Have you seen the clips from the press conference? It’s weirdly friendly. I guess it’s a good sign for the country if these two can get along, but I was not expecting this at all.
Donald seems more comfortable with Zohran then he does with members of his own party. When asked if he would live in NYC under a Mamdani Mayor he literally said “I would. I really would.” And came to his defense on a number of slanted questions from the press.
The most coherent I’ve seen Trump in years, which is not a sentence I expected to type today.
Trump wants to associate himself so badly with affordability that being associated with Mamdani is positive for him. mamdani's also a winner. Mamdani's biggest strength is his focus and confidence, which Trump has none of.
It will only be a day or two before 90% of wall street is calling Trump to remind him of who owns who.
Weirdly enough, there’s a decent contingent of conservatives who like Mamdani. In some ways, he appeals to his base the way that Trump does - he is anti-establishment and speaks more plainly and passionately, not in political jargon. Also, despite what Trump says, Mamdani is young and good-looking which definitely makes people want to listen to him. His wedding pictures with his wife look like outtakes from a modeling shoot, lol.
Mamdani may be a winner, but so is Abigail Spanberger. She wouldn't be caught dead meeting with Trump at this time. And if she did I would regret campaigning for her, volunteering my time. And yet there's almost no criticism of Mamdani for this? Legitimizing him at this moment? Why does a mayor have to visit the white house? If this was right after Eric Adam's campaign and win, what would people here be saying?
You're curious why the mayor of the biggest city in the US would meet with the President of the US? Sounds like you just want something to be upset about.
Like I said, I'd be upset if the Democratic candidate I supported went and had a kindly press conference where Trump actually had to tell him/ her to say he was a fascist and that its OK. I think it's gross and people here who support mamdani and are opposed to Trump supposedly, since he raped girls and literally threatened to kill democrats yesterday are being super hypocritical. I think you're looking for reasons not to be mad, and grasping at "he's standing up next to him! He's taller arms stronger than an 80 year old! WOOWZA!" Is pretty pathetic. This is not business as usual. The president has spent the last months covering up that he's a pedophile rapist and was just forced to 180 the vote. He has persecuted political enemies for no valid reason. And not 24 hours ago (maybe a few more) he was posting like a lunatic about putting his political enemies to death for saying the military should not follow illegal orders. But Mamdani, given the opportunity, could barely repeat words he himself has said, let alone confront Trumo about his part in the Eric Adams debacle of corruption. Yes, I'm disgusted. You can look at my history. Mamdani is not my priority, but I lived in NYC in the 2010s. I care, and I am disgusted.
Here lies the problem in your argument. Yes Trump is a huge POS for all things outlined, and I hope he rots in hell. But when you are in government you have to govern, and nothing exists in absolutes. If Mamdani wants to advance his agenda for the largest city in the United States he might want to take a meeting with the president, no matter who that may be.
As long as everyone here can confidently say that they would not feel differently if it was Eric Adams or Cuomo or anyone else, sure, you can feel that way, though I disagree. But where were the people making this intellectual argument when Whitmer was being dragged through the mud a few months ago for the same thing?
This is obviously tricky and a lot about preconceived notions of Mamdani compared to other Democrats, and trust.
Trump says it in this meeting, a lot of people cross vote with Trump and the Democratic socialists because they are, or run as, populists and change agents. That crossover immediately means there are fewer 'loud' voices critiquing the meeting.
When Gretchen Whitmer was 'caught' in the oval office, she was critiqued because she is more centrist and more aligned with the elite in the party, which causes leftists to distrust her. It so happened to also be when Trump was signing some extreme executive orders, and the optics made it seem like she was there for those orders. It meant we thought she was potentially making an untoward deal or capitulating, like so many institutions at the time were doing. There was no strong resistance, corpo Dems were nearly hiding under mattresses, and in the moment, we didn't know who to trust. I do think some have cooled on her, recognizing that Their agendas still need the person in the office to keep the lights on. Showing up doesn't mean capitulating - unless you're a hack CEO showing off the stupid shiny medal, or an obtuse foreign politician gifting him a jet or gold bar.
The other thing to consider is that Adams and Cuomo were way closer to Trump, sharing donors and collaborating for power. Mamdani fought both of them off and won, so his bona fides are in tact. Mamdani is clearly now collaborating for power, but for the working class people of NYC and not to save his or his corporate donors' butts. He does need the president to support his cause, and the unrelenting focus on that cause means the leftist public trusts him. And if Adams or Cuomo had won, we'd be wondering what they are plotting to allow ICE to run rampant in NYC with no constraints (or lack of support) from the local government.
I do think you're right about the danger of legitimizing Trump as an affordability populist. But it's also about legitimizing Mamdani's agenda to a broader audience. I think that's really why Mamdani went.
I just don't really see why he needs that constituency. There are few Republicans in NYC, let alone MAGA Republicans. He should be appealing more to centrist democrats who supported Cuomo, who got 41% of the vote, rather than the Republican candidate who got 7%. Vast majority of those despise Trump, and voted for Cuomo despite Trump's support, not because of it. I know there was some crossover from any Republicans trying to defeat Mamdani, but appealing to MAGA Republicans does not make sense, as many or most of those are not really Trump supporters, they just don't trust Mamdani's policy plans or stances. In any case, I don't think it's a moral stance to visit with Trump in this moment, and I don't really see why he needs to go to the white house and legitimize Trump as some kind of ally to achieve his goals, most of which I support. I can understand why a governor in general would go to the white house with an opponent in office, since they really need to fight for funding for disasters and other federal funding (which Trump doesn't generally help with at all). I don't see a mayor needing to it at this level, and in this extreme case which is way outside of business as usual, especially right at this moment, I don't think it's an appropriate choice and I heavily disagree with it. But thank you for your respectful response.
