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Because good news doesn’t sell, there were surely some long faces in American newsrooms Friday afternoon.
The expected — and even hoped for — explosion between President Trump and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani turned out to be a festival of mutual admiration.
Given the grim forecast, it was as shocking as if cats and dogs decided to make a love story.
Most important for New Yorkers of all stripes, there was very real substance to the friendly vibes and pledges of cooperation.
The president was so pleased with their initial 45-minute private meeting that he withdrew his previous threat to slash federal funding for Gotham because of Mamdani’s election and promised instead to help the city.
“I expect to be helping him, not hurting him,” Trump said as Mamdani stood beside him in the Oval Office, with the president sitting behind his glorious desk.
Trump added his view that he and the democratic socialist pol “agree on a lot more than I would have thought.”
“I want him to do a great job, and we’ll help him do a great job,” Trump added.
In a rebuke to the naysayers, he also said, “I would feel very, very comfortable being in New York, and I think much more so after the meeting.”
Color me delighted by the rare moment in politics where the surprise was all to the upside.
As I watched the chummy press conference and friendly body language between them, it struck me that the moment marked a huge win for both men.
And it was all free of charge because it cost neither of them anything to show the other respect.
A lost art
The ability to get along with adversaries is something of a lost art in politics these days, even though most Americans want their elected officials to work together for the common good.
But social media and rabid party-first types dominate on both left and right, and as the temperature rises, the attacks have gotten nastier.
It’s not a coincidence that political violence is growing more common as a result.
Trump, of course, has been a victim of that violence, and has long established himself as an unbeaten counterpuncher.
But he took a very different approach Friday, playing the genial role of an experienced and friendly elder as he and Mamdani put on a clinic on how simple respect can be simultaneously good manners and good politics.
Trump even laughed when a reporter asked about Mamdani having called him a “fascist.”
As the 34-year-old Mamdani started to answer, the 79-year-old president tapped the mayor-elect’s arm and said, smiling, “That’s OK, you can just say yes.”
“OK, all right,” Mamdani said.
“It’s easier than explaining it. I don’t mind,” Trump added.
“I’ve been called much worse.”
Doing his part to keep the upbeat mood, Mamdani made a point of talking about how Trump had gained votes in New York in the last presidential election, and recounted a story he told before about talking to some of the president’s supporters.
“When we spoke to those voters who voted for President Trump, we heard them speak about the cost of living,” Mamdani said.
“We focused on that same cost of living.”
Trump added his approval, saying “a lot of my voters actually voted for him, and I’m OK with that.”
The bonhomie highlights one of the great failures of Dem congressional leaders from the city. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries in the House and Sen. Chuck Schumer have not taken advantage of Trump being a New Yorker to get more out of him for the city he so clearly loves.
Instead, they act like free-floating partisans, untethered from any responsibility to help the people who sent them to Washington.
They are Democrats first, and New Yorkers second.
Hopefully, the new mayor will not make the same mistake.
As for cross-over voters, Mamdani’s smartest move was to brand the cost-of-living issue with a catchy name, calling it the affordability crisis.
Because it is undeniable that the price of everything in New York is going through the roof, his opponents were stuck trying to play catch-up on his turf.
As is usually the case, the candidate who best defines the most common issue wins.
A common cost
Unfortunately, the victor’s solution in this case is straight out of the socialism playbook: raise taxes on the wealthy and businesses to provide more free services to more New Yorkers.
It’s effectively a ramped-up continuation of the high-spending, high-tax policies that created the current crisis and drove hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to other states.
More of the same, this time on steroids, is likely to bring more pain than gain and an even larger exodus.
Still, it’s no small matter that Trump himself is engaged in a new effort to tackle the cost of living nationally.
Although his economic agenda was key in his 2024 victory, polls now show increasing numbers of Americans are unhappy with rising prices and Trump’s tariffs are seen as a factor.
In response, the president is considering a plan to hand out checks to low- and middle-income families of at least $2,000, and the idea is being called a “tariff rebate.”
My biggest regret about Friday is that Trump failed to note the shocking rise of antisemitism in New York, and Mamdani’s outrageous history of anti-Israel comments.
The president’s own record in helping to protect the Jewish state from Iran and Hamas doubles his credibility to speak with authority on the topic.
He could have at least drawn attention to a situation that remains dangerously overheated, as proved again Wednesday by the hate-filled harassment at a Manhattan synagogue.
Patrol model
Still, for Mamdani, Friday capped a surprising and successful week as he prepares to take the oath Jan 1.
The other big well-received development was his decision to ask top cop Jessica Tisch to remain on the job, and her acceptance.
They hold very different views on policing, which are inflamed by Mamdani’s history of slurring cops as racists and violence prone.
But in a statement after they met and agreed she would stay on, the next mayor said, “We share a commitment to delivering safety and justice in tandem and a recognition of the fact that we are currently asking police officers to do far more than simply police.”
Regrettably, he said again Friday that he will keep the force at its current 35,000 officers, while I agree with Tisch and Mayor Adams that an increase of 5,000 is warranted.
That is true in part because of Tisch’s focus on quality of life crimes, and because the record declines in violent crime she has achieved do not constitute a final victory.
Consider that by year’s end, despite the improvements, the city is on a pace to have suffered nearly 110,000 major crimes, including 300 murders.
Hiring more cops is an obvious part of making Gotham even safer next year.