What to Know
Hours after Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as the mayor of New York City, Karoline Leavitt posted to her Instagram Stories to call out his wife, the First Lady of New York, Rama Duwaji, for her designer boots. Per Leavitt’s Story, which has since expired, but the screenshots of which have made their way on social media, Duwaji and Mamdani are both “classic communists” for spending taxpayers’ money to afford their lifestyle. I mean, the call is coming from inside the house, but OK.
Apparently, the honeymoon is over when it comes to Donald Trump and Mamdani’s meeting in the Oval Office that people had hoped would make the mayor and his political values rub off on Trump. And, despite Leavitt’s own lavish lifestyle and designer labels, she felt the need to call out Mamdani’s wife about her boots, of all things.
Karoline Leavitt accused Zohran Mamdani and his wife of being “classic communists.”
@matthewarein 1/2 Another ridiculous maga temper tantrum
♬ original sound – matthewarein
In her Instagram Story, Leavitt shared a screenshot of a New York Post article that featured Duwaji wearing $630 boots to Mamdani’s inauguration event in January 2026. Leavitt wrote under the screenshot with her own thoughts, because of course she did. 2026 could not start off without Leavitt sharing her two cents (or maybe that would be five cents or something, since Trump banned pennies) about someone else.
“They want New Yorkers to hand over more than half their income to the government while she wears designer boots worth your weekly paycheck,” Leavitt wrote. “Classic communists. Rules for you, but not for them. There are reasons Communism has failed everywhere it’s been tried. Good luck, New York.”
Never mind the fact that Leavitt makes around $195,000, per the New Hampshire Bulletin, and her salary is paid for by taxpayers in the United States. According to Business Insider, Leavitt has some clothes designed specially for her. In fact, one of her White House outfits features a lining that looks like the American flag. In January 2025, Daily Mail reported that one outfit alone that Leavitt wore out in public cost around $900.
Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji’s stylist spoke out about those designer boots.
Duwaji might be seen in designer duds, but at the time of Mamdani’s inauguration, her husband had not yet been paid by the city of New York as the mayor, as he was not officially in office yet. Duwaji is an artist who makes up to six figures per year from art commissions, according to the Irish Star. If that’s accurate, then technically, she may be spending her own hard-earned money on whatever clothes she wears as the mayor’s wife.
On Jan. 1, while Duwaji’s fashion choices were apparently on trial via the internet, her stylist, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, wrote about the entire outfit in her blog. According to Karefa-Johnson, the Miists Shelley Boots were loaned to New York’s first lady for the event. In fact, much of her outfit was on loan to her, meaning, despite Leavitt’s claims, Duwaji did not spend taxpayers’ money on a designer outfit for Mamdani’s inauguration.
What comes next? Is this the beginning of a Drake/Kendrick Lamar level feud? Probably not, but U.S. politics are like a reality show, so there’s that.
