President Donald Trump’s Oval Office meetings have become appointment viewing in his second term.
But few have generated as much anticipation as when he welcomed New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Friday afternoon.
Plenty were expecting a clash between the president and the young, up-and-coming democratic socialist politician whom Republicans have made clear they would very much like to turn into their 2026 boogeyman.
What we got was decidedly not that.
Below are some takeaways from the bizarrely chummy event.
Okay, some people predicted that a version of this might happen. But it was still remarkable – especially coming from Trump.
Reporters kept peppering the two men with questions pointing to their differences and the awful things they’d said about one another.
But the two kept batting away the chance to throw down, emphasizing their common ground.
Among Trump’s comments:
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“I think he’s going to surprise some conservative people, actually.”
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“Some of his ideas really are the same ideas that I have.”
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“We agree on a lot more than I would’ve thought.”
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“I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.”
When a reporter noted Trump had threatened to cut funding to New York City if Mamdani were elected, the president suggested that he’ll play that card if he needs to. But he also downplayed the possibility.
“I expect to be helping him, not hurting him,” Trump said.
The compliments were largely flowing from Trump to Mamdani. But Mamdani clearly held his fire on Trump.
Rather than litigate differences with Trump, he regularly brought things right back to his pet issue: affordability.
When asked about having said the US government was complicit in an alleged Israeli genocide in Gaza, Mamdani didn’t back away, but he quickly pivoted to affordability.
Towards the end, a reporter asked if New York City loved Trump. Mamdani wouldn’t go that far, but he did do Trump a solid.
“I can tell you that there were more New Yorkers who voted for President Trump in the most recent presidential election because of that focus on cost of living,” Mamdani said, “and I’m looking forward to working together to deliver on that affordability agenda.”
But it wasn’t just that the two men said nice things about one another. It almost seemed like Trump was playing defense for his new buddy.
When a reporter asked Mamdani about having previously labeled Trump a “fascist,” Trump basically gave him permission to say such things.
“That’s ok. You can just say yes,” Trump said. “That’s easier. It’s easier than explaining.”
Likewise, when it was noted that Mamdani had called Trump a despot, Trump volunteered: “I’ve been called much worse than a despot.”
When a reporter asked about Mamdani having criticized Trump’s deportation operations, Trump suggested it wasn’t a big part of their conversation. This despite deportations having been perhaps Trump’s overriding concern in New York City for much of the year.
“He doesn’t want to see crime, and I don’t want to see crime,” Trump said. “And I have very little doubt that we’re not gonna get along on that issue.”
So why the love fest?
It seems to have boiled down to something we’ve seen with Trump before. Even when he disagrees with somebody politically, he seems to respect political fortitude and winners. And right now, Mamdani is a winner.
Mamdani is also clearly a gifted politician who is succeeding in an area of the country that Trump holds near and dear. That Trump would appreciate a good-looking, talented pol from Queens probably shouldn’t be too shocking.
And to the extent there was a political calculation here, it’s possible the White House didn’t really want to get into it with Mamdani right now. After all, this is a candidate who was so successful on precisely the issue on which Trump is really struggling right now: affordability and cost of living.
Maybe getting into it with Mamdani – knowing Mamdani has such message discipline – was deemed a risk.
But the buddy-buddy scene does come at a potential cost politically.
The scene was a far cry from what many anticipated – and how Republicans billed the event.
“It speaks volumes that tomorrow we have a communist coming to the White House,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday, “because that’s who the Democrat Party elected as the mayor of the largest city in the country.”
Vice President JD Vance joked that he “might have a stomach bug” to avoid meeting Mamdani.
GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida late Friday morning called Mamdani a “literal communist” and predicted he was “on his way to the White House to be schooled by President Trump.”
Or not.
Yes, it’s interesting that this is not at all what we got. But it’s also rather puzzling.
That’s because Republicans have spent weeks and even months suggesting they were preparing to tie Democrats far and wide to Mamdani’s politics. Democrats also seemed to fear this, judging by how reluctant some of them were to endorse him.
This was the GOP’s first big opportunity to drive that message – to set up this contrast between Trump’s agenda and the purported communism that has infected the national Democratic Party.
Trump trampled all over that strategy.
That doesn’t mean the GOP will abandon it outright, but it kind of undercuts it when you’ve got Trump on video next to Mamdani emphasizing their common ground and suggesting conservatives might be pleasantly surprised by the guy.
Trump even rejected a common GOP attack line that Mamdani is a “jihadist.” He was asked if he agreed with New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Elise Stefanik saying that, and he said, “No, I don’t.”
“She’s out there campaigning,” Trump said, “and you say things sometimes in a campaign.”
It seems Trump doesn’t want everyone to take the GOP’s attacks on Mamdani that seriously.
Perhaps the most interesting question now is whether any conservatives criticize Trump for giving this supposed communist jihadist a total and complete pass.
