Just weeks ago, Donald Trump announced that Zohran Mamdani is “off to a bad start” after the Mayor-elect called him out in his victory speech. But after this Friday’s meeting, the president appears to be head over heels in love with the dashing mayor-elect.
The smiley faces Trump gave out during the press gaggle with Mamdani in the Oval Office are plastered all over the internet. We don’t know what magic Mamdani used on him, but it worked wonders. Though it’s not unusual for political opponents to act civilly in person despite trashing each other otherwise, the sparks of chemistry flew in the room during Trump and Mamdani’s Nov. 21 meeting.
Trump doesn’t even smile this big when he’s with JD Vance. Whatever happened between them, Trump left out a different man. He’s no longer labeling Mamdani a “100% communist lunatic” and is surprisingly fine being called a “fascist” by him. He suddenly changed his sentiments from claiming that Mamdani would “ruin” NYC to saying he would happily live in the city during his term.
Trump has pulled back all his hateful cards against Mamdani
For New Yorkers, this is great news. After the meeting, Trump also retracted his previous threats to deploy the National Guard in New York City. Little over a month ago, the President threatened to pull all money from the city and have it guarded by his troops if Mamdani wins. But on Saturday, he did a U-turn on the threat:
“Right now, other places need it more… We had a very good meeting yesterday. We talked about that. But if they need it, I would do it.”
Trump also vowed to help NYC
A day later, Mamdani appeared on Meet the Press and confirmed to moderator Kristen Welker that no National Guard would be placed in NYC. “I made it very clear what we wanted to do was to deliver public safety and affordability, and the N.Y.P.D. would be the ones to do so,” he said. (via NY Times) He, too, called the conversation with Trump “productive.” And the tensions between the two seem to have magically cleared up.
In another highlighting moment from the press gaggle, Trump suggested that Mamdani would be “a really great mayor.” He added that “I expect to be helping him, not hurting him.” To think that just a month ago, he was commenting on Mamdani like “he looks TERRIBLE, his voice is grating, he’s not very smart,” we’re desperate to know Mamdani’s tricks to knock the president off his feet like that.
