So Trump did not reproduce Mamdani. They seem to be great friends now. What does it give?
Here's my opinion as I've been asked this question over and over again for the past hour.
Let's be honest. For two or three weeks, Trump was beaten like a drunken, elderly boxer in a fight he should never have accepted. I'm sure I found Mamdani's charm offensive to be quite enjoyable after this.
Now I fully expect Trump to start saying nasty things about Mamdani on social media soon enough, or at least mocking him. There are objective facts of a national crisis, which in any case will lead them to conflict. But I wouldn't rule out that Mamdani got more than one good press out of it. The best way for Mamdani to get New Yorkers on his side is to engage in a showdown with Donald Trump along the lines of what we saw in Los Angeles, Chicago and now Charlotte. But it's real No this is necessarily the best way to succeed as mayor, to achieve a series of policy victories that will allow him to say that he is delivering on his affordability promises. There is a difference. I'm not saying he can't do both. It's possible. But if he can come to some kind of agreement with Trump and refrain from attacking New York, it will be a victory for his mayoral ambitions, even if he lacks the partisan fireworks some are expecting. In the simplest sense, if the mayor's job isn't to do everything possible to stop a renegade president from attacking his city, what is it?
Like I said, I fully expect them to start fighting soon enough. But I don't think we need to look too deeply into the inner workings of each of the guys to understand how and why things went the way they did.
Of course, I have no idea what they were talking about. But I believe that Mamdani came and immediately said two things. I want to build a lot of new housing stock. New construction. You like it. And my victory was based on many outlying voters. who also voted for you. You hear all this about me. But we actually agree on some key things. We have common supporters. I suspect he also said, or would be wise to say, that we don't need to fight. So let's not quarrel?
Let's be honest. For two or three weeks, Trump was beaten like a drunken, elderly boxer in a fight he should never have accepted. I'm sure I found Mamdani's charm offensive to be quite enjoyable after this.
Now I fully expect Trump to start saying nasty things about Mamdani on social media soon enough, or at least mocking him. There are objective facts of a national crisis, which in any case will lead them to conflict. But I wouldn't rule out that Mamdani got more than one good press out of it. The best way for Mamdani to get New Yorkers on his side is to engage in a showdown with Donald Trump along the lines of what we saw in Los Angeles, Chicago and now Charlotte. But it's real No this is necessarily the best way to succeed as mayor, to achieve a series of policy victories that will allow him to say that he is delivering on his affordability promises. There is a difference. I'm not saying he can't do both. It's possible. But if he can come to some kind of agreement with Trump and refrain from attacking New York, it will be a victory for his mayoral ambitions, even if he lacks the partisan fireworks some are expecting. In the simplest sense, if the mayor's job isn't to do everything possible to stop a renegade president from attacking his city, what is it?
Like I said, I fully expect them to start fighting soon enough. But I don't think we need to look too deeply into the inner workings of each of the guys to understand how and why things went the way they did.
First of all, Mamdani is very charming. He has an ocean of charisma. Even his enemies know this. This is very important for Trump. It always has been. It's fitting that he was a wimp for any good-looking guy he could imagine leading a movie. As Trump also explicitly noted in one of the video clips, Mamdani brought a horde of press with him. This really, really big thing for Trump. This impresses him. Trump wants to be there for that, especially if the recipient of that love is given the opportunity to see that that love is not at Trump's expense and is not the opposite of Trump's rejection.
Of course, I have no idea what they were talking about. But I believe that Mamdani came and immediately said two things. I want to build a lot of new housing stock. New construction. You like it. And my victory was based on many outlying voters. who also voted for you. You hear all this about me. But we actually agree on some key things. We have common supporters. I suspect he also said, or would be wise to say, that we don't need to fight. So let's not quarrel?
Let's be honest. For two or three weeks, Trump was beaten like a drunken, elderly boxer in a fight he should never have accepted. I'm sure I found Mamdani's charm offensive to be quite enjoyable after this.
