Will Mamdani and Trump turn the volume up?

Donald Trump is famous for being willing to meet anyone – Russia’s Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Syria’s al-Jolani – and even New York’s Zohran Mamdani. 

The mayor-elect of the city of Trump’s birth will travel to Washington today for an audience with the Commander in Chief, and America’s journalists are furiously tapping away in anticipation of a big “showdown.”

The two men have spent months insulting each other. Trump calls Mamdani a “communist” (which the New York Times factchecks as false, naturally, because Zohran identifies as a “democratic socialist”) and has suggested, to much liberal apoplexy, that he “may not be here legally.” Trump also says that he is “much better looking,” which is funny, and has proposed sending in the National Guard in to Mamdani’s New York and withholding more billions in federal funding for the city. When asked about Mamdani’s defiant rhetoric against his policies on immigration, Trump replied: “Well, then, we’ll have to arrest him.”

Mamdani, for his part, presented his successful election campaign as an explicit rebuke of Trumpism. In a belligerent victory speech on November 4, he declared: “Donald Trump, since I know you are watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up.”

“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him,” he added, “it is the city that gave rise to him.” He’s also suggested making New York a “sanctuary city” for an “LGBTQ community” that loathes Trump and has proposed hiring 200 lawyers to stand up to “presidential excess.”

White House officials have not clarified whether reporters and cameras will be invited in to see the two men interact, so we won’t know until later if the world is about to witness another Oval Office bust-up, similar to the now infamous scenes with Zelensky and Cyril Ramaphosa. Trump, with his penchant for ratings, may well be keen to engineer one. 

That said, Trump has a strange habit of playing nice when expected to be nasty, and he has reportedly said in private that he admires Zohran’s political talents. He’s winner, after all. On Wednesday, apparently at the behest of some of his closest New York friends, Trump said he would be “willing to help him a little bit maybe.”

Mamdani has this week been doing his best to sound civil, too. “I will work with the President if he wants to work together on his campaign promises of cheaper groceries or a lower cost of living,” he said this week. Mamdani also this week pointed out that tens of thousands of Trump voters also supported him because they both pledged to tackle “affordability.” And that’s the point about voters in this so-called age of populism: many are quite happy to switch from a so-called “fascist” to a so-called “communist” if they think it might make life less expensive.

Mamdani should want to find some accommodation with Trump over federal funding, of course. But he may want to give his fans the exciting public clash which everyone seems so eager for. As Mamdani said yesterday, “If the president looks to come after the people of this city, then I will be there standing up for them every step of the way.” He appears to have a talent for turning up the volume, as well as muddled metaphors.