The president’s Oval Office meeting with New York’s incoming leader is not open to the press.
Trump, 79, frequently invites reporters into the Oval Office for a front-seat view as he sits down with U.S. and world leaders, but, according to his schedule, the media was barred from his first meeting with Mamdani, the Democratic socialist 45 years his junior.
Their first face-to-face comes after Trump lobbed a series of nasty attacks on the political upstart who mounted an underdog campaign and went on to win the race to lead the largest city in the U.S.
Trump has blasted Mamdani as a “communist lunatic” and “not very smart.” He falsely accused him of being in the country illegally, threatened to arrest him, and warned that he would cut off money to New York if he won.
Honestly, I think this is the best option. Nothing good would have come of their conversation being in public.
He keeps trying to pass himself off as a smart man, and there’s just no way to keep up that act if you’ve got an actually smart man talking to you.
Why not? Mamdani would absolutely smoke him
He doesn’t actually want to “smoke” anyone, he wants to secure his business, and that business is running one of the most important cities on Earth. Cities outlast people, outlast nations. Mandani is taking his job seriously enough that he doesn’t want to have to manage his meeting with the head of the federal government through public perception.
He is far more capable of negotiating politics and deal-making than Trump, but in order to have any business relationship at all, he has to make compromises and concessions. This is normal and fine, but a lot of people are going to take it wrong. We have to be understanding of this fact, because Mandani WILL at some point do or say things that will cause concern or be misunderstood in the larger scope of politics.
Color me skeptical that anything good is actually going to happen when the fascist dictator comes out of that meeting singing his praises. Wish we knew what they actually discussed…
I just don’t think that’s the purpose of them talking. It’s not meant to be a public fight between 2 people, which is what it would turn into.
I imagine Trump will possibly be more receptive to Mamdani’s comments in that private than in public.
In what way? Because I hate to remind you but Trump is a literal fascist.
In the same way that the 50 year mortgage guy got Trump on board despite all his aides and everyone else hating it. Hes not a hard man to trick.
Trump is a (self-proclaimed) billionaire; of course he’s not going to object to more exploitation of the working class. It’s a whole different conversation when it’s something that will hurt the owner class.
Hes also been harping on affordability and his approval rating has cratered. If he was gonna strong man this meeting I think there’s no shot he doesn’t want to do that in front of a camera. Im not telling you he’s going in good faith, but I know he likes the popularity Mamdani generated and will seek to find out how to do that himself. His ego has always been his weakness. If he was smart enough to just shut up, I bet almost none of his felonies would have stuck. Again Im not claiming this is a likely scenario but I do believe there’s more to it than a screaming match.
Edit: A friend just sent me this, and said he wished Schmer or Jefferies said anything this nice about Mamdani.
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m666j5jjpe2d
It’s now after the meeting, go watch the press conference and tell me trump isn’t absolutely smitten with Mamdani.
Well I guess I’ll be eating my words I have no idea what the hell is going on here.
I guess I have no expectations for Trump to take anything positive away from this meeting.
But think in private he’s more likely to let Mamdani talk. In public it would just be a pissing contest for him.
I disagree. I think Mamdani would have made a fool out of Trump while trying not to. He still will, but now we won’t get to see it.
You want entertainment. He wants to take the job seriously. The mayor of New York wants to secure some form of business dealing going forward and do right by his constituency.
When his hands are tied behind public image, he can’t talk openly about a lot of things that would make the general public panic or not understand the meaning and context. We tend to forget or choose to forget that even the best politics is still public perception management.
What good would have come from that? Trump would just go overboard with whatever fascist retaliation he can in order to compensate for his embarrassment.
Yep yep. Putting a reality show brained narcissist in front of cameras is only a good idea if you want footage of a crashout
100%, the American public, for as much as everyone complains about the state of politics, are not much better as a driving force for policy and good outcomes.
Because everyone can’t keep their shit together and the most ill-informed voices now speak loudest, we’re going to see more and more actual politics moving behind closed doors, for better or worse.
I think that’s fine, though. You don’t always need to see how the sausage is made. It’s only the fact they Trump is such an untrustworthy person that this is an issue. I trust Mamdani, though.
Nah, trump couldn’t even open his mouth without pissing off his base. Any footage would call attention to his base that he let the “devil” in.
You’re right, there are secret meetings between powerful individuals that should remain hidden from public knowledge
Not every conversation needs to be public.
Not every conversation, but every conversation between powerful individuals.
And maybe that’s an impractical standard, but the spirit of it is more liberating than letting corruption fester in the darkness.
It is an impractical standard. While I understand where you’re coming from, I think sometimes you need to allow people an opportunity to talk without every word being judged.
If the meeting is public, then it will never be a true conversation. It will be 2 people giving prepared statements in the form of a conversation.
That’s an interesting perspective and I see where you are coming from. But practicality is out the window with the Trump admin. Transparency is practical