How Zohran Mamdani won over Donald Trump — for now |
In a triumphant election-night speech earlier this month, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani addressed President Donald Trump directly, telling the president to “turn the volume up.” Trump has repeatedly called Mamdani a “Communist” and questioned his citizenship status.
But when the two met in the Oval Office on Friday, it was all strikingly cordial — almost affectionate. “Hopefully, you’ll have a really great mayor,” Trump told reporters. “The better he does, the happier I am.”
To break down what happened in their meeting, why it wasn’t entirely surprising, and what it could mean for New York City and the GOP, I turned to my colleague Astead Herndon, who has covered Trump and recently wrote a definitive profile of Mamdani. Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.
So Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani had this strikingly friendly appearance in the Oval. What happened? Is this a big deal?
I certainly think it’s a big deal. It reflects the intention that Mamdani approached his entire campaign with, and particularly the general election — his consistent ability to turn skeptics into supporters. That was consistently happening in such a way that it was built into his strategy, and I think we saw that on the biggest stage yesterday.
In some ways, it reflects a lot of the meetings that he’s had already, but in some ways, it’s so much more extraordinary considering what Trump has said, and considering the way Trump was really........