In a scene that perfectly captures the strangeness of American politics today, President Donald Trump, a billionaire and self-styled champion of American business (at least the ones he likes) was all smiles during an Oval Office visit from Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist and mayor-elect of New York City.
For months, the two men traded the harshest of insults. Mamdani was a "communist" and "radical left lunatic"; Trump a "fascist" and "despot." Yet with New York's mayoral election over and cameras clicking, the insults were on hold. The men praised each other as "rational" and "productive." Trump even joked that Mamdani might "surprise some conservative people."
