Why the Mamdani-Trump ‘bromance’ makes sense right now

NEW YORK — When he was campaigning to be mayor of the nation’s largest city, Zohran  Mamdani liked to say he was President Trump’s “worst nightmare.” 

In his victory speech in November, Mamdani took it a step further — calling Trump a “despot” and declaring that if anyone could show how to defeat him, “it’s the city that gave rise to him.” 

Trump returned the fire.

He called Mamdani a “communist” and someone “who doesn’t know a damn thing” while threatening to withhold federal funds from New York. 

But on Thursday — for the second time since the mayor was elected in November — Trump and Mamdani not only met at the White House. Both sides emerged claiming to have a productive meeting. 

“It is the most fascinating bromance in America right now,” New York Democratic strategist Trip Yang said. 

To go from sparring as Mamdani campaigned “to where they are now, which looks like best buddies in a romcom, it’s simply remarkable.” 

It’s an unusual turn of events: Two politicians who have built their brands and support by opposing the other side were suddenly collaborative.

And yet, political observers say the relationship makes sense.

“Game recognizes game, and what I mean by that is they see something kindred in each other,” said Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party. 

“They’re populist leaders. They appeal to very different bases for very different reasons, but they both have been able to create very strong movements around their respective candidacies, and are in firm control of that. I think they each recognize that, in attempting to go after the other person, their respective supporters are unshakeable.” 

During Thursday’s unscheduled meeting, Mamdani proposed a plan to build 12,000 units of housing in Queens. The plan would cost more than $21 billion, one of the largest federal investments in recent history. 

When he arrived at the White House for the closed-door Oval Office meeting, Mamdani also brought a copy of a 1975 New York Daily News front page that screamed: [Gerald] Ford to City: Drop Dead. He paired it with a mock Daily News cover featuring Trump’s face and another headline: “Trump to City: Let’s Rebuild.” 

A smiling Trump ended up holding both front pages in a photo that Mamdani shared on X, the social media site. 

“I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City,” Mamdani wrote in the post. 

During their first White House meeting in November, Trump told Mamdani to come back to him with “some big ideas on how we can build some things together in New York City,” Joe Calvello, the mayor’s spokesperson, told reporters after the meeting, according to the New York Post. 

“And that’s what he did today,” Calvello said, adding that Trump was “enthusiastic” about the plan. “The mayor took him up on his offer and went to D.C.” 

Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University, said the mayor had a good idea in taking the development proposal to a former real estate figure who was raised in Gotham and is known for his real estate empire there. 

“You’ve got the fact that they both care about New York, and you’ve got the fact [Mamdani] is coming to Trump with an idea about doing something that is in Trump’s wheelhouse,” Reeher said. 

Susan Del Percio, the longtime Republican strategist who is based in New York, said it is “quite smart” to go straight to Trump with proposals because “anything he can get from Trump makes him not as beholden to [New York Gov. Kathy] Hochul.” 

What does Trump get out of the deal? Del Percio was asked. 

“Probably his name on a building,” she said. 

Calvello said that during the meeting, Mamdani also swayed Trump to release a Columbia University student who had been obtained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers earlier in the day. He also provided the president with a list of four others who had been apprehended by ICE officers. 

The Trump-Mamdani meeting came two days after Trump called the mayor in his State of the Union address “a nice guy.”

“Actually speak to him a lot,” the president said. “Bad policy, but nice guy.” 

As he pushed for Congress to pass his voter-ID bill, the president pointed out Mamdani’s emergency snow-shoveling program in the Big Apple, arguing “if you apply for that job, you need to show two original forms of ID and a Social Security card.” 

“I can tell you, I didn’t expect this much attention nationwide on our emergency snow shoveler program,” Mamdani quipped the next day. 

Smikle also said New Yorkers seem generally approving, if not somewhat in awe, of Mamdani’s Trump approach. 

“Mamdani seems to have defanged Donald Trump. I think New Yorkers are proud of their mayor, but there’s also a curiosity: What is it about him that is so disarming?” 

But he cautioned that the mayor should still tread carefully with the unpredictable president.

“Trump has, historically, tried to make sure that he feels he’s in control, and that people are paying appropriate deference to him,” he said. “What is very possible is that Trump could have this relationship with him today, on the surface, and then come around and try to test his resolve by doing other things that would make it seem that the relationship has been fractured, and that it’s Mamdani’s fault, and then force him into a situation where he then has to very publicly capitulate.” 

While Mamdani and Trump clearly see some positives in the bromance, Yang questioned how much further the relationship can progress as a win-win for both figures.

“How long can the buddy cop saga play out? There may be times where that relationship is tested, so seeing how sustainable it is probably the biggest question mark.” 

More than 2 million New Yorkers voted in November’s election, marking the highest turnout for a mayoral election since 1969. Throughout his campaign, Mamdani, who is the youngest mayor of New York in more than a century, built his victory on an unusually diverse coalition, even attracting some Republicans by centering his campaign on economic issues including affordable housing. 

Since securing a surprise win in the primary in June, Mamdani has become one of the most visible faces of the progressive movement within the Democratic Party. That prominence has led some Democrats to wonder whether his newfound relationship with Trump could alienate parts of his base.

But Del Percio poured cold water on that idea.

“No one is thinking Mamdani is becoming a closet conservative,” she said.

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