Mr. Mamdani Goes to Washington sounds like a really bad Frank Capra remake, but when Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani visits the White House and meets Donald Trump for the very first time, it won’t just be a pair of New Yawkers tawkin’ over cawfee.
Instead, it’ll highlight the national divide that’s tearing America apart.
One man is in his 30s, the other in his 70s. One believes in capitalism; the other in collectivism. One is a Republican, the other a “Democratic Socialist.”
If opposites attract, Mamdani and Trump will get along famously.
But in high-level, smash-mouth U.S. politics, opposites don’t attract: They repel.
(Often violently.)
Because they kinda-sorta have to: Today’s Democratic Party defines itself via its opposition to Donald Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party. It's not a party of ideas, but a party based on obstruction and opposition.
That’s its entire raison d'être.
The day the radical left sees its leader embrace “literally Hitler” and “sane-wash” Donald Trump is the day the radical left hires a new leader. Compromising and/or capitulating isn’t an option, because every good leftist knows, you can’t cede an inch with “literally Hitler.”
That’s not even an option!
It’s a lesson that’ll cost Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) his political career.
All politicians have a base — a core group of supporters who championed their candidacy, donated money, and served as unpaid labor on the campaign trail. Without ‘em, you can’t win.
Mamdani’s base doesn’t wanna see him visit the White House, pat Donald Trump on the back, and negotiate a win-win agreement for the people of New York City. Instead, they’re expecting him to hand the president a copy of the Communist Manifesto, speak “truth to power,” kick over the negotiating table, and give “literally Hitler” a piece of his mind.
They didn’t elect Mamdani to pursue pragmatic solutions. They elected him to be a revolutionary!
Which is why Fox News is exactly wrong in today’s article, “When Trump Meets Mamdani: Five capitalist messages the democratic socialist should hear” (emphasis added).
Trump believes prosperity comes from freeing people to build wealth. Mamdani believes prosperity comes from government redistributing wealth. For now, both say they’re willing to hear each other out.
But this conversation most likely won’t be personal. It will be philosophical. While the meeting will be at the White House, Mamdani will be coming from Trump’s hometown of New York City.
This meeting could set a precedent for what may happen over the next decade. If I were a consultant for Trump today — and assuming he’d listen to me — here are the hard lessons about capitalism he should deliver to the incoming mayor, point by point, with real-world examples that expose the difference between building an economy and managing decline.
Arguing economic philosophy with a committed Marxist is an exercise in futility. There’s nothing Trump could say that would change Mamdani’s mind.
So why waste his time?
Socialism and communism are philosophically appealing. As theories, they offer true-believers the world: An end to inequality! No more poverty! No more hunger! Universal access to all services! Protecting workers! Prioritizing the “collective good” instead of greedy profiteering!
It’s the secret to their enduring popularity: When college kids with “skulls full of mush” read about ‘em in Philosophy 101, they seem like the perfect solution to all of life’s problems.
The problem with socialism and communism isn’t philosophical. It’s practical: Socialism and communism incentivize behavior that leads to poverty, scarcity, shortages, and corruption.
Everywhere it’s tried, it’s failed spectacularly.
So instead of arguing philosophy, Trump should do the opposite and demand yes-or-no answers to real-world situations:
“Mr. Mamdani, if I give you A, B, and C, what will you do?”
Stay far away from the world of philosophical abstractions. Running a government isn’t theoretical; it’s real. And more often than not, it runs on cause-and-effect.
Recommended: The Marvel-ization of MAGA: It’s Still the Economy, Stupid
Trump’s mission is to get Mamdani to commit to real-world policy decisions.
An overly-educated manchild like Mamdani is perfectly content to argue Marxist philosophy ‘til the cows come home. That’s where he’s most comfortable.
Trump should take him out of his comfort zone by focusing like a laser beam on the actual nuts-and-bolts of governance.
Because, right now, the New York City mayor-elect is caught between two worlds. On one hand is his radical leftist base, who want him to torch the White House today — and blast that lousy racist/Islamophobic/Zionist/sexist Nazi out of the water. They fantasize that Mamdani will look Trump squarely in the eye and tell him point-blank to go [censored] himself.
But on the other hand, New York City can’t survive without the federal government. And the businesses that Mamdani needs to fund his socialist utopia are nervous: If he sends the wrong signal today, it could trigger a mass exodus of capital, wealth, and jobs.
As Politico reported in its Trump-Mamdani preview:
For Mamdani, whose far-left candidacy deeply divided his party, Trump presents a difficult and likely ongoing dilemma. The mayor-elect can’t afford Trump punishing the city or having his power clipped over the next four years. But appeasing him — or appearing to cow to him — will not be well-received by the supporters who propelled him into City Hall.
Mamdani is in the hotseat to prove that he can lead a deeply complex city. The first test is contending with its most powerful native son.
Nervous Democrats in the city and skeptical business leaders are closely watching the meeting as an early determination of whether the 34-year-old backbench state assemblymember can forge a working relationship with the mercurial Trump. They want to ensure that key construction efforts — like the Gateway tunnel between New York and New Jersey, the Second Avenue subway line and an overhaul of Penn Station — will continue with federal support.
What the first group wants is diametrically opposed to what the second group wants. Which means, at least one of these groups is gonna be VERY unhappy.
Good.
Trump should use this to his advantage.
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