Desi Talk

www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 7 CITY VIEWS November 28, 2025 Trump Pivots From Bashing Mamdani, Predicting He Will ‘Do A Great Job’ As Mayor P resident Donald Trump and NewYork Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani buried their proverbial hatchets on Friday, appearing together in the Oval Office after a meeting each described as the beginning of a warm relationship – despite months of slinging insults and hammering each other’s policies. The two men with roots in Queens looked into the cameras and spoke about their shared hopes for New York, emphasized common populist ideals and pledged to work closely together, a sense of agreement that ran afoul of nearly everything their respective political bases have come to expect from them. The president even declared he would finally feel comfortable moving back to NewYork with the 34-year-old democratic socialist running city hall. It was as if Trump, seated at the Resolute Desk, hadn’t just called Mamdani a “communist lunatic” and “stu- pid person,” and Mamdani, now standing over his right shoulder, hadn’t recently referred to the president as a “despot” with a “fascist agenda.” “I’ve been called much worse than a despot,” Trump explained to a reporter who questioned the recent jab, in one of many questions about their past two disagree- ments that they shrugged off. “So it’s not that insulting.” It was a remarkable scene that revealed the Repub- lican president’s recognition of the political potency of Mamdani’s focus on economic policies that benefit the working class. Trump’s approval rating has tanked in recent weeks to its lowest point this term, according to a Washington Post average of national polls since Octo- ber, fueled in part by frustrations over the economy. He has faced criticism from some in his own base who say Trump has not focused enough on addressing the cost of living issues he campaigned on fixing, and has instead spent too much time on foreign policy matters. Mamdani, whose resounding victory Trump acknowl- edged, for his part had clearly made efforts to flatter the president, conceding that a growing number of NewYork- ers had supported Trump during the 2024 election. “He said a lot of my voters actually voted for him,” Trump said. “One in 10,” Mamdani interrupted, seeking to correct the record. “And I’m okay with that,” Trump added. Mamdani shared that when he spoke with Trump voters on Hillside Avenue in Queens and Fordham Road in the Bronx, they said they supported the president be- cause they wanted to “end forever wars” and address the cost of living, which Mamdani described as a crisis. “We have to get Con Edison to start lowering their rates,” Trump announced in the Oval Office. “Absolutely,” Mamdani said, nodding in agreement. Mamdani, Trump explained, had shared some ideas “that were very interesting.” “He wants to see houses go up, he wants to see a lot of houses created, a lot of apartments built, etc.” Trump said. “People would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing.” Trump repeatedly stuck up for Mamdani as the mayor- elect faced pointed questions from the press corps, at one point urging him not to bother explaining to reporters why he had called Trump a fascist, and at another point defending the climate-conscious politician’s decision to take a plane, rather than a train or bus, toWashington. “We agree on a lot more than I thought,” Trump said. “I want him to do a great job, and we’ll help him do a great job.” There were signs earlier in the day that the conversa- tion might not devolve into name-calling and disagree- ments. Trump sought to tone down his harsh rhetoric about Mamdani ahead of the meeting, predicting during a Fox News interview Friday morning that it would “be quite civil.”When the host tried to bait Trump with a comment Mamdani had directed at the president, he acknowledged the smack talk had gone both ways. “Well, I would say I’m a little hard, too, in all fair- ness,” Trump said, adding that Mamdani “ran a good race.” Trump endorsed former NewYork Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) just before Election Day. Mamdani explained this week that an Oval Office meeting between the president and mayor of the nation’s largest city is customary. But the stakes are high for New York. Trump throughout the mayoral race threatened to withhold federal funding for the city if Mamdani won – and even said he’d have Mamdani prosecuted if he did not go along with the president’s agenda. Mamdani, meanwhile, is seeking to limit the Trump administra- tion’s interference in his ability to execute on ambitious campaign promises like free child care and freezing rent prices. Both political parties are wrestling with their identities ahead of the midterms and 2028 presidential election, though strategists on both sides are aware that economic relief remains voters top priority. Mamdani was kept at arms’ length by prominent fellow Democrats nationwide, who believe that socialist ideals will be off-putting for swing voters despite a focus on affordability. And in spite of Trump and other conservatives warning of the ruin- ous effects of progressive