A few days before ordering the launch of the war against Iran, Donald Trump found time for a meeting that did not appear on his public schedule. It was also absent from the public schedule of the man he met, but once news of it leaked, it quickly became the top headline in yet another day of an administration driven by headlines.
It was the second time in less than two months that Trump had met with Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s mayor — likely the most popular active Democratic politician in the United States and a figure widely detested by Trump’s supporters. Yet in both meetings, Trump appeared unable to hide the gleam in his eyes.
This was not how it was supposed to be. Last fall, Trump invested considerable effort in warning New Yorkers about the “Muslim socialist” who, according to his critics, would impose sharia law, herd Jews into ghettos and turn the Uniqlo store on Fifth Avenue into a mosque. Some New Yorkers believed it. Others were subjected to a reverse fear campaign, warning that Mamdani was too young and weak, and that Trump would exploit this by sending troops and immigration agents into the city. “Trump will go through Mamdani like a hot knife through butter,” former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during his failed campaign against him.
Two months after Mamdani’s inauguration, it appears that, at least for now, both the alarmists and the fearful on all sides were wrong. Trump — whose political instincts are widely acknowledged as sharp — was among the first to grasp the direction things were heading. Trump likes winners, he likes people who perform well on television, and deep down he knows he himself would never have won a New York City mayoral race — his lifelong dream. As a result, he seems to admire Mamdani and treats him warmly.
Mamdani, for his part, like any true New Yorker, knows exactly who Trump is. He has had no problem calling him a “fascist,” yet he also needs the federal government to succeed as mayor. Unlike many Democrats, who failed to recognize how to push Trump’s buttons, Mamdani both understands this and is unafraid to act on it.
That was evident when Mamdani arrived at a meeting on public housing armed with two newspaper front pages. One was the famous 1975 Daily News headline: “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” published after President Gerald Ford refused to grant New York a bailout loan. The public backlash ultimately forced Ford to reverse course, but the political damage lingered and is widely believed to have contributed to his defeat in the 1976 election.
Mamdani presented Trump with that front page alongside a fabricated one reading: “Trump to City: Let’s Build.” Cameras captured Trump smiling broadly, cheeks flushed, as he held the pages. Mamdani returned to New York with a promise of federal support for 12,000 new housing units in Queens, including more than $21 billion in federal grants. City Hall estimates the project could create 30,000 jobs and mark the largest investment in housing and infrastructure in New York in more than 50 years. Mamdani’s supporters hailed it as a masterstroke.
Days later, when the war with Iran began, Mamdani issued a sharp condemnation. The statement angered the right and much of New York’s Jewish community, yet Mamdani has shown over the past year that he has his finger on the pulse of much of the city — and of the Democratic electorate nationwide. A Siena College poll from late February put his approval rating in New York at 63%. Even Trump, it seems, is somewhat taken with him. Not bad for two months in office.
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Even before being sworn in as the youngest mayor in New York City history — in fact, even before winning the election — Mamdani had become one of the most compelling political stories in the United States, arguably since Trump descended the escalator at Trump Tower in 2015. A Muslim immigrant with a socialist worldview and an openly critical stance toward Zionism managed within months to transform himself from a relatively obscure council member into a political force capable of mobilizing large crowds in a city like no other, while shaking the Democratic Party establishment.
His victory over Cuomo, a scion of a Democratic political dynasty backed by the party establishment, triggered a wave of warnings: business leaders threatened to leave, conservatives threatened to leave and even liberal Jews warned they might leave. Critics predicted rising crime, a failure to protect Jews from antisemitism and an exodus of major corporations to Texas. So far, little of that has materialized.
Mamdani may be a socialist ideologue, but as his unusual relationship with Trump suggests, he is also highly pragmatic. He demonstrated that by retaining Jessica Tisch as New York City police commissioner, despite disappointment among many of his supporters. Mamdani understood that to build political capital for promises such as free education and addressing the housing crisis, he first needed to provide residents with a sense of security.
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Mamdani and New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch
(Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images North America / AFP)
Tisch — known for being tough but fair — has delivered results and provided political cover when Mamdani has stumbled. For example, it took his office 12 hours to issue a statement backing police after officers fatally shot two individuals engaged in a gunfight. Yet Tisch reported last week that major crime fell 8% across the city in February, with declines in every borough and 1,100 fewer crimes since the start of the year. Burglaries dropped nearly 20% and retail theft fell 24.7%. Most notably, the city recorded its lowest-ever levels of shootings, shooting victims and homicides for the first two months of the year.
