes. A fact Ruhle understood fully but was pretending not to.
Cuomo was the only candidate with any real chance of beating Mamdani, which was why pro-capitalism donors have donated large sums to his campaign. Donald Trump, an America-First, pro-business President had received donations and gifts for the same kinds of reasons.
Ruhle should not have been surprised that those invested in the Big Apple would donate to both personalities. Cuomo was simply avoiding an answer that would make him look like a Republican sympathizer.
Cuomo then shifted the conversation directly against Trump:
There's no similarity. As a matter of fact, there is no one who — no two people have had a more hostile relationship than myself and Mr. Trump. No one had a more hostile relationship as Governor and as President. And Mr. Trump's dream would be Mr. Mamdani…
Mayor Eric Adams and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa were allegedly offered roles within the Trump administration in order to bolster Cuomo’s odds in the mayoral race. And Trump had railed against Mamdani, whose proposed policies could have ramifications for the entire nation, and doesn’t want to see his hometown turned into a communist dump (more so than it already has been).
Ruhle also couldn’t help but jump on the anti-Trump bandwagon, “But is that about redemption from Trump? Because the truth is, this is a city that rejected him as a business person, and a politician, and a human.”
Funnily enough, Cuomo made a decent case for Trump’s recent deployment of federal troops into liberal cities towards the end of the interview:
He wants to prove New Yorkers wrong. And Mamdani will be the perfect excuse for him. Because they'll be — he'll wait for the first murder, first homeless, mentally ill person to push someone onto the tracks, first homeless, mentally ill person to stab someone, and he'll come in on his white horse. “Here I am. I have to take over.” If you notice where he sends the National Guard, he sends the National Guard to cities where there's a somewhat colorable case that something went wrong, and therefore he has to step in.
Exactly. Trump had sent in troops where violence had disrupted federal operations, which occur in cities where progressive officials and their policies refuse and fail to prevent crime. If you didn’t want the federal government doing your job for you, maybe you should’ve done your job in the first place.
If Ruhle should have pressed any question, it would be, “How did we ever end up in a world where a disgraced former Governor is the more favorable option?”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" read:
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
October 6, 2025
11:35:18 p.m. EST
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Your opponent, Zohran Mamdani, believes that Trump is helping you, right? Trump has called Mamdani 100 percent communist lunatic. And Mamdani says, Trump is clearing the path for you, and if elected, you will clear the path for his agenda. What do you say to that?
FMR GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Let's go back to the word delusional. There is no Governor in the United States of America, no elected official who fought more with Donald Trump than I did. None.
RUHLE: You share a lot of his same donors right now. There are a lot of New Yorkers who are very excited about your campaign, who are also very excited about Donald Trump. Don't tell me that's not true.
CUOMO: Are there New Yorkers who gave money to me and gave money to Donald Trump? Of course. Of course.
RUHLE: Why is that an “of course”?
CUOMO: Well, why not? If you are a New Yorker, you know Donald Trump, you know me. Many of them would give money to Donald Trump and give money to me. And money —
RUHLE: Why? What do you and Donald Trump share in common?
CUOMO: We’re New Yorkers. They know me. They know him.
RUHLE: But let's just stay on this. And I don't want to take too much more of your time, because I'm surprised by this. You think that something about Donald Trump makes someone give Donald Trump a check and Andrew Cuomo a check? What is that thing that the two of you both share?
CUOMO: I think that people who know him and people who know me. I think —
RUHLE: What are those things?
CUOMO: The personal knowledge he lived here, I live here. You may be a friend of Donald Trump. You may know me. You may contribute to him. You may contribute to me.
There's no similarity. As a matter of fact, there is no one who — no two people have had a more hostile relationship than myself and Mr. Trump. No one had a more hostile relationship as Governor and as President. And Mr. Trump's dream would be Mr. Mamdani, for two reasons.
First, he'd run around the country with a little picture of Mr. Mamdani and say, “Look at the Democrats. They just elected this commie. First job as mayor of New York. Wants to defund the police, legalize prostitution, legalize shoplifting. He's everything that's wrong with the Democratic Party. That's why you need me.”
Literally, in the midterms I believe you will lose seats if Mamdani is mayor. And you see the swing Democrats in New York in the surrounding suburbs distancing themselves from Mamdani. You see, in the New Jersey Governor's race, the Democratic candidate distancing. So, number one, he would be political candy for them in the midterm.
Number two, it allows Donald Trump to come in — and he himself has already said this — “I'm going to take over New York for the good of the people of New York. Not with the National Guard. I have to come in and I have to take over because this kid can't protect New Yorkers.”
RUHLE: But is that about redemption from Trump? Because the truth is, this is a city that rejected him as a business person, and a politician, and a human.
CUOMO: Yes. But he wants control. He came in here a few weeks ago, took over Penn Station. Nobody said, “Boo.” Penn station, right in the middle of Manhattan. One of the great icons. I worked on it as Governor for years with the MTA to redo it. He came in, took over the MTA, no one said, “Boo.” And the Secretary of Transportation, “Kids, were going to build it and call it, call it ‘Trump Central.’” By the way, you know what it's going to be called? Trump Central. I'll bet you dollars to donuts. He wants control of New York. He was talking about taking control of the 9/11 site. Why? Because he wants control.
You said he was rejected by New Yorkers. That, I think, is a real factor in this. He wants to prove New Yorkers wrong. And Mamdani will be the perfect excuse for him. Because they'll be — he'll wait for the first murder, first homeless, mentally ill person to push someone onto the tracks, first homeless, mentally ill person to stab someone, and he'll come in on his white horse. “Here I am. I have to take over.” If you notice where he sends the National Guard, he sends the National Guard to cities where there's a somewhat colorable case that something went wrong, and therefore he has to step in. Mamdani is just an open invitation.
So of course, he wants Mamdani to win. And of course he wants the Republican Party, wants Mamdani as a poster boy to run against. The last person he wants is me, because no one was a more difficult opponent for that man than me. Yes, he knows his way around a boxing ring. So do I.
RUHLE: Then if he's the biggest threat to this city and this country, if Mamdani were to win this Mayoral election, would you support him after?
CUOMO: Of course. Of course. If Mamdani wins, it's going to be Donald Trump taking over New York. And they don't — no one has figured out the riddle, you know. This — well, if he sends in the National Guard, which he'll go well beyond the National Guard with New York, he'll just — the power of the federal government over a state, and a city is much greater than anyone thinks. Forget the National Guard. Just cut all the funding. You control the airports. You control the housing money. You control the health care money. You turn off the faucet. The city's bankrupt in two months. So, he has unlimited power. And that's what he will do. He will wait for the excuse, and then he will come in to take over New York.
(…)