Now I fully expect Trump to start saying nasty things about Mamdani on social media soon enough, or at least mocking him. There are objective facts of a national crisis, which in any case will lead them to conflict. But I wouldn't rule out that Mamdani got more than one good press out of it. The best way for Mamdani to get New Yorkers on his side is to engage in a showdown with Donald Trump along the lines of what we saw in Los Angeles, Chicago and now Charlotte. But it's real No this is necessarily the best way to succeed as mayor, to achieve a series of policy victories that will allow him to say that he is delivering on his affordability promises. There is a difference. I'm not saying he can't do both. It's possible. But if he can come to some kind of agreement with Trump and refrain from attacking New York, it will be a victory for his mayoral ambitions, even if he lacks the partisan fireworks some are expecting. In the simplest sense, if the mayor's job isn't to do everything possible to stop a renegade president from attacking his city, what is it?
Like I said, I fully expect them to start fighting soon enough. But I don't think we need to look too deeply into the inner workings of each of the guys to understand how and why things went the way they did.
I think there are several factors.
First of all, Mamdani is very charming. He has an ocean of charisma. Even his enemies know this. This is very important for Trump. It always has been. It's fitting that he was a wimp for any good-looking guy he could imagine leading a movie. As Trump also explicitly noted in one of the video clips, Mamdani brought a horde of press with him. This really, really big thing for Trump. This impresses him. Trump wants to be there for that, especially if the recipient of that love is given the opportunity to see that that love is not at Trump's expense and is not the opposite of Trump's rejection.
Of course, I have no idea what they were talking about. But I believe that Mamdani came and immediately said two things. I want to build a lot of new housing stock. New construction. You like it. And my victory was based on many outlying voters. who also voted for you. You hear all this about me. But we actually agree on some key things. We have common supporters. I suspect he also said, or would be wise to say, that we don't need to fight. So let's not quarrel?
Let's be honest. For two or three weeks, Trump was beaten like a drunken, elderly boxer in a fight he should never have accepted. I'm sure I found Mamdani's charm offensive to be quite enjoyable after this.
Now I fully expect Trump to start saying nasty things about Mamdani on social media soon enough, or at least mocking him. There are objective facts of a national crisis, which in any case will lead them to conflict. But I wouldn't rule out that Mamdani got more than one good press out of it. The best way for Mamdani to get New Yorkers on his side is to engage in a showdown with Donald Trump along the lines of what we saw in Los Angeles, Chicago and now Charlotte. But it's real No this is necessarily the best way to succeed as mayor, to achieve a series of policy victories that will allow him to say that he is delivering on his affordability promises. There is a difference. I'm not saying he can't do both. It's possible. But if he can come to some kind of agreement with Trump and refrain from attacking New York, it will be a victory for his mayoral ambitions, even if he lacks the partisan fireworks some are expecting. In the simplest sense, if the mayor's job isn't to do everything possible to stop a renegade president from attacking his city, what is it?
Like I said, I fully expect them to start fighting soon enough. But I don't think we need to look too deeply into the inner workings of each of the guys to understand how and why things went the way they did.
I didn't predict this. But I also don't think we should be surprised. Trump does this kind of thing quite often. He's someone's number one enemy, and then they meet and become great friends. So this shouldn't surprise us. But even considering that frequency, it was a little lukewarm even for Trump. And, as far as I understand, this was not the Trump who often avoids conflict in person and who lacks the courage to be aggressive and nasty in someone's face. He didn't look scared. He seemed genuinely happy, which, come to think of it, we rarely actually see from Trump. I mean, he fired a torpedo right into the hull of Elise Stefanik's nascent gubernatorial campaign, to the extent that it ever existed, which was marginal. He eliminated one of the Republicans' biggest attack lines against Mamdani (officially not a big deal). He made Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer look… well, kind of ridiculous. So again, what gives?
I think there are several factors.
First of all, Mamdani is very charming. He has an ocean of charisma. Even his enemies know this. This is very important for Trump. It always has been. It's fitting that he was a wimp for any good-looking guy he could imagine leading a movie. As Trump also explicitly noted in one of the video clips, Mamdani brought a horde of press with him. This really, really big thing for Trump. This impresses him. Trump wants to be there for that, especially if the recipient of that love is given the opportunity to see that that love is not at Trump's expense and is not the opposite of Trump's rejection.
