Did the Trump Mamdani press conference “make love- not war” as Politico described it , or was it two opponents feeling each other out, seeking an opening or advantage while trying not to expose vulnerabilities?

From Yahoo. Is this what happened?

Yahoo news described the reaction of Trump advisor Laura Loomer as  “completely melting down”. In one fell swoop, Trump undercut his party’s candidate for NY governor, Elise Stefanik. She had based her campaign along the lines of Trump’s past attacks on the entire Democratic Party – that it has been take over by communist jihadists. But Trump reversed course, so there was nothing left for Stefanik but to say “we have to agree to disagree” with Trump . It wasn’t only Stefanik; Trump undercut the entire strategy of the Republican Party headed into the 2026 election season!

And while Trump was embracing a “democratic socialist” (who repeated that title while standing along side Trump) in the White House, 86 Democrats (including Hakeem Jeffries) in congress joined Republicans in denouncing the “horrors” of socialism in a congressional resolution.

What is going on here?

Trump came into the meeting in a position of both strength and weakness. As president he has far greater general power than does the NYC mayor. Among other things, he has the power of the purse over much federal spending for the city. It’s true that according to law he can’t unilaterally cut much of that spending, but since when has legality ever inhibited him? But Trump is sinking fast in the polls. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed he has a 38% approval rating. The main issue is the economy, with the Epstein scandal further weakening him. Trump must also be aware that the “independent” voters – upon whom he is dependent for support – are turned off to his extremist policies as well as his verbal attacks. Trump is also aware of Mamdani’s rising popularity, including the fact that some Trump voters voted for Mamdani.

As for Mamdani, if Trump cuts federal funds for New York that will seriously harm the city’s residents and set back his (Mamdani’s) reform plans. While Trump would be at fault, still voters are notoriously short sighted and they would tend to blame the nearest public figure, which would be Mamdani in this case.

Trump and North Korean dictator Kim John Un. A much clearer thinker, Kim is able to manipulate Trump.

We don’t know what was said in private, but we do know that Trump is famously short sighted, self centered, and megalomaniacle. This makes him easily manipulated by more strategic figures like Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un. (Putin is a different case. His politics more definitively align with Trump’s, plus Trump has the longstanding ties with Putin that stem from the former’s decades of laundering money for Russian oligarchs.)

Whatever was said in private, what followed was the highly entertaining public press conference. Trump’s approach raises the question of whether he will adopt the politics of people like Missouri senator Josh Hawley, who mixes conomic populism with the usual MAGA bigotry and ethnic nationalism. It’s similar to Gregor Strasser of Hitler’s Nazi Party.

Trump might think that’s an easy out, but he’d get himself in even deeper into quicksand. That’s because the mainstream conservatives of his party would have an even stronger reason to oppose him, as would the capitalists who still support him.

As for Mamdani, he needs to actually govern while also building a social democratic actual movement. The two complement each other, but there is also a tension between them. On the one hand, Mamdani needs such a movement in order to pressure other Democrats (and Republicans) to support his economic reforms. For example, he needs the Democrats at the state level to raise taxes on the capitalists in order to finance some of his proposals. On the other hand, any such movement will inevitably tend to focus on opposing Trump, which will put Mamdani directly in Trump’s cross-hairs. But if he’s a target for Trump, then NYC will find itself cut off from federal funds.

Overall, Mamdani came out of the meeting as the winner. However, there is a risk in taking his approach. That risk is that he’s further opening the door to the pressure being applied on him to back off. Oaklandsocialist outlined some of that pressure in our previous article warning to “beware the corporate wolf in sheeps’ clothing”.

That leads to another issue – building an independent working class socialist movement. Mamdani can play the central role in this, but again there are several questions. First would be that both Trump and the Democratic Party leadership would tend to attack him even more strongly. But if the Mamdani Movement is to even win reforms, how can such a movement be avoided? And what message would Mamdani himself be sending if he were to ignore Trump’s assaults throughout the country – and the world – just so long as New Yorkers are spared?

In a previous article on the wolves in sheeps’ clothing who are “supporting” Mamdani, we referred to capitalists like Partnership for New York’s Michael Wolf. They are supporting Mamdani in order to reign him in. Recently former investment manager Neil Barsky published a column in the NY Times  entitled  1 Percenters: Quit bickering about Mamdani and focus on Trump. Barsky called on his fellow members of the “business elite” to join forces with Mamdani in order to ward off Trump. Barsky made it clear that Mamdani will have to drop the fight for reforms – never mind socialism – in order to achive this alliance. In other words, Mamdani and the Mamdani Movement will have to subjugate itself to New York’s “business elite”. That would be the death of the movement.

Instead, the Mamdani Movement and Mamdani himself will have to make a drive into the broader working class, including the union membership. That, too, will run him afoul of the union leadership, but there is no way to build a working class socialist movement without that.

And any working class socialist movement cannot ignore international issues. So far, Mamdani has strongly attacked Israel’s genocide. He has even in effect opposed Zionism itself when he opposed a specifically Jewish state. But there are other important international issues. A critical one, Russia’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine. So far, Mamdani has not spoken out on this issue. This is concerning partly because the organization to which he belongs – Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) – apologizes for this brutal invasion. They blame both sides. In fact, most socialists in the US take that position. It is like blaming both Epstein and the women survivors of his crimes. As things develop, it’s hard to see how Mamdani can avoid taking a stand. It is important to raise these issues now.