Lessons from Trump and Mamdani’s meeting.
“(I did not say that the US government committed genocide) I spoke about the Israeli government, which committed genocide, and also about our government, which is financing it. In my meeting with President Trump, I said that many New Yorkers are concerned (and want) their taxes to be spent on improving their own lives.”
This was part of Zahran Mamdani’s speech to reporters in the presence of US President Donald Trump on Friday, November 21. It is safe to say that no one in the government has ever said or dared to say to Trump.
Donald Trump, who had written in a contemptuous tone on Truth Social the day before: New York Communist Mayor Zahran “Kwame” Mamdani has requested a meeting with him, completely changed his position after meeting with Mamdani. In his post, he deliberately put Zahran (Kwame)’s middle name, which Zahran’s parents had chosen for him in honor of Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana and a communist fighter against British colonialism, in quotation marks to let the audience know that he was a communist immigrant! But with the meeting on Friday, everything changed, and this time he wrote in a post along with a photo of the two of them: “It was a great honor to meet Zahran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York!” In response to reporters who mostly asked controversial questions, Trump described Mamdani as excellent and logical, saying: I have had many meetings with leaders of the greatest countries. No one (from the media) paid any attention, but in this meeting, go look outside! Hundreds of people are waiting outside! In response to the question of whether you will live in New York, where Mamdani is the mayor? Trump said yes! Especially after this meeting, absolutely!
There is no doubt that the young Muslim mayor of New York came across as very strong in his meeting with the president and was able to allay Trump’s concerns about the possibility of far-left thinking dominating the fiscal policies of New York City’s city government. Mamdani is a capable orator and has a lot of intelligence. Even when Trump was taking a stand against him, he was reported to have praised his eloquence in private. Mamdani also showed off his wit at a press conference with Trump when a reporter asked him, “Mr. President, you said you love New York; Mr. Mamdani! Does New York love Trump?” And Mamdani said, “New York loves a future where life is affordable!” And I can say that New Yorkers voted for Trump for the last time!”
The part of Trump’s speech when Mamdani was asked about calling the president a fascist, and he answered instead of him and told Mamdani to say “yes” because it was easier than explaining, received the most media attention.
The world of politics in the West is a strange one. Western democracy, with all its flaws, has lessons to learn. How to connect with your opponent: find common ground, start with them, and have a challenging conversation about differences. In the world of politics, the time to draw the line is short, and no force is permanent. It has not been long since Zahran Mamdani’s fiery speech targeting Trump after winning the New York mayoral election changed everything! Perhaps no one expected Trump to say: “He (Mamdani) needs the help of the federal government to succeed, and I will help him. There are issues on which we disagree, But in the end, we will conclude: either he will convince me or I will convince him! And we will meet again!… I want to help him, not act against him! …”
In the real world, Trump sees that the head of his hometown administration is someone whose views are completely at odds with his, but he cannot spend the next few years in fruitless confrontation and conflict, and he is with a young man who has the strong support of the popular vote; therefore, he makes the best choice and enters into a dialogue with him. Smarter than Trump is Mamdani, who takes the initiative and asks the President for a meeting, because he knows that a municipality that does not have the support and assistance of the federal government will never succeed, so how better to lay down his hands with the President at the beginning of the road, and this does not necessarily mean surrendering or giving in, as Trump also stated: either I will convince him or he will convince me! … Like any event, the future of these relations is uncertain; but we have no duty to talk about what has not happened and about which we have no knowledge. What we are facing today is that the meeting and dialogue between the new mayor of New York and the President of the United States was successful.