Of course, I have no idea what they were talking about. But I believe that Mamdani came and immediately said two things. I want to build a lot of new housing stock. New construction. You like it. And my victory was based on many outlying voters. who also voted for you. You hear all this about me. But we actually agree on some key things. We have common supporters. I suspect he also said, or would be wise to say, that we don't need to fight. So let's not quarrel?
Let's be honest. For two or three weeks, Trump was beaten like a drunken, elderly boxer in a fight he should never have accepted. I'm sure I found Mamdani's charm offensive to be quite enjoyable after this.
Now I fully expect Trump to start saying nasty things about Mamdani on social media soon enough, or at least mocking him. There are objective facts of a national crisis, which in any case will lead them to conflict. But I wouldn't rule out that Mamdani got more than one good press out of it. The best way for Mamdani to get New Yorkers on his side is to engage in a showdown with Donald Trump along the lines of what we saw in Los Angeles, Chicago and now Charlotte. But it's real No this is necessarily the best way to succeed as mayor, to achieve a series of policy victories that will allow him to say that he is delivering on his affordability promises. There is a difference. I'm not saying he can't do both. It's possible. But if he can come to some kind of agreement with Trump and refrain from attacking New York, it will be a victory for his mayoral ambitions, even if he lacks the partisan fireworks some are expecting. In the simplest sense, if the mayor's job isn't to do everything possible to stop a renegade president from attacking his city, what is it?
Like I said, I fully expect them to start fighting soon enough. But I don't think we need to look too deeply into the inner workings of each of the guys to understand how and why things went the way they did.
I didn't predict this. But I also don't think we should be surprised. Trump does this kind of thing quite often. He's someone's number one enemy, and then they meet and become great friends. So this shouldn't surprise us. But even considering that frequency, it was a little lukewarm even for Trump. And, as far as I understand, this was not the Trump who often avoids conflict in person and who lacks the courage to be aggressive and nasty in someone's face. He didn't look scared. He seemed genuinely happy, which, come to think of it, we rarely actually see from Trump. I mean, he fired a torpedo right into the hull of Elise Stefanik's nascent gubernatorial campaign, to the extent that it ever existed, which was marginal. He eliminated one of the Republicans' biggest attack lines against Mamdani (officially not a big deal). He made Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer look… well, kind of ridiculous. So again, what gives?
I think there are several factors.
First of all, Mamdani is very charming. He has an ocean of charisma. Even his enemies know this. This is very important for Trump. It always has been. It's fitting that he was a wimp for any good-looking guy he could imagine leading a movie. As Trump also explicitly noted in one of the video clips, Mamdani brought a horde of press with him. This really, really big thing for Trump. This impresses him. Trump wants to be there for that, especially if the recipient of that love is given the opportunity to see that that love is not at Trump's expense and is not the opposite of Trump's rejection.
Of course, I have no idea what they were talking about. But I believe that Mamdani came and immediately said two things. I want to build a lot of new housing stock. New construction. You like it. And my victory was based on many outlying voters. who also voted for you. You hear all this about me. But we actually agree on some key things. We have common supporters. I suspect he also said, or would be wise to say, that we don't need to fight. So let's not quarrel?
Let's be honest. For two or three weeks, Trump was beaten like a drunken, elderly boxer in a fight he should never have accepted. I'm sure I found Mamdani's charm offensive to be quite enjoyable after this.
Now I fully expect Trump to start saying nasty things about Mamdani on social media soon enough, or at least mocking him. There are objective facts of a national crisis, which in any case will lead them to conflict. But I wouldn't rule out that Mamdani got more than one good press out of it. The best way for Mamdani to get New Yorkers on his side is to engage in a showdown with Donald Trump along the lines of what we saw in Los Angeles, Chicago and now Charlotte. But it's real No this is necessarily the best way to succeed as mayor, to achieve a series of policy victories that will allow him to say that he is delivering on his affordability promises. There is a difference. I'm not saying he can't do both. It's possible. But if he can come to some kind of agreement with Trump and refrain from attacking New York, it will be a victory for his mayoral ambitions, even if he lacks the partisan fireworks some are expecting. In the simplest sense, if the mayor's job isn't to do everything possible to stop a renegade president from attacking his city, what is it?
Like I said, I fully expect them to start fighting soon enough. But I don't think we need to look too deeply into the inner workings of each of the guys to understand how and why things went the way they did.
