At the press conference following their meeting at the White House on Friday, Mayor-elect Zohrahn Mamdani and President Trump were quite chummy, and if the charge that one of them is a communist holds, then they were like comrades-in-arms.
If this were a tennis match, it would be a split decision, both holding serve. Affordability was a topic mentioned repeatedly during the expected cordial session. To get an indication of Trump’s real feelings, we will have to wait for his posts on Truth Social.
Curiously, the press asked questions across the political spectrum, but not one of them raised one about Trump’s most recent outrage that six members of Congress ought to face death for their sedition comments.
They said that military personnel should refuse to obey orders that they deem illegal from their commanding officers. Nor was Trump grilled on his determination to continue targeting so-called narco-traffickers, with no validation of such activity. When Trump was asked about Mamdani calling him a despot, he said he had been called much worse. Each attempt by the press to make them antagonistic, as they have been, was skillfully dodged, with both turning the interrogation back to a common theme of affordability.
It wasn’t exactly a thirty-minute love fest, and Mamdani has yet to be inaugurated. Not until he’s in office and faced with issues and decisions that may infuriate Trump will we learn how far he will go playing nice to a winner.
One telling moment occurred when a reporter asked Mamdani if he still believed Trump was a fascist, and before he could answer, Trump patted him on the arm and told him to “just say yes.” That, he said, was easier than explaining.
What it indicated was a Trump gambit to maintain control: this was his press conference, and he was in charge. He sat while Mamdani stood, and while we didn’t note who spoke the most, Trump clearly had the upper hand, and that comes as no surprise.
Another pertinent issue the press avoided was the recent report that Mamdani asked the Democratic Socialists not to endorse a candidate running to unseat Hakeem Jeffries. We will get back to you on this later.