governance, populist voices in the Republican Party have claimed the GOP isn’t doing enough to keep the working-class voters who joined Trump’s coalition. Trump has repeatedly referred to the mayor-elect as a “communist,” a descriptionWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Thursday. Mamdani identifies as a democratic socialist, a wing of the Democratic Party focused on drastically reducing economic inequality. While Trump had long signaled that he believes Mamdani’s brand of progressive politics will be a turnoff to swing voters during the midterms, other Republicans – even officials in theWhite House – have acknowledged that Mamdani’s laser focus on economic issues has reso- nated with many people. James Blair, theWhite House’s deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public af- fairs, said in an interview with Politico earlier this month that Mamdani did “so well” because “he relentlessly focused on affordability.” “People talk about communists, they can say all these things, but the fact is he was talking about the cost of liv- ing,” Blair said. Two months ahead of his killing, top Trump ally and conservative influencer Charlie Kirk told The Post in July that the Republican Party would have to improve its own economic policies to appeal to young voters, warning about the “Mamdani effect” that could cost conservatives the gains they made with Gen Z during the 2024 election, believing that many young voters would be attracted to pledges like those made by Mamdani to make everyday life more affordable. But Republicans overall have largely focused on fram- ing Mamdani and his policies as an existential threat to the country. Hours before the mayor-elect walked into theWhite House, the House passed a resolution denouncing socialism, with Republicans backing the measure unanimously. Democrats split their vote, though 23 fewer members voted in favor of it compared to 2023, when the chamber took up the same resolution. “They are grasping at straws,” Rep. Becca Balint (D- Vermont) told The Post. “They have nothing. They keep tacking back to the same tired tropes, whether it’s social- ism, whether it’s beating up on trans kids, it’s just like the same thing over and over.” GOP members, meanwhile, had hoped Trump’s meet- ing with Mamdani would show a stark contrast between the two men’s policies. “I think we need to restate for the people of this coun- try just how dangerous socialism is, how disastrous it has been for the people of the countries in which it has been implemented, and it has its proper place in the ash bin of history,” Rep. Ben Cline (R-Virginia) said in an interview ahead of the Oval Office meeting. Some Republicans privately griped afterward about Trump’s praise of Mamdani, with one suggesting he had sold out his own party. Before their meeting on Friday, Trump had leaned into “birther” conspiracies in talking about Mamdani, suggesting falsely that the mayor-elect, who is a natu- ralized U.S. citizen born in Uganda, is “here illegally.” Mamdani moved to NewYork as a child. Those conspira- cies resemble Trump’s previous attempted smears against Barack Obama. Trump this year also suggested arrest- ing Mamdani if he tried to prevent federal immigration agents from conducting raids in NewYork. The president, who was raised in Queens and launched his real estate development career in Manhat- tan, called NewYork home for most of his life until offi- cially making Palm Beach, Florida, his primary residence in 2019. At the time, the president announced he made the decision after being “treated very badly” by the politi- cal leaders in NewYork. Mamdani’s meeting was the latest example of high- profile Democrats walking a tightrope of establishing goodwill with and seeking favorable outcomes from the president in the Oval Office, while proving to their anti- Trump political bases that they stood up to him. Mamdani’s appeared to go better than most others. NewYork Gov. Kathy Hochul this spring compared her meeting with Trump to the movie Rambo, stating she “didn’t draw first blood,” while Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer faced embarrassment from her liberal base after theWhite House called her in to the Oval Office at the same time that Trump had staged a photo op signing an executive order targeting political enemies. At one point, she was photographed covering her face with file folders. And last month, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jef- fries and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, both Democrats from NewYork, were photographed in the Oval Office next to “Trump 2028” caps and the president grinning and pointing, a sight Trump and Republicans mocked after the fact. The two Democrats were there with Republican congressional leadership in an effort to reach a deal to stop a government shutdown, though the two sides failed to come to a consensus dur- ing the meeting. Trump later posted an AI-doctored video By Natalie Allison PHOTO:Demetrius Freeman/TheWashington Post President Donald Trump and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani during a meeting in the Oval Office on Friday. - Continued On Page 8