Trump said he would even be comfortable moving back to New York City and living there with Mamdani as mayor, saying he was surprised how much they had in common.

For months, Donald Trump warned New Yorkers against electing Zohran Mamdani as mayor, referring to him as a “communist lunatic.” Mamdani, meanwhile, called Trump a “despot.”

All of that was put aside in an extraordinary Oval Office get-together Friday, the first face-to-face meeting between the two men.

Trump, who sought to kneecap Mamdani during the campaign, was exceedingly complimentary of the self-described democratic socialist, while Mamdani repeatedly talked up his hope that he and the president could work together to lower costs for New Yorkers.

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[–] 96 points 11 months ago

He's a narcissist and is easily charmed.

He sees Mamdani as a "winner" and therefore feels compelled to cosy up to him to enlarge his own ego.

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  • [–] 69 points 11 months ago

    If I didn't know Trump was a flip flopping erratic personality him saying they have a lot on common would be very concerning lol.

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  • [–] 60 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    Trump knows a handsome man when he sees one

    And oh how he’s missed hanging out with handsome men

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  • [–] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 115 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Dementia Don probably thought Mamdani was someone from Saudi Arabia.

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  • [–] 50 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    He pulled a similar move with “Bernie bros” back in the day. He sees the rift in the Democratic party and thinks he can scoop up some disaffected leftists by aligning himself (in words alone) with a popular socialist.

    He has no policy positions. It’s all posturing. He’ll fit whatever mold is necessary for that moment. It’s amazing he can posture this much without a spine, tbh.

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  • [–] 37 points 11 months ago

    Let's get them to hang out more then! Donnie needs good role models.

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  • [–] 33 points 11 months ago* (1 child)

    Trump has no spine of his own. He just likes the last person who talked to him. See: Zelensky/Putin flipflopping

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  • [–] 16 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    I'm trying to parse this but I just don't get it.

    The only explanation I can come up with is simply that Trump identifies Mamdani as a popular democratically elected official, and wants to share some of that sunshine.

    Still weird as hell.

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  • [–] 13 points 11 months ago*

    Trump's brain is mush. Mamdani is very well spoken and can easily navigate a positive conversation with someone like Trump. I bet it was as simple as discussing how much he loves NYC and broadly covering some basic economic policy that will make everyday New Yorkers richer.

    It seems obvious in retrospect. Mamdani spends a day talking so the president to get on his good side, suddenly he doesn't have (ALL of) MAGA calling for his deportation.

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  • [–] 15 points 11 months ago

    In every pic mandami is blocking his junk like trump is trying to get at it

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  • [–] 14 points 11 months ago

    Trump becoming submissive and breedable when faced with a strong man.

    (Kill me).

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  • [–] 7 points 11 months ago

    It could be as simple as him demonizing every Democrat by default, but when he actually talks to Mamdani he saw he was just a person, and a charming one at that.

    I think part of the reason Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the governor race in Virginia is because she actually went into red areas and talked to Trump voters face to face. It's harder to demonize people when you have met them and they didn't kill your wife or turn your dog trans.

    But after Trump spends a few days back in his sycophant and Fox News echo chamber he will go right back to bad-mouthing Mamdani.

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  • [–] 7 points 11 months ago
    [–] 7 points 11 months ago

    Yeah, this was so bizarre to watch. It's the first time I've ever seen Trump acting like a proud father, I mean with good reason, seeing as how Don Jr and Eric are the textbook definition of the term "fail son"

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  • [–] 12 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    I'm wondering if trump is waking up and realizing his endorsements actually hurt people instead of helping them.

    He might be trying to use reverse-psychology on us to get us to hate Mamdani.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago

    no, dude just like shiny things and being in the spotlot.

    mandani was making very thinky veiled jokes at his expense for that whole presser and he didn't realize, he really is so far gone that he just repeats whatever was last said to him

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  • [–] 17 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    It's triangulation.

    The plans Mamdani campaigned on are going to cost billions, and will require state and federal support to have any chance of success. He said as much himself and I imagine that's why he agreed to the meeting.

    Hochul supported him verbally and now Trump has too (words are free).

    From Trump's perspective, if he had done a presser where he immediately shits on Mamdani to his face, and vows to oppose him with the entire Federal apparatus, then that adds fuel for more people to potentially support Mamdani-like figures if for no other reason than opposition to Trump. It also gives Mamdani an easy target to blame if his policies ultimately fail in NYC.

    In contrast, Trump comes out and says "NYC is great, it's gonna be great under his leadership, he can do it" etc. then later when things don't go so well in New York (which Trump is betting on) then it's easier for Trump to say Mamdani owns the failures.

