President Donald Trump issued a provocative threat during a Cabinet meeting this week: If New York City elects a “communist” mayor, he might take the city over, just like he might take over Washington,

Evan Vucci/AP “If a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,” Trump said in an extended riff Tuesday in which he also criticized Washington’s local government,

President Donald Trump promised to “straighten out New York” but didn’t give specifics on the authority he would invoke to take control over the city. During his first