Behind the smiles, Trump fears Zohran Mamdani, the left-wing star reshaping US politics

Trump’s uneasy truce with the New York mayor-elect shows a president rattled by a young, energetic rival whose appeal threatens both the Republican narrative and the Democrats’ own complacency, says Michael Day

Friday’s Oval Office encounter between Donald Trump and New York’s incoming left-wing mayor Zohran Mamdani has been eagerly anticipated, with the pair trading insults for months.

But there was no Zelensky-style slanging match. The meeting was all sweetness and light.

The right-wing real-estate magnate and the “democratic socialist” batted away the awkward questions on ICE raids and accusations of fascism, and bonded – for the cameras, at least – over a shared love of New York and a desire to build homes there.

Predictions of a bust-up between Trump, 79, and the 34-year-old Muslim of Indian-Ugandan descent whom he’d dubbed a “100 per cent Communist Lunatic” were understandable.

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in cordial meeting in the Oval Office (AP)

Trump hasn’t had a good week. It started well. The grisly Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman appeared in the Oval Office on Tuesday to stroke Trump’s ego and bag himself some F-35 fighter jets in exchange for nearly $1 trillion in US investments.

But it had gone pear-shaped within 24 hours as the Republican Party revealed the remnants of a spine, forcing the president to order the release of the entire cache of Epstein files. Will Trump’s goon squad in the Justice Department release all of the papers? Probably not.

Nonetheless, Washington insiders say Trump is afraid and furious. We can see that by the ferocity and volume of Trump’s posts on his Truth Social that followed.

In the Oval Office with New York’s mayor-elect, however, there were smiles and even a little self-deprecating humour. Did Trump mind being called a “fascist” by the man standing next to him?

“I’ve been called worse than that,” the US president joshed.

Mamdani appears to hold a degree of fascination for Trump.

For starters, the mayor-elect’s political skills are undeniable. He came from nowhere to thrash the Cuomo political dynasty for control of America’s richest city.

And Trump appreciates a winner. “He really ran an incredible race against some really smart people,” he said.

Trump even wished Mamdani well: “I think he’s going to be hopefully a really great mayor. The better he does, the happier I am,” he lied.

Or maybe he didn’t. If Mamdani makes a decent fist of the NY mayoralty, his influence in the party will grow – with the potential to cause dangerous division between the left and centre.

If, however, Mamdani’s mayoralty is a disaster, that will give the GOP plenty of political ammunition.

Trump appeared to be musing out loud when he said that Mamdani’s mayoralty “can go great… or it can go… the other way.”

That’s putting it mildly.

Mamdani is good at attention-grabbing soundbites. But his plans for government-run food shops, free buses and, above all, rent freezes, are straight from the sixth-form socialist playbook. The Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck, no right-winger himself, once remarked that rent controls were “the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city – except for bombing”.

Mamdani stood behind Trump’s right shoulder with a Sphinx-like smile (AFP via Getty Images)

Mamdani stood behind Trump’s right shoulder with a Sphinx-like smile. When needed, he turned on the easy charm. He and the president had discussed the eight-and-a-half million people in America’s most expensive city who “are struggling to afford life” – an abstract concept, no doubt, for the crypto-billionaire president. Trump appeared to be eyeing the room suspiciously, on the lookout for “nasty” reporters with questions about bone saws.

Returning to the matter at hand, Trump declared that some of Mamdani’s ideas “are really the same ideas that I have”.

Trump couldn’t tell you what socialism or communism is if you asked him.

Mayor-elect Mamdani was given a tougher time yesterday by fellow Democrats in Congress, 86 of whom voted with Republicans to approve a House resolution – timed to coincide with the Oval Office meeting – that condemned “the horrors of socialism”, when they ought to be more concerned about the horrors of Trump II.

Democrat bigwigs fear that Mamdani’s full-fat socialism will scare middle-of-the-road voters in swing states.

Trump, though, recognises Mamdani’s appeal, his energy – his youth. Surely, they do, too. Mamdani is a smart campaigner who stays on message – in his case, the cost of living – and who embraced digital messaging like no Democrat before him, with clever video storytelling and savvy use of social media to take New York City by storm.

These are tactics the Democrats sorely need, as they contemplate mid-term and 2028 presidential elections in the shadow of the 2024 car crash facilitated by Biden’s decrepitude.

And the Democrat establishment has a lot to learn. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, one of the 86 Democrats behind the pointed condemnation of socialism, was, after all, a vociferous Biden supporter to the (very) bitter end.