At first blush, this story from Axios might surprise you. President Trump has a “surprising phone pal” and has “texted back and forth recently” with New York City’s new mayor Zohran Mamdani, the site reported:

The back-channeling between the democratic socialist mayor and Trump… indicates their private communications have been more extensive than previously thought. It also suggests that the good vibes they presented during Mamdani’s post-election visit to the Oval Office in November have developed into an ongoing relationship.

Of course, before Mamdani’s election, Trump had called him a socialist, a communist, a leftist, a wacko. He once said that, if Mamdani was elected, the Big Apple would cease to exist.

Here’s the thing, though: Trump doesn’t really mean (or believe) most of the stuff he says in public. He says it because it motivates his base. It gets him attention. It keeps him in the mix.

Because it’s provocative.

Most of what Trump says is........

© The Daily Beast