Since New York City’s mayoral primary in June, the ultrarich have been panicking over how to stop democratic socialist front-runner Zohran Mamdani. Now it seems they have found their answer: a helping hand from Donald Trump.

A major problem for Mamdani’s opponents has been that his competitors — incumbent mayor Eric Adams, former governor Andrew Cuomo, and quixotic Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa — all seem poised to split the anti-socialist vote. The last two months have seen a concerted effort by Republicans, centrist Democrats, and wealthy interests to try to consolidate around a single candidate. Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman attempted to find a solution early on, offering to bankroll a new challenger to Mamdani before declaring that Adams had actually been the right man for the job all along.

But in early August, the New York Times reported that Trump himself had talked to close Democratic allies of Cuomo, who attempted to convince the president that the former governor had the best shot at beating Mamdani in November. The Times also reported that Cuomo and Trump had spoken personally. More recently, Cuomo told the crowd at a Hamptons fundraiser that he was optimistic Trump would help convince Republicans to vote for him.