New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s surprisingly cordial meeting with President Donald Trump at the Oval Office sent shockwaves through allies and adversaries alike—but it left Mamdani looking exposed. Mamdani has undercut his own credibility, revealing the stark gap between his fiery rhetoric and the political realities he now faces. The handshake may have seemed genuine, but the optics for Mamdani are brutal, and he’s already trying to fix his image.
When asked on NBC’s Meet the Press whether he still views Trump as a fascist, Mamdani replied, “That’s something that I’ve said in the past. I say it today.”
“What I appreciated about the conversation that I had with the president was that we were not shy about the places of disagreement,” he added. “We also wanted to focus on what it could look like to deliver on a shared analysis of an affordable crisis for New Yorkers.”
If Mamdani truly believed Trump was the menace he claims, he wouldn’t have shown up in the Oval Office extending a hand, smiling, laughing, acting all chummy. If Mamdani truly believed Trump was a fascist, why would he want to work with him at all? How could he? If Trump were a fascist, why would he shake his hand? Let’s face it, if Trump were a fascist, cooperation wouldn’t exactly be necessary, would it?
Instead, the meeting hinted at a strategic pivot—one in which Mamdani realized he now has to balance his socialist front with the practical demands of governing a city drowning in an affordability crisis that his policies are undoubtedly going to make worse.
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Something tells me Mamdani is going to struggle maintaining that balance. That is why the Oval Office meeting was a brilliant move by Trump. He came off as the seasoned statesman who can put political bitterness aside for the sake of results. Meanwhile, Mamdani, an unabashed socialist and critic of Trump, is now doubling down on his past rhetoric because his power depends on being seen as part of the Trump resistance.
For Mamdani, this handshake with Trump stokes tension between his far-left base and the realistic demands of leadership. Earlier this month, he got the news that he won’t be able to follow through on some of his big campaign promises, as Gov. Kathy Hochul announced there isn’t enough money to fund his plan for free bus service in New York City. “I cannot set forth a plan right now that takes money out of a system that relies on the fares of the buses and the subways,” she said.
Mamdani’s insistence that he still believes Trump is a “fascist” looks like damage control more than conviction at this point. Going forward, Mamdani will struggle to walk the socialist tightrope. He's gonna have to reassure his radical followers while also engaging with the Trump administration when he needs to, and I can't see how he does that effectively.
So, clearly, this meeting wasn’t just a photo op; it was a masterclass in political strategy from Trump, who knows the value of striking an unexpected alliance to confuse opponents and force Mamdani into a corner. As Mamdani tries to juggle left-wing demands, business interests, and federal relations, the fallout from this Oval Office meeting will likely cast a shadow over his tenure.
