President Donald Trump’s Oval Office conferences have turn into appointment viewing in his second time period.
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But few have generated as a lot anticipation as when he welcomed New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Friday afternoon.
Plenty had been anticipating a conflict between the president and the younger, up-and-coming democratic socialist politician whom Republicans have made clear they’d very very like to show into their 2026 boogeyman.
What we received was decidedly not that.
Below are some takeaways from the bizarrely chummy occasion.
Okay, some people predicted {that a} model of this may occur. But it was nonetheless exceptional – particularly coming from Trump.
Reporters saved peppering the two males with questions pointing to their variations and the terrible issues they’d stated about each other.
But the two saved batting away the probability to throw down, emphasizing their widespread floor.
Among Trump’s feedback:
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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 famous Trump had threatened to chop funding to New York City if Mamdani had been elected, the president advised that he’ll play that card if he must. But he additionally downplayed the risk.
“I expect to be helping him, not hurting him,” Trump stated.
The compliments had been largely flowing from Trump to Mamdani. But Mamdani clearly held his hearth on Trump.
Rather than litigate variations with Trump, he repeatedly introduced issues proper again to his pet challenge: affordability.
When requested about having stated the US authorities was complicit in an alleged Israeli genocide in Gaza, Mamdani didn’t again away, however he rapidly pivoted to affordability.
Towards the finish, a reporter requested if New York City cherished Trump. Mamdani wouldn’t go that far, however he did do Trump a strong.
“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 stated, “and I’m looking forward to working together to deliver on that affordability agenda.”
But it wasn’t simply that the two males stated good issues about each other. It nearly appeared like Trump was enjoying protection for his new buddy.
When a reporter requested Mamdani about having beforehand labeled Trump a “fascist,” Trump principally gave him permission to say such issues.
“That’s ok. You can just say yes,” Trump stated. “That’s easier. It’s easier than explaining.”
Likewise, when it was famous that Mamdani had known as Trump a despot, Trump volunteered: “I’ve been called much worse than a despot.”
When a reporter requested about Mamdani having criticized Trump’s deportation operations, Trump advised it wasn’t a giant a part of their dialog. This regardless of deportations having been maybe Trump’s overriding concern in New York City for a lot of the 12 months.
“He doesn’t want to see crime, and I don’t want to see crime,” Trump stated. “And I have very little doubt that we’re not gonna get along on that issue.”
So why the love fest?
It appears to have boiled all the way down to one thing we’ve seen with Trump earlier than. Even when he disagrees with any person politically, he appears to respect political fortitude and winners. And proper now, Mamdani is a winner.
Mamdani can be clearly a gifted politician who’s succeeding in an space of the nation that Trump holds close to and pricey. That Trump would admire a handsome, proficient pol from Queens in all probability shouldn’t be too stunning.
And to the extent there was a political calculation right here, it’s attainable the White House didn’t actually wish to get into it with Mamdani proper now. After all, it is a candidate who was so profitable on exactly the challenge on which Trump is actually struggling proper now: affordability and price of dwelling.
Maybe moving into it with Mamdani – understanding Mamdani has such message self-discipline – was deemed a danger.
But the buddy-buddy scene does come at a possible value politically.
The scene was a far cry from what many anticipated – and the way Republicans billed the occasion.
“It speaks volumes that tomorrow we have a communist coming to the White House,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated 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 keep away from meeting Mamdani.
GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida late Friday morning known as 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 attention-grabbing that this isn’t in any respect what we received. But it’s additionally somewhat puzzling.
That’s as a result of Republicans have spent weeks and even months suggesting they had been making ready to tie Democrats far and huge to Mamdani’s politics. Democrats additionally appeared to worry this, judging by how reluctant a few of them had been to endorse him.
This was the GOP’s first massive alternative to drive that message – to arrange this distinction between Trump’s agenda and the purported communism that has contaminated the nationwide Democratic Party.
Trump trampled throughout that technique.
That doesn’t imply the GOP will abandon it outright, nevertheless it form of undercuts it while you’ve received Trump on video subsequent to Mamdani emphasizing their widespread floor and suggesting conservatives may be pleasantly shocked by the man.
Trump even rejected a typical GOP assault line that Mamdani is a “jihadist.” He was requested if he agreed with New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Elise Stefanik saying that, and he stated, “No, I don’t.”
“She’s out there campaigning,” Trump stated, “and you say things sometimes in a campaign.”
It appears Trump doesn’t need everybody to take the GOP’s assaults on Mamdani that severely.
Perhaps the most attention-grabbing query now could be whether or not any conservatives criticize Trump for giving this supposed communist jihadist a complete and full move.