The mayor says 1,400 people signed up to shovel snow the same day Trump mocked the program on national television
Trump Mocked the Program. New York Signed Up Anyway.
When President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address to take a jab at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s emergency snow shoveling program, the mayor’s response the next day was brief, pointed, and somewhat theatrical. “I’d like to say, ‘Thank you,'” Mamdani told reporters on Wednesday, February 25, while building a snowman with children outside a New York school. He noted that 1,400 New Yorkers had signed up for the city’s emergency shoveler program on the very day Trump attacked it from the House chamber.
That number, Mamdani suggested, was proof that when the president directed national attention at a city program, New Yorkers responded not with embarrassment but with participation. The shovelers who had signed up helped clear more than 16,000 crosswalks, more than 4,000 fire hydrants, and more than 7,000 bus stops during and after the February blizzard — one of the most significant winter storms in New York City history.
What Trump Actually Said
During his State of the Union, Trump referenced the snow shoveler registration process, which requires applicants to be at least 18 years old, eligible to work in the United States, and capable of performing heavy physical labor. Crucially, registration requires two original forms of ID and a Social Security card. Trump used this to draw a contrast with Mamdani’s opposition to a proposed federal voter ID requirement.
“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 contrast Trump drew rests on a distinction between employment eligibility verification — which has been standard across American workplaces for decades — and electoral ID requirements, which critics argue have historically been used to suppress votes among communities of color, elderly voters, and low-income Americans. In New York, voters must show proof of citizenship when they register, but are not required to present ID at the polls on Election Day.
The ID Debate: Context Matters
The federal and state debate over voter identification requirements is long-running and well-documented. Brennan Center for Justice research has consistently found that strict photo ID requirements disproportionately affect Black, Latino, elderly, and low-income voters — groups that are also among the most reliably Democratic constituencies in cities like New York. Proponents argue ID requirements are a common-sense anti-fraud measure. Opponents note that documented in-person voter fraud is exceedingly rare while disenfranchisement effects are well-documented.
The employment ID requirement Trump cited is governed by federal I-9 verification rules, which apply to all employers across the country regardless of political affiliation and are designed to verify work authorization rather than citizenship for voting purposes. The two processes serve different legal and constitutional functions.
Mamdani and Trump: More Complicated Than It Seems
Trump’s reference to Mamdani as a “nice guy” despite calling him a communist tracks with the surprisingly cordial public relationship the two have maintained since their November White House meeting. Mamdani acknowledged to reporters that he and Trump speak regularly, though he declined to reveal the content of their conversations beyond saying they concern the best interests of New York City.
That relationship is unusual in the current political climate and reflects Mamdani’s pragmatic approach to federal power: oppose it on policy while keeping lines of communication open on issues that directly affect the city’s funding and services. Whether Trump’s SOTU comment was a genuine policy critique or a political shot aimed at national audiences — or both — the mayor chose not to take the bait.
Staten Island: A Remaining Challenge
While the shoveler program garnered national attention, the mayor acknowledged that snow removal had not been uniform across the city. Staten Island, which received more than two feet of snow in some neighborhoods, continued to see complaints from residents about impassable side streets. Mamdani acknowledged the borough’s challenges and announced that DSNY would double its Staten Island crews. That response came after residents and Borough President Vito Fossella publicly called out the city’s performance. Fossella credited the pressure: “Ultimately, our voices were heard,” he said.
The episode — from the blizzard to Trump’s speech to the snowman photo op — illustrated the speed at which local governance can become national political theater in the Mamdani era. For a mayor who ran on the idea that competent, progressive city government could be a counterweight to federal conservatism, how New York handles a snowstorm has become, improbably, a statement about American democracy.