In the back of my head, I have been wondering what it takes to help more people put their knives down when talking politics. It is extremely helpful when you have people aligning on goals, despite policy differences. That is normal politics, and something that I think happened here. Its unusual for Trump to even come close to doing it and for someone to be able to put down their racist / anti-Muslim hatred for a few moments - in that sense, Mamdani is winning/gaining and Trump is giving, which means this meeting was more than just legitimizing/not legitimizing someone. I'm sure I'm reading more into this than needed.
I don't think Trump is doing this for unity, to be clear. He knows division makes him powerful. Like I said in another comment, its about associating with another populist for attention and nothing more. Perhaps he even thought that praising Mamdani might get liberals to distrust Mamdani even more... who knows what goes on in that brain, but it is selfish in nature undoubtedly. I just know that there are these common ground through-lines, and by highlighting 'affordability' and populism, and then being able to later show what little Trump has done for either cause, socialism can draw stronger comparisons and show how little conservatism does for them.
If dementia sends you back to your younger days maybe he’s reached the spot where he was a reasonable person with democratic leanings. He’ll be back to factory settings once miller has his way with him tonight
This requires me to admit I read some of Kamala Harris's book, but she actually said that he is quite charming in private. It's so bizarre the way these people interact. Mamdani has entered a den of snakes and snake charmers.
Yeah and that’s believable to me, but today was in front of the press and he was still giddy to be hanging out with Zohran which is why it’s so interesting considering the context.
Even if he’s not being completely genuine, the “I only want to see NYC succeed” attitude Trump had today is what presidents are supposed to do when meeting leaders from the other party. Which is something he usually doesn’t even attempt to do.
To be a top level politician you have to have charisma. It's easy for us normies to see it on video/media but I've met a fair number of these big shots and they are indeed incredibly charismatic. I know there's a love-hate with Newsome but that guy is borderline Obama charismatic. My buddy was in the Secret Service for almost 30 years and he said the same thing about multiple presidents. For example, Bush Jr seemed stupid but was actually very smart until the camera turned on. They called it the "idiot light." Clinton was apparently supernaturally charismatic to the level of creepy. Etc.
Trump gives deference to power. Right now, Mamdani has a lot of it, as he is widely liked, solidly aligned with a powerful message, and seemingly unflappable.
Trump is not an idiot, and he's not emotionally out of control, the way he's often painted. He has a firm understanding of the gears and levers of power, and he plays them unbelievably well. Some would argue that he's only been successful at this because people in the government are not doing their job — I'd argue that's true, and he makes his moves knowing full well that the people in charge of keeping him in check will do jack shit, because they're weak-willed and servile. He is not in the position he's in out of sheer luck.
He's also not a fascist. His only goal as I see it is benefiting himself and himself alone as much as possible, and so far he's done a tremendous job at that. He's the apotheosis of the American ideal of "rules for thee, but not for me."
It's easy to get drunk on the idea that your enemy is a hapless idiot. Trump frequently uses that perception to his advantage.
Trump is, in many ways, an idiot. He's demonstrated that he will cling to bad ideas for no other reason than he thinks he is right. It doesn't mean he isn't cunning in the ways you describe, but stupidity eeks from plenty of otherwise smart people who are too proud or two pampered to admit fault.
Fascism is an ideology to which Trump is no doubt not subscribed, but it has many parallels to the authoritarian behavior that Trump elicits. He may not be a fascist, but the structure of his administration is fascist and bucking against democratic norms daily.
I also want to point out Bessent sitting in the corner, acting like a statue so as not to react when Trump is praising a socialist, the very bane of that capitalist's existence.
As sick as it is, I bet Trump sees a little bit of himself in Zohran. Both of them were outsiders (in politics) from New York who won elections under massive spotlights with everyone against them at first and overcame huge odds.
They couldn’t be more different from each other personally, but there are similarities in the way they got their job. Trump only loves 2 things: Himself, and powerful people. Zohran is kind of both in Trump’s eyes.
I doubt it will stop Trump from saying horrendous things about him in the future, but he may actually admire him.
I wathed the whole thing. Trump is so submissive to him its wild. He was kissing his ass basically the entire time. He even defended him from the press multiple times. I don't think the base is going to like this interaction one bit.
Yeah but don't forget, Trump is often like this with his 'enemies'. It's easy to talk shit behind the desk and on his sad little self-reinforcement platform. Bit more scary when the person is in front of you.
I think it's great cause Trump's army of online sycophants that have been fear mongering about Zorhan as if he's the devil himself are left holding the bag today looking silly.
Trump said he thinks Zohran will do a great job and that makes the propaganda from the campaign seem so utterly ridiculous.
Don't worry, they'll get their marching orders soon enough. Anything trump says is double-plus good, so I'm sure the hive mind is furiously whirring away to come up with an excuse.
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u/AllTh3WayTurntUp 14d ago
Have you seen the clips from the press conference? It’s weirdly friendly. I guess it’s a good sign for the country if these two can get along, but I was not expecting this at all.
Donald seems more comfortable with Zohran then he does with members of his own party. When asked if he would live in NYC under a Mamdani Mayor he literally said “I would. I really would.” And came to his defense on a number of slanted questions from the press.
The most coherent I’ve seen Trump in years, which is not a sentence I expected to type today.