Some of the credit may be due to an unusually harsh winter, but the numbers remain politically beneficial for Mamdani. His relationship with Trump, which has helped avoid the presence of aggressive immigration enforcement on New York’s streets, has also worked in his favor.
Warnings of a corporate exodus have likewise failed to materialize. No major company has left, and American Express recently announced plans to build a global headquarters at 2 World Trade Center — a long-term project Mamdani was quick to highlight.
His cooperation with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is another example of his political instincts — and hers. Their alliance has boosted Hochul’s standing ahead of her reelection bid, while together they have advanced plans for universal free education, a cornerstone of Mamdani’s campaign. His push to tax the wealthy, however, may prove more difficult.
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Getting better from crisis to crisis. New York mayor in the last snowstorm
(Photo: Yuki Iwamura/AP)
And then there was the snow — more than the city has seen in years. Ultimately, such moments are the true tests of a mayor. Residents care less about ideology and more about whether the city functions. Mamdani’s handling of two major snowstorms highlighted both his inexperience and his ability to learn quickly. While the first storm left streets uncleared and at least 10 people dead, the response to the second — which was even more severe — was markedly improved.
Homeless residents received rapid assistance, Mamdani imposed a driving ban and made a calculated decision not to shut down the subway. His most notable move, however, was a rapid snow-clearing effort using a distinctly socialist approach: the city paid residents $30 an hour to help clear snow. More than 1,200 people joined municipal workers, clearing thousands of crosswalks, and within a day, the city was largely passable.
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Immediately after Mamdani published his sharp response to the outbreak of the war against Iran, outspoken right-wing New York radio host Sid Rosenberg wrote that Mamdani is a “radical Muslim cockroach” and urged Trump to stop treating him so warmly. Even before the election, Rosenberg had said that “if Mamdani had been mayor on 9/11, he would have cheered the terrorists,” so there was nothing new in his remarks. The difference is that, before the election, much of the Jewish Democratic establishment did not defend Mamdani against statements that would not have been tolerated if said about Jews — and now it does.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who did not vote for Mamdani and supports the attack on Iran, tweeted that “calling the mayor of New York a ‘radical Muslim cockroach’ is dangerous dehumanization. It is a disgusting display of bigotry and Islamophobia that should be universally condemned.” Rosenberg apologized, but even if he is an extreme case and deserving of condemnation, he is only slightly removed from what many New York Jews feel.
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Mamdani rides the subway: Most New Yorkers just want the city to function
(Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP)
Mamdani’s relationship with New York’s Jewish community remains deeply strained. Only about one-third of Jewish voters supported him — the lowest level for a Democratic candidate in the city’s history — and 75% of those who did were young. For many older Jewish voters, his views on Israel were a dealbreaker.
Mamdani is well aware of his image among Jewish New Yorkers and has made efforts to engage the community. However, his criticism of Israel — including his condemnation of what he called “the United States and Israel launching an illegal war that Americans do not want” — is unlikely to ease tensions.
In his first weeks in office, he was forced to walk back two appointments of individuals who had posted content with an antisemitic tone, and at least once took considerable time to decide how to respond to a protest where participants voiced support for Hamas. Here, too, he appears to be learning quickly, even making a point of being photographed on Purim breaking his Ramadan fast with hamantaschen.
What is unlikely to help Mamdani improve his standing among New York Jews is a report by the Jewish Insider website that his wife, artist Rama Sawaf Duwaji, had liked a series of Instagram posts celebrating October 7. The fact that they were not married at the time, or Mamdani’s claim that his wife is a private individual whose social media activity should not be scrutinized, is unlikely to change perceptions. His relationship with much of the Jewish community is likely beyond repair.
“I voted for Andrew Cuomo as the lesser of two evils,” said Beth Balsam, a public relations professional and longtime Democratic New Yorker. “I don’t think many people were happy to vote for Cuomo, but the main motivation was to do everything possible to stop Mamdani. Unfortunately, we failed.”
Was it all about Mamdani’s stance on Israel, or were there other factors?
“There were many reasons I thought Mamdani should not be mayor, including his complete lack of experience, which we are already feeling,” she said. “His obsessive focus on Israel is simply his way of hating Jews and endangering them while wrapping himself in virtue and humanity. I expected him to be a disaster, and he is. He is failing at the basic job and allowing criminals to attack police without consequences.”
Do you feel or see more antisemitism since he took office?
“I feel like a blindfold was violently removed when he won the election. I suddenly realized how many of my neighbors in New York felt comfortable excusing his antisemitism. Worse, for others, that was the reason they voted for him. My family and I plan to leave the city, and so do many of my friends who don’t want to be associated with a city he leads.”
