Consider: Mamdani has often said that Trump is a “despot who betrayed the country” and a fascist. Until now, if you were called a fascist and you were not the person or a follower of Benito Mussolini, you were generally not inclined to invite the caller for a friendly chat.
Consider this: Trump had called Mamdani “a communist lunatic.” Normally the same reluctance would apply.
But there they were, one to the other, offering sweet nothings. Reporters in the room were in disbelief. On social media, some people even suggested that this was the start of a new populist coalition of left and right.
May God protect us from that.
“I think you’ll hopefully have a really great mayor,” Trump said about the man who was that communist lunatic about five seconds ago.
“I appreciated the time with the president,” Mamdani said. “I appreciate the conversation and I look forward to working together…”
Why do you think a “communist lunatic” would make a great mayor of New York, Mr. President?
You valued your time with a despot with a fascist agenda, Mr. Mayor? Why spend so much time? Weren’t you afraid that fascism would spread to you?
Americans, of course, knew what was really going on. As offensive as these terms were, they were the words of two transactional men. Trump is one of the greatest flip-floppers of all time, a man with no clear moral core who simply says and does whatever serves him at the moment, even if that means being nice to his “little communist.”
Mamdani, who wouldn’t have been caught dead around Trump before he won his election (“I’ll be his worst nightmare,” he promised), has now clearly decided that the White House contains the king of malleable men, someone he could flatter and thus win over to get some goodies for New York City, and perhaps at the same time avoid the arrival of some bad guys like the Border Patrol cowboys who caused so much misery here in the Second City.
This is a very reasonable tactic by the mayor. We just didn’t expect this from Mamdani, who convinced so many people of his ideological purity and openly embraced the socialist name and all, and we certainly didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.
If all it takes is to show up at the White House and say you appreciate your time with Trump, where is Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson? Why did the newly elected mayor of New York do this, but the mayor who presides over Chicago, a city where we have to stare at the name “Trump” atop a downtown hotel, didn’t hop on a plane to DC and be nice for, oh, the 30 seconds it apparently lasts? Where is Governor JB Pritzker anyway?
Leading the resistance, of course.
That certainly suits the progressive wing of the Democrats, but it is also very striking how little that progressive wing has criticized Mamdani’s cooperation with Trump.
Why did he get away with this?
Simple. Trump’s transactional approach is now everywhere. Mamdani’s followers know he’s playing the game and doing what he has to do to get those free buses, those rent controls, and all the other nice, shiny things that require someone else to help pay New York’s bill.
Please forgive us our cynicism. That’s not our whole message here.
The reality is that mayors and governors need a productive relationship with the federal government, no matter how odious they find the duly elected president. They may huff and puff for political gain, or even out of genuine moral conviction or outrage, but the price paid is years of limited resources and interventions of only the unwelcome kind.
We respect our readers who believe there should be no compromise with Trump. We even sympathize. But in the end it’s not the right decision. A sworn enemy in the White House can do too much damage.
Meanwhile, that “little communist” from New York just taught us how to get what we need from Trump, too.
One last thought though. Doesn’t a great country thrive better when people mean what they say and act on it?
—The Chicago Tribune
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