By Ben Meiselas
What just unfolded inside the Oval Office during Trump’s meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was truly extraordinary. A president who had spent months smearing Mamdani as a “communist,” questioning his legal status, and threatening to retaliate against New York City for electing him, walked into the room spoiling for a fight. The Fox News chyrons leading up to the meeting read “SHOWDOWN WITH SOCIALISM!” Instead, Trump bent the knee.
And I don’t use that phrase lightly. At the post-meeting press availability, Trump was practically glowing, showering Mamdani with praise and agreeing to nearly every affordability measure Mamdani raised. In one particularly fascinating moment, a reporter asked Mamdani whether he still believed Trump was a fascist. Before Mamdani could answer, Trump jumped in: “You can call me that. Just call me whatever you want.” It was the most unmistakable display of submission I’ve ever seen from him in public.
This meeting was never about ego for Mamdani. He went to the White House for one reason: New Yorkers are being crushed by the cost of living, and he believes in talking to anyone, even Donald Trump, to deliver relief. As Mamdani put it, his campaign spoke with New Yorkers across the city, including those who voted for Trump, and “I heard again and again two major reasons… they wanted an end to forever wars… and they wanted to address the cost of living crisis.” That clarity never wavered.
Trump, meanwhile, seemed desperate to claim proximity to Mamdani’s popularity. He couldn’t resist admiring someone who was undoubtedly a “winner.” He repeatedly volunteered that “a lot of my voters actually voted for him, and I’m okay with that,” and even celebrated it: “That’s amazing.” He went on to say he believes Mamdani will be “a great mayor… great for crime… great for New York City.”
Then came the moment that will haunt the Republican Party’s 2026 strategy. House Republicans have already signaled they plan to run their entire midterm campaign on tying Democrats to Mamdani. Yet here was Donald Trump, the leader of their party, praising him as someone he “loves,” someone he now feels “very, very comfortable” with, someone whose vision for housing affordability, utilities, childcare, and public transit he broadly agreed with.
Then came the moment that will send shockwaves through the Republican Party:
Trump threw Elise Stefanik under the bus.
Discussing her attacks on Mamdani, which formed the backbone of her gubernatorial messaging, Trump shrugged them off, insisted they didn’t reflect Mamdani accurately, and called the mayor-elect’s priorities “very positive” and “very good for New York.” For a Republican Party whose 2026 strategy depends on making Mamdani the national face of Democratic “extremism,” this was a complete unraveling.
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Back to my report.
Mamdani, for his part, didn’t budge an inch. When pressed about previously calling Trump a “despot,” he reiterated that he and Trump were both “very clear about our positions and our views.” What mattered was the shared responsibility to lift “8.5 million people… struggling under a cost of living crisis.” That disciplined focus is why the meeting tilted entirely toward Mamdani’s agenda. He talked about rent, groceries, utilities, childcare, the daily pressures pushing New Yorkers out of their own city, and he got Trump to publicly agree that housing construction, utility reform, and affordability must be priorities.
This is what it looks like when you are unafraid, relentlessly focused, and grounded in serving working people. Mamdani didn’t walk into the White House searching for validation. Trump did. Mamdani walked in with an agenda. Trump walked out repeating it.
What Mamdani demonstrated in the Oval Office was not just savvy politics. It was clarity, courage, and competence. He walked into the White House knowing exactly why he was there: New Yorkers are at a breaking point. Rents are rising. Groceries are unaffordable. Utilities like Con Edison keep squeezing families. Childcare costs keep working parents trapped. Public transit needs investment, not rhetoric.
So Mamdani did what a real public servant does. He confronted the president, not to perform opposition, but to deliver results.
He spoke directly about the concerns he heard from New Yorkers across the city, including working-class and immigrant communities where Trump overperformed. As Mamdani put it:
“Cost of living, cost of living, cost of living… the cost of groceries, the cost of rent, the cost of Con Ed, the cost of childcare.”
While establishment politicians often lecture people about what they should care about, Mamdani listened. And he brought that clarity straight into the Oval Office.
Trump had no choice but to agree.
Trump signed onto nearly every core issue Mamdani raised, including housing affordability, rent stabilization, utilities, food prices, and childcare.
At one point, Trump even declared:
“There’s no difference in party. There’s no difference in anything. We’re going to be helping him.”
That single sentence detonates the entire Republican narrative.
House GOP leaders have already signaled that tying Democrats to Mamdani is their centerpiece 2026 strategy, a strategy built on demonization, caricature, and misinformation. Yet here was the leader of their party describing Mamdani as someone he believes “will do a very good job,” and someone he would “feel comfortable” living under in New York City.
Nothing could be more damaging to Republicans who have spent months screaming “extremist!” and “jihadist!” from the rooftops.
Trump didn’t just undermine his party’s messaging. He obliterated it.
At the end of the day, this meeting revealed something essential about leadership. Mamdani did not temper his values. He didn’t abandon his views on foreign policy, policing, or human rights. When pressed about Gaza, he reiterated his conviction that “the Israeli government [is] committing genocide” and reminded Trump that New Yorkers want their tax dollars spent at home, not on endless war.
He said it right there in front of Trump.
And Trump did nothing but nod along.
This is what it looks like when you’re not afraid of Donald Trump.
This is what it looks like when you serve working people, not media narratives.
This is what it looks like when you center policy, not performance.
By the end of the press conference, Trump had not only surrendered his attacks, but he was trying to repurpose Mamdani’s agenda as his own. He looked less like a president in command and more like someone hoping some of Mamdani’s popularity would rub off on him.
And Mamdani? He remained exactly who he was before he walked into the building.
Trump bent the knee. Mamdani didn’t even need to ask him to.
