US President Trump meets New York City Mayor-elect Mamdani at the White House
Credit: Reuters photo
Once a priest, a rabbi and a minister walked into a bar and the bartender turned around, gawked at them exclaiming the famous lines, "Is this some kind of joke?"
Today the old punchline which has been recited and repeated for eons seems to come alive. For when the newly-elected New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani stepped into the White House to meet the United States President Donald Trump it felt like two ideologically distant figures— a communist and a fascist were walking into the very same metaphorical bar.
After weeks of intense hostility between the two leaders, the much anticipated Mamdani-Trump meet was unexpectedly warm.
During an interaction with media, one journalist asked Mamdani if he is "affirming that President Trump is a 'fascist'?"— a term the New York Mayor elect had used to describe the US President a day earlier.
However, before Mamdani could reply, Trump interrupted him and said, "That’s ok. You can just say yes. That’s easier. It’s easier than explaining.”
It was only mere days ago when the 34-year-old political insurgent and the United States President were taking potshots at each other, with Mamdani calling Trump "bad landlords... taking advantage of their tenants" and Trump calling him a "communist lunatic".
However, the meet between the two leaders went well as Mamdani described the face-to-face as "very productive" and spoke of the leaders' "shared admiration and love" for New York City.
Trump called Mamdani a 'rational person' and said "I think he’s going to surprise some conservative people."
Trump also said, "We have one thing in common. We want this city of ours that we love to do very well," Trump said in the Oval Office.
"The better he does, the happier I am... And we're going to be helping him to make everybody's dream come true," he added.