    Its the same thing as building up a debate opponent prior to the event and then it becomes easier to suggest they underperformed expectations.

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  • [–] 19 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    You're projecting competence on Trump

    Trump is strong to the weak and weak to the strong. He's surrounded with people without backbones, both his sycophants and enemies are whiney little pieces of shit

    Mamdani has actual beliefs and is unapologetic. He stole massive amounts of voters away from Trump in Trump's home city. Mamdani has the kind of mandate Trump likes to pretend he has

    Trump just likes Mamdani. He wants Mamdani to like him. It's that simple

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  • [–] 12 points 11 months ago*

    seriously, Trump isnt playing 4d chess...

    he doesn't know how to play regular chess

    hell, he doesn't know how to play checkers

    even before losing what little of his brain he had to dementia the man was dumb as shit

    it's wild to me just how much damage one random television show (the apprentice) could cause, by convincing so many people trump is actually competent

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  • [–] 0 points 11 months ago
    20 comments in c/news@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 44 points 11 months ago

    I would never meet trump alone. He may report him right there for any reason.

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  • [–] 42 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Mamdani defeated independent candidate Andrew Cuomo — whom Trump endorsed at the last minute — and Republican Curtis Sliwa, winning over a notable number of Trump supporters in the Nov. 4 election. NBC News exit polls found that 10% of New York City voters who cast ballots for Trump in last year’s presidential election voted for Mamdani.

    This is what neoliberals are scared of.

    It's not just that Dem voters want to vote for progressives, even MAGA will.

    Progressives blow up the two party controlled opposition strategy, because they'll beat maga and neoliberals, and if they reach critical mass, shit will actually get fixed and no neoliberal or maga will ever hold a major seat of power again.

    We're at a major tipping point that could fundamentally turn the country around and back in a positive direction

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  • [–] 17 points 11 months ago

    they reach critical mass, shit will actually get fixed and no neoliberal or maga will ever hold a major seat of power agai

    People are pretty stupid and would probably fall for maga bullshit again

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  • [–] 28 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Oh fucking hell

    Be ready for him to somehow make this worse than the zelensky meeting

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  • [–] 24 points 11 months ago* (6 children)

    Trump is a mentally declining egoist. I think this has the potential to be a masterful move by Mamdani. All he has to do is put on a bit of a show, and just stick to his affordability plans (an area Trump has been trying to hit lately) and maybeeee just maybe let Trump think it was his own idea, then bam.

    If (big if I know) Trump echoes one of Mamdanis popular positions I bet TONS of right wingers would happily jump on board and the RNC wouldn't be able to close that pandoras box, at least on that particular policy. The biggest road block is whichever of Trumps aides are with him. When they leave him alone it doesn't seem to take much to convince him, like the 50 year mortgage story.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Trump will usually come out agreeing with the last person in the room to say something to him. He’s like a goldfish brain in that respect. So your advisor comment is very apt, will be interesting to see how this goes down.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    I was thinking about why no one tried to do this with Trump before knowing that even last term all it took was schmoozing and compliments to get on his good side, then I realized the massive media blitz they used to try and stop Mamdani combined with his popularity and win is exactly what gave him such a unique and elevated platform from which to do it. Hilarious and very smart imo. Mamdani knows how to play the game for certain.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    Mamdani’s natural talents are a big part of the equation, I agree. He’s just a great politician, and seems to have a good platform.

    As for why Dems didn’t do this before, there are likely several reasons. Primarily, garbage leadership. They decided declaring Trump public enemy #1 and fundraising on fears of what he might do was the best approach. They made a lot of money doing this, but at what cost? Lost all branches of government. Historic losses in state seats. And worst of all, they manufactured consent for all of Trump’s worst authoritarian tendencies.

    Republicans are evil, but Dems are god awful at politics. In that regard, I think Trump rightly recognizes that politicians like Mamdani are in fact the future of the Dem party, if it can survive to see the day.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago

    The handful of MAGAs still left in my social feed jumped on releasing the epstein files as soon as Trump flipped. Shits hilarious. So yeah, I agree, trump's statements are these people's beliefs at the drop of a tweet

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago*

    Can't wait for this "meltdown"!

    Is there a pool for what racial slurs he lets out?

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    What assurances do we have that he won't be arrested on some made up charge? I'd do a video call if it was me.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

    EDIT: It wasn't a trap? It went WELL?? I'm speechless.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    He better kick fucking ass.

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  • 1 comment in c/conservative@sh.itjust.works view that post
    [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    Another cringe show at the white house, yay!

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