Why did Mamdani and Trump get along
The reason Mamdani and Trump got along in their meeting on the 21st of November 20251 is, well, first above all else Trump seems to love hanging out with popular celebrities who are nice to him, and Mamdani made sure to be charming.
But in addition to that...
...what both men have in common is that they are able to speak authentically on the most pressing issue facing almost all Americans, which is the cost of living. Mamdani's disciplined messaging allowed him and Trump to focus on that point of agreement while he was, as the kids say, glazing Trump about how he increased his votes in New York City in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Now, both men do dramatically differ in their solutions to the crisis, with Mamdani reaching to universal programs such as free buses and childcare that benefit everyone who isn't ultra-rich (and don't need such things) while Trump takes advantage of the right wing demonization of immigrants and implements a horrific deportation agenda that, according to right wing logic I guess, is supposed to improve the lives of everyone else. But Trump doesn't seem to care about political ideology much one way or the other, just what makes him popular and adored. And right now Mamdani's argument is compelling so Trump is happy to mug along, for the moment, with the young star and share his spotlight.
Who isn't getting along
Which leads to the two factions that weren't in the chummy meeting in the Oval Office. The first are the Republicans who are ideologically committed to demonizing 'the other', which a Muslim immigrant like Mamdani very much symbolizes, and the second are the current leaders of the Democratic party who cannot authentically speak to the cost of living crisis as they constantly act on behalf of their ultra-rich donors, many of them voting for a tone deaf congressional resolution condemning socialism in 'all its forms'2. A passive aggressive rebuke of the Democratic Socialist Mamdani.
None of this is sustainable
Mamdani's style of unapologetic claims to identities that are routinely vilified by right wing, and even centrist, media has been condoned by Trump stepping in to defend him from hostile questioning, but too much of the justification for the increasingly authoritarian federal government rests on xenophobia for that to last especially as Mamdani continues to skewer the sacred cow of blind support for Israel.
Mamdani's substantive consistency in advocating for an ideology that ultra-rich donors seem to hate on reflex is what propelled him to becoming mayor-elect of New York City, and has gotten an unexpected shot in the arm by a moment of Trump's fair weather friendship. But this is anathema to the donor addled leadership of the Democratic party, a corruption they share with a lot of Republicans, and Trump himself.
Trump should be hostile to Mamdani for his multicultural style and socialist substance. That the President's nose for popularity and political instincts led him in the opposite direction bodes well for the future that Mamdani seems to herald. But the roadblocks in the way to a more hopeful and just future for the US remain just as formidable as they were before the meeting, and it will take far more leaders than just Mayor Mamdani with his hyper focus on New York City governance to get the country away from it's ugly and genocidal past and present. An ugliness most obscenely visible in the fake ceasefire in Palestine during which the Zionist state of Israel continues to murder with American impunity.
All opinions my own. In the end only God knows best.