Even before New York’s Young Republican Club started selling “Deport Mamdani” T-shirts, it was clear the Trump administration would do everything within, and beyond, its power to sabotage a progressive New York City mayoral administration. That the leader of such an administration would be the target of Islamophobic attacks would only make this easier, as would the cheers from the national Democratic establishment.

But while Democratic elites can meddle in the primary and general elections, they will become bit players if Mamdani wins office. Then the principal axis of conflict will run between a national government captained largely by reactionary billionaires, and the democratic choice of the most socioeconomically and ethnically diverse city in the nation.

Thanks to Donald Trump’s propensity to telegraph his intentions and his actions in office already, the contours and stakes of that incipient conflict are already coming into focus. That conflict is not one a Mamdani administration could easily win, but there are better and worse ways for the potential democratic socialist mayor to play his hand. Historical reflection and a careful tally of the possibilities for action on both sides has lessons for navigating the challenge — lessons that other left candidates at the state and local level can use too.