President Donald Trump on Wednesday addressed scorching criticism from Zohran Mamdani, who trounced disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in New York City’s mayoral race and ordered the president in his fiery victory speech to “turn the volume up.”

“I think it’s a very dangerous statement for him to make,” Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier. “He has to be a little bit respectful of Washington, because if he’s not, he doesn’t have a chance of succeeding. And I want to make him succeed.”

He quickly clarified, “I want to make the city succeed, I don’t want to make him succeed.”

Trump has vilified the democratic socialist throughout his progressive campaign, which called for affordable housing and various social safety nets. Mamdani endured racist attacks from conservative critics before beating Cuomo, whom Trump had endorsed.

Mamdani called Trump a “despot” who has “betrayed” the nation in his speech Tuesday. He went on to encourage his supporters to use their votes and voices to “stop the next” Trump by “dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.”

“I thought it was a very angry speech,” Trump told Baier. “Certainly angry toward me, and I think he should be nice to me. I’m sort of the one that has to approve a lot of things coming to him, so he’s off to a bad start.”

Supporters would argue Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents and moved to New York when he was 7, is off to a great one. He’s set to become the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor and, at 34 years old, its youngest in more than a century.

Trump echoed widespread conservative reactions Wednesday in painting Mamdani as “angry,” though other right-wing lawmakers, influencers and pundits expressed their apparent horror at Mamdani’s triumph with explicit racism and Islamophobia.

Trump opted instead to reiterate his baseless prior claim that Mamdani is an anti-capitalist, telling Baier: “Look, for thousands of years communism has not worked. Communism, or the concept of communism, has not worked. I tend to doubt it will work this time.”

Trump called Mamdani “a 100% Communist Lunatic” on social media in June after he became New York City’s Democratic nominee for mayor. Mamdani later denied the claim with a smile during a far more civil exchange on “Meet the Press” with host Kristen Welker.

Trump on Wednesday claimed to be “torn” by Mamdani’s victory due to his “love” for New York City, suggesting little faith while also claiming he “would like to see the new mayor do well.” When asked if he’s thought about reaching out, Trump showed little enthusiasm.

“I would say he needs to reach out to us, really,” he told Baier. “I’m here. We’ll see what happens, but I would think it would be more appropriate for him to reach out to us.”