Zohran Mamdani, the man who always smiles, never smiled once. Donald Trump, the man who rages, didn’t rage. Reporters, who these days ask about Jeffrey Epstein, never mentioned Epstein’s name. Following the White House meeting between Trump and New York’s socialist Muslim mayor-elect, people have offered their theories as to why the Republican king suddenly likes the supposed jihadist and communist his party keeps warning us about. My theory is Trump threw us a plot twist because that’s better than having us talk about Epstein. Meanwhile, Mamdani did what he said he’d do: talk to the big guy about what they could agree on regarding New Yorkers and their needs. Nixon and the Soviets could talk about ways to head off nuclear war; Mamdani and the White House fascist could talk about crime and high prices, about New York being great, and about the need for more housing.
Trump seemed carried away by the moment. Mamdani was going to do “a great job,” his host said. An astonished world, or many on-air panels of astonished pundits, marveled at Trump’s willingness to kneecap Republican attack lines against the visitor. A city in chaos? Trump said he’d feel fine living under Mamdani. Socialist? “I think he’s going to surprise some conservative people, actually.” Jihadist? Hey, campaign talk. Mamdani confined himself to saying he recognized and valued—“I appreciate”—this or that limited matter. He appreciated the meeting, he appreciated that Trump talked with him about “shared purpose.” Trump’s Gaza plan? Mamdani: “I appreciate all efforts toward peace.”
People remember the moments when a clowning Trump says he doesn’t mind being called a despot and go ahead and call him a fascist. They overlook that, despite reporters asking twice, Mamdani takes back nothing about Trump’s fascism. When talking about the city and the federal government working together to tackle “serious crimes,” he makes a point of mentioning an ICE incident against “a mother and her two children” to show what the city doesn’t want. He calls Gaza a “genocide,” right there in the Oval Office.
Mamdani doesn’t want to show any liking for Trump and he doesn’t want to put space between himself and his beliefs. But he does want to do business. Last month he pulled a stunt during a Fox interview and spoke to the camera as if it were Donald Trump, announcing he’d be willing to work together where possible. Upon election he followed through by asking for last week’s sitdown. Mamdani has talked to Wall Street, he’s talked to the police commissioner, now he talks to the overlord of the federal executive branch. Present Mamdani with a big fact that has somebody in charge of it and he’ll go talk to that person. This latest person appears to have reacted to the experience in a big way.
Trump was still high on the get-together when evening came. On Truth Social he posted photos of himself and Mamdani posing together with FDR’s portrait; one’s just of Mamdani and the painting, no Trump. Elise Stefanik better fend for herself. Trump has a storyline to push—a distraction, if you will. Plus, like everyone says, he probably just digs Zohran. Warming to this young fellow with sand, Trump saw—really, felt—the chance for a top-notch change of subject. Giddy by nature, desperate by habit, always calculating, never thinking ahead, he fell in love with both the man and the escape hatch.
Giving a thumbs up to Zohran Mamdani wrongfoots the Republican message campaign for the midterms, but Trump has to think about right now. If he can just stop people talking about Epstein, they won’t talk about Epstein until the next time they talk about Epstein, which… and here his thoughts run out. “Fucking Schumer,” he says to himself, picking up again. “Jeffries. Yeah, they’re going to shit their…” A reporter asks about Stefanik, who’s running for governor of New York and says that the state’s most famous new Democrat is a jihadist. Trump makes his remark about people saying stuff during a campaign.
Throughout the press appearance, Trump’s energy is low but his mood cheerful; call him mellow. No “Quiet, piggy” today. “Katy,” he says to a woman reporter, “do you have something…?” He takes a moment to praise Mamdani’s “great campaign manager,” a young brown woman who, by the direction of Trump’s chin, appears to be standing just beyond the reporters. “We had a great meeting,” Trump says toward the end. Mamdani dispenses a mini-nod; not so much a movement of the head as an indication by his chin of what direction his head would follow if a nod actually took place.
During the 30 minutes he stands next to Trump, Mamdani looks like an earnest, buttoned-down young man somehow shifted from accounts receivable to duty as trainer of an aging semiaquatic beast, one that lolls behind the Resolute desk instead of being decently shut up at SeaWorld. The trainer’ unhappy about his assignment but holds himself together while the saggy narcotized beast sports at his side. Occasionally Trump swivels his profile up toward Mamdani, looking for love. But Mamdani’s gaze doesn’t leave the reporters, and Trump’s left with an overlarge smile hanging off his face; one of the moments gets posted and reposted on social media as enemies gloat at the sight of our nation’s fearsome boss twinkling at the alleged enemy of the West.
Now and then the humped, paddle-handed Trump flaps a tiny palm against Mamdani’s arm. At last Mamdani attempts a polite return. For a moment his profile swivels, or whips, toward Trump and he swats a finger against the big man’s sleeve; hand, arm, and face then swing back in place and he’s looking at the reporters again. That’s far as he’ll go with the chumminess. Mamdani will sit down with whoever runs the federal executive branch. But he’ll be damned if he’ll normalize. That weekend, on one of the Sunday shows, he’s asked if he considers Trump a fascist, and the interviewer recalls how Trump jumped in his with his famous “go ahead” comment. “And after President Trump said that, I said yes,” Mamdani replies. He’s a bit off, since actually he said: “Okay. Okay... Yeah.” But close enough.