Trump said he would even be comfortable moving back to New York City and living there with Mamdani as mayor, saying he was surprised how much they had in common.
For months, Donald Trump warned New Yorkers against electing Zohran Mamdani as mayor, referring to him as a “communist lunatic.” Mamdani, meanwhile, called Trump a “despot.”
All of that was put aside in an extraordinary Oval Office get-together Friday, the first face-to-face meeting between the two men.
Trump, who sought to kneecap Mamdani during the campaign, was exceedingly complimentary of the self-described democratic socialist, while Mamdani repeatedly talked up his hope that he and the president could work together to lower costs for New Yorkers.
It’s triangulation.
The plans Mamdani campaigned on are going to cost billions, and will require state and federal support to have any chance of success. He said as much himself and I imagine that’s why he agreed to the meeting.
Hochul supported him verbally and now Trump has too (words are free).
From Trump’s perspective, if he had done a presser where he immediately shits on Mamdani to his face, and vows to oppose him with the entire Federal apparatus, then that adds fuel for more people to potentially support Mamdani-like figures if for no other reason than opposition to Trump. It also gives Mamdani an easy target to blame if his policies ultimately fail in NYC.
In contrast, Trump comes out and says “NYC is great, it’s gonna be great under his leadership, he can do it” etc. then later when things don’t go so well in New York (which Trump is betting on) then it’s easier for Trump to say Mamdani owns the failures.
Its the same thing as building up a debate opponent prior to the event and then it becomes easier to suggest they underperformed expectations.