I ❤ NY: Queens recognizes Queens as Trump gives Mamdani a warm welcome | Donald Trump
TAmerica’s left-wing and MAGA armies are assembled, ready to watch their heroes do battle. After all, Donald Trump called Zahran Mamdani “a 100% communist lunatic” and “completely crazy.” The next democratic socialist mayor of New York, in turn, described the Republican US president as a “tyrant” and “fascist.”
But anyone who expected to see fists flying and shirts torn in the Oval Office was disappointed. In fact, Trump, 79, and Mamdani, 34, had a fairly good relationship. Beautifully, puzzlingly, and strangely good, actually. Instead of Batman v Superman, this was Toy Story best friends Woody and Buzz Lightyear.
The old left-right binaries may already be dead. This was a case of the recognition game – where the queens get to know the queens. Trump is now on much better terms with Zahran Mamdani than with fellow Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene. Mamdani received a warmer reception from Trump than his own party leaders — a world turned upside down.
The buddy movie begins with Trump sitting behind the Resolute Desk and Mamdani standing next to him, with a statuette of George Washington behind him. “We have one thing in common, which is that we want our city that we love to do very well,” the president said, referring to New York.
He added: “I think we’re going to have a really great mayor. The better he does, the happier I am. I will say there’s no difference in party, no difference in anything, and we’re going to help him realize everyone’s dream, of a very strong and safe New York.”
That mighty sound was the sound of the jaws of White House reporters hitting the Oval Office floor. This noise was the sound of Republican strategists subverting their own playbook to smear Mamdani as the Marxist face of the Democrats.
Romanticism – as contradictory as Trump Laughter and jokes With Barack Obama at Jimmy Carter’s funeral – we continued a lot of tangible body language. “It was a productive meeting that focused on the place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City, and the need to provide affordability for New Yorkers,” said Mamdani, who will be New York’s first Muslim mayor and once declared himself “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.”
Once reporters started asking questions, Trump acknowledged that Mamdani had views that “are out there” but predicted that they would “change” and “actually will surprise some conservatives.”
The two men noted that some Mamdani voters also voted for Trump. The Democratic Socialist said it was because of “the cost of living, the cost of living, the cost of living” — and he looked forward to implementing an “affordability agenda” with the president. “Some of his ideas are actually the same ideas I have,” Trump admitted.
So when Mamdani was asked about his previous description of Trump as an autocrat with a fascist agenda, he deftly shifted from points of contention to affordability. The president then interjected, saying: “I’ve been described as nothing worse than a tyrant, so this is no insult.”
What He was Is it considered an insult these days? totalitarian? tyrant? dictator? Führer? When a Fox News reporter asked if Mamdani stood by his comments that Trump is a fascist, Trump interrupted before he could fully answer the question.
“It’s okay. You can just say yes. Okay?” Trump said, patting Mamdani’s arm affectionately. “It’s easier…than explaining it. I don’t mind.”
Nice – but historians might argue that a US president flippantly dismissing the term fascist was not a stellar moment in the history of the republic.
Trump intervened again when a reporter asked Mamdani why he was traveling to Washington instead of taking a train that uses less fossil fuels. “I will support you,” the president said, before saying that the flight was faster and that Mamdani was busy.
When someone asked about Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a staunch Trump ally running for governor of New York, after she called Mamdani a “jihadist,” the president said he disagreed, calling him “a very rational person.”
One can imagine that Stefanik was reached out to comment and say: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
In fact, it was difficult to get a chip between Mamdani and Trump. “I expect to help him, not hurt him — a big help,” said the president, who previously threatened to withdraw federal funding from America’s largest city if Mamdani wins the mayoral race on November 4. “Because I want New York City to be great.”
When asked if he would feel comfortable living in New York under a Mamdani administration, billionaire Trump replied: “Yes, I would, I really would — especially after the meeting, for sure. We agree on a lot more than I thought.”
He explained that they discussed how when Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders dropped out of the 2016 presidential race, Trump picked up “a lot” of his voters on his way to his first presidential campaign because Sanders raised issues like business deal fraud. “Bernie Sanders and I agreed on a lot more than people thought,” Trump said.
The comment implies that the far left and far right ends of the political spectrum are not on opposite ends of a straight line, but rather moving toward each other. Like the ends of a horseshoe. Hence, Trump and Mamdani may have more in common than they do with establishment moderates in their parties.
To be sure, both channeled frustration with the status quo and elites. But as Trump courtes oligarchs, plans a lavish ballroom and enriches his family, his claim to economic populism is hard to accept.
Perhaps his warm handshake with Mamdani on Friday was less about ideology and more about Trump’s love of the winner, making the president willing to curry favor with the mayor-elect.
As Trump put it: “It’s amazing what he did.”
The president may recognize a fellow scientist when it comes to insurgent election campaigns. Or maybe two New Yorkers sit in a room and say “I ❤ New York,” which is a language that no one can fully understand.