politics

I overstated. He’s not “required,” but it’s pretty common for the NY mayor to meet with the president after being elected. Mainly for all the reasons already stated. They may not like one another, but in both cases the voters chose their leaders, so they have to work in the same company as one another.

Ameancow said it better, but I wanted to add that new York could be hit with a hurricane next year. Or a terrorist attack like 9/11. Neither of those are likely, but if it happens, Mamdani wants help from the feds and if trump is threatening to kill him every week that becomes harder.

He has a larger constituency that many governors

Because when you become the lead manager of a huge company's major revenue stream, you meet the fucking boss. If you're not going to work together with the larger company you are shutting yourself off from all the potential support of the larger institution.

Despite all the performative and not-so-performative bullshit the administration and trump spout daily, it's still the business of leadership. You can't not do your part just because the CEO is a dipshit. People depend on your decisions and management.

I really want to reiterate that what happens behind closed doors is a very different world than what we see reported on. Legal cases aside, it's largely performative and the Mamdani/Trump meeting behind closed doors should be proof of that. Whatever Mandani said was not his normal mask of optimism and cheerful practicality, he was likely much more serious and delivered a tone that would seem shocking, while at the same time managing to butter Trump up enough that the entire tone changed after.

The public on both sides would over-analyze the entire thing, every word and phrase dissected the same way they KEEP going after Mamdani about words and rhetoric trying to trap him into saying something. Watch again. Watch where that sack of shit reporter tries to drive up contention and points out that Mamdani has called trump a fascist or something and if that's still how he feels. Trump intervenes and saves Mandani from answering.

They made deals. And nobody on either side wants to see these two making deals. This isn't a bad thing, it just reflects how our media has distorted our world and how all of our emotions have been made priority over material outcomes.

I’ve never seen trump that happy before

I've never, ever had a cat that I would even think about putting my face anywhere near their belly. You are a brave person with an awesome cat.

I think if you’re worst enemy doesn’t have blackmail pictures of you doing this you’re ok

I'm not into consperacy but you're right. On the other hand .... Trump is stupid enough to have him killed any day of the week

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.

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.

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.

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.