Balsam, a liberal Jew who consistently votes Democratic, represents a large segment of New York’s Jewish community, though not all of it. “There are so many liberal Jews who have revealed themselves to be particularly ugly racists,” said Alona, an Israeli American who has lived in New York for many years and asked not to be identified by her full name because “people have completely lost it.”
Did his views on Israel bother you?
“Would I have preferred that he be pro-Israel? Yes, and I suppose if he were running for president it might have bothered me more, but he’s just a mayor. I also fully recognize that a significant portion of his criticism of Israel is valid. But these accusations that he is antisemitic are 100% racism. The people helping antisemites are simply those who disqualify a politician trying to improve New Yorkers’ lives just because he doesn’t like a country 10,000 kilometers away.”
Explain.
“There is no stronger antisemitic trope in America than ‘dual loyalty’ — the accusation that Jews will always prefer Israel over the United States. I’m sorry, but all these supposedly liberal Jews have proven that trope right. A mayoral candidate talks about free education for children, and they go vote for a sexual harasser like Cuomo because Israel is the issue that matters most to them? That’s a gift to antisemites. I remember the city publishing a list of the worst landlords for tenants, and it was full of Jewish names. Everyone immediately cried antisemitism, but honestly, anyone who lives in the city mostly encounters terrible Jewish landlords. Sometimes that’s just the reality.”
How do you sum up his first two months?
“Overall, very good. He’s young and learning, but I’ve lived here for many years and previous mayors, with all their experience, only harmed the city because they served themselves. Mamdani is a real New Yorker — he loves the city and wakes up trying to improve people’s lives. That’s all I ask of a mayor.”
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Mamdani and Dwaiji, whom he met on the dating app Hinge, moved in January from their one-bedroom apartment in Queens to Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence on the Upper East Side. The young mayor works long hours. His days begin between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., and his first call is with press secretary Joe Calvello. Mamdani also holds at least one joint meeting daily with his two senior deputies: Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan and Chief of Staff Elle Bisgaard-Church. He meets frequently with Fuleihan, perhaps because he is 75 and has seen everything in managing the city.
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Mamdani and his wife Rama Sawaf Duwaji at Gracie Mansion: She liked social media posts celebrating October 7
(Photo: Yuki Iwamura/AP)
Mamdani’s management style differs from that of his two predecessors. Bill de Blasio was a micromanager; Eric Adams ran a chaotic operation plagued by corruption, where everyone was “walking around with knives looking for a back to stab.” While Mamdani is ideologically close to de Blasio, City Hall sources told Politico that his managerial instincts are much closer to those of Michael Bloomberg — the Jewish billionaire former mayor — who could hardly be more different from him politically.
Bloomberg spent nearly $10 million trying to stop Mamdani during the campaign, but Mamdani has adopted some of his methods, allowing agency heads greater autonomy and placing strong emphasis on public relations. More than once in his short time in office, Mamdani has walked into the communications department at City Hall, taken over a keyboard and edited press statements himself.
He has also continued his highly successful use of social media from the campaign, developing a visual language now being imitated by political candidates across the United States. He holds three press conferences a week and answers every question with the same confidence that helped deliver one of the most surprising victories in recent political history. At the same time, he knows the honeymoon will not last, and his many — and very wealthy — opponents are already regrouping.
The business elite and Democratic establishment he defeated so easily are now working together to build a strong opposition, particularly around his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy and his views on Israel. The New York Times reported that veteran Democratic strategist Phil Singer is preparing to lead a “watchdog” group targeting Mamdani. The Anti-Defamation League has set up a hotline for complaints about him, and a coalition of tech industry lobbyists is preparing to fight the wave of regulations he plans to introduce.
These are powerful actors with virtually unlimited resources, capable of making Mamdani’s life difficult in the coming years. Yet they also provide him with something he wants — and has lacked since winning the election: an ideological opponent his voters despise. “In November, voters rejected a brazen attempt to buy City Hall for the rich and powerful, and now the billionaire class is conspiring to try again. We welcome it,” his communications director, Anna Bahr, told The New York Times.
Whether the counteroffensive by the establishment and the wealthy will succeed remains to be seen. For now, it is clear that Zohran Mamdani understands the mood of the American public — particularly Democrats, but not only them — better than his rivals. That is true economically, and it is also true regarding wars in the Middle East.
Not only is Mamdani currently one of the few Democrats who are genuinely popular, he is already inspiring imitators across the country. And if Donald Trump — who rose to political prominence by claiming that Barack Obama was a “Muslim socialist born in Africa” — now finds himself admiring someone who actually fits that description, the Democratic Party can only regret that Zohran Mamdani is not eligible to run for the White House.