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In the hours after Zohran Mamdani met with Donald Trump for an undisclosed sit-down in the Oval Office on Thursday, a meme quickly circulated on X.
It resembled the screengrab of a TikToker who doles out dubious financial advice, but instead had the mayor’s picture front and center. On the left it read “I receive 12,000 homes” and “the release of a constituent kidnapped by ICE” and on the right “you receive fake newspaper cover”.
It was a neat summary of two unexpected wins Mamdani seemed to clinch in Washington for little in return, as part of an unexpectedly congenial relationship that continues to grow between city hall and the White House. Mamdani’s office later confirmed the mayor pitched a proposal to secure $21bn in federal grants to make good on a central promise to create more citywide affordable housing. This would include the construction of a deck over the busy rail yard in Sunnyside, Queens to build 12,000 housing units. The president appeared “enthusiastic”, according to the mayor’s chief spokesperson.
To sweeten things, Mamdani made sure to play to Trump’s ego. For the former real-estate developer- turned reality TV star- turned commander in chief, flattery might get you everywhere.
The mayor presented the president with a pair of New York Daily News front pages. The first was the infamous 1975 relic from when Gerald Ford effectively told a bankrupt New York City to drop dead. The second was a custom mock-up – bait for a president preoccupied with legacy building. The fake cover read: “Trump Delivers 12,000+ Homes; Most Since 1973.” On social media, Mamdani made sure to share the grainy image of himself, standing behind the resolute desk as the president grins rabidly, holding up the facsimile.
For Trump, a property obsessive, who has shown a particular fondness for ensuring that architecture is the enduring manifestation of his time in office (see the ongoing construction of the president’s prized East Wing ballroom and slapping his name on the Trump-Kennedy Performing Arts Center), Mamdani has managed to strike a chord by focusing on the New York real estate market, something that stirs passion and frustration within Trump in equal measure.
On Thursday, what seemed like a Trojan Horse triumph unfolded at the White House. As Mamdani wooed the president with much property talk, he also secured the release of a Columbia University student from federal immigration detention after she was arrested that same morning. The mayor also asked Trump to consider dismissing the cases of four students – which included Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil – all of whom had been detained in New York City, according to Mamdani’s chief spokesperson.
Instead of engaging in a social media war with the administration, dealing with the president’s persistent threats, and press conferences full of denunciations, the real “art of the deal” might have been soft power via Photoshop.
Now, the question remains, has the mayor’s conciliatory behavior come at a cost?
On the campaign trail last year, Mamdani wasted no time calling the president a “despot”. Now, after a landslide victory and firmly ensconced in Gracie Mansion, he has avoided calling the president out publicly, and tried to escape his wrath when it comes to routine threats of withholding federal funding for sanctuary cities. An ire that other blue-city mayors, like Brandon Johnson of Chicago, have not been spared.
In fact, since Mamdani’s first, and shockingly amicable, meeting with Trump in November, he and the president have refrained from any public fallouts. Last year, as reporters and cameras braced for a public takedown of the newly elected mayor, it became clear that while Trump loves to malign his political opponents, he loves a winner more. “He came out of nowhere,” the president said of Mamdani. “We agree on a lot more than I would have thought.”
During his record-breaking State of the Union address, where Trump wasted no time deriding Democrats, his references to Mamdani left the mayor relatively unscathed. “I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy,” the president said.
At a time where the chasm between the two parties has never felt wider, Mamdani might be proving that there’s truth in catching more flies with honey. But for a democratic socialist who staked his victory on being the president’s “worst nightmare”, his coziness with the president seems like chinks in the armor for some onlookers.
Mamdani previously vowed to use his power to “reject Donald Trump’s fascism”, but as he tries to curry goodwill to enact his mayoral agenda, some New York progressives are ready to call out any perceived hollowness – especially if he cedes ground after the fighting words that defined his campaign. In recent weeks, he’s already faced some local pushback for continuing homeless encampment sweeps in New York City – this time led by a more appropriate agency – despite pledging to end the practice while running for office.
It is too early to herald these concessions Mamdani appears to have extracted from Trump as categoric victories. New Yorkers have yet to hear if the administration will push forward the funds needed for the housing project, and ultimately the mayor is dealing with a mercurial president who has few qualms jettisoning relationships at the first sign of strain.
For now, Mamdani appears to be leaning in to get what he needs: two guys from New York, yapping about real estate.
