Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump recently met up at the White House, and it’s fair to say that it didn’t go as expected.
Despite all of their political differences, the main thing people noticed is that the pair actually seemed to hit it off.
Zohran and Trump have exchanged harsh words before now
As far as political beliefs go, new NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump are chalk and cheese.
Over the course of a bitter election campaign, which eventually saw Zohran storm to victory, Trump called him a ‘communist’ and even threatened to withhold funding from the city.
On the other hand, Zohran called Trump a ‘fascist’ and a ‘despot’ as well as sending a clear message to him during his victory speech.
However, it’s that first word we’re going to focus on here.
Mamdani and Trump met at the White House
The pair enjoyed a surprisingly cordial meeting at the White House yesterday, even sharing a few smiles and jokes between each other.
However, that doesn’t mean that some hard questions weren’t asked.
During that meet-up, a reporter asked Mamdani if he was ‘affirming’ his previous claims that Trump is a ‘fascist’.
As the 34-year-old started to respond, Trump cut in: “That’s ok. You can just say ‘yes.’”
He was smiling, so he clearly wasn’t taking it all too seriously.
Trump continued: “It’s easier. It’s easier than explaining. I don’t mind.”
Mamdani, then looking at the gathered journalists simply said ‘OK’ and waved his hand.
He then added: "Yes."
It's not clear whether that was a direct response to the question, but it could well be.
The meeting was surprisingly cordial. Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty
The exchange certainly started some debate
One person commented: “Trump jumping in like that was wild!
“He saw a yes-or-no question floating in the air and decided to intercept it like he was calling his own number.
“Zohran barely opened his mouth and Trump basically said, ‘Don’t worry, champ, I’ll handle your lines too.’ Peak Trump!”
Another said: “He effectively just told him to skip the cutscene because he has already played this level.
“It is such a bizarre power move to treat a moral accusation like a simple time management issue. You cannot make this stuff up.”
A third - and lots of others - simply wrote: “At least he’s self aware…”
However, the main takeaway was the cordial nature of the meeting - with Trump admitting that he ‘absolutely would’ be happy living in Mamdani’s New York.
He even added: “I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor — the better he does, the happier I am.”
Let’s see how it goes.