The strangest love story in American politics didn’t unfold in Brooklyn or Queens. It unfolded in the Oval Office, under the watchful gaze of oil paintings, busts of dead presidents and a press corps still processing what they were seeing: Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani acting like two men who had always been fond of each other, rather than two men who spent the year trying to verbally set each other on fire.It wasn’t long ago that Trump described Mamdani as “100 per cent Communist”, “lunatic”, “nutjob”, “Jew hater”, and various other terms that suggested he believed New York was about to elect Chairman Mao with a MetroCard. Mamdani fired back by calling Trump “authoritarian”, promising to be his “worst nightmare”, and using Trump’s name as a punchline in every speech, interview and fundraising email.And yet, in the Oval Office, they behaved like long-lost cousins reunited at a family function. Trump put a hand on Mamdani’s arm. Mamdani smiled warmly. Trump joked that Mamdani could call him a fascist if he wanted to — “just say yes, it’s easier.” At one point, Trump declared he was rooting for Mamdani’s success. Mamdani, in turn, thanked Trump and talked earnestly about affordability, housing and groceries as if he had suddenly been possessed by the Spirit of Bipartisan Normalcy.The performance was so unexpectedly tender that Washington’s political class paused and collectively asked: “Wait… what?”
Why this sudden bromance?
Because politics is less about ideology than gravity. The cost-of-living crisis is the black hole at the centre of American life. It bends everything around it. Trump needs New York to function if he wants to keep proving he’s the man who can fix America. Mamdani needs federal cooperation because running New York without Washington is like trying to run a marathon without legs. They don’t have to like each other. They just have to need each other.
Why it’s bad news for the GOP
The Republican Party has treated Mamdani as a political gift — the perfect “radical left socialist” punching bag. He was supposed to be Exhibit A in the case that Democrats were being taken over by the far left. But the Oval Office optics shattered that script.When Trump smiles next to Mamdani, jokes with him, and praises him as “rational”, every Republican strategist quietly screams into a cushion. Because if the guy your party labelled the “face of New York decline” is suddenly acceptable to Trump himself, then your attack ads collapse like a poorly built Lego tower.Worse, Trump’s warmth signals something dangerous for the GOP: Trump’s approval is still the North Star. If Trump decides Mamdani is not a threat but an asset, the rest of the party loses the ability to use Mamdani as a villain without contradicting the Dear Leader.And nothing terrifies the GOP establishment more than having its favourite bogeyman hugged by its favourite kingmaker.
Why it’s bad news for the Democrats
Meanwhile, Democrats are panicking quietly — because Mamdani’s ability to charm Trump does two things they weren’t expecting:It breaks their favourite narrative.Democrats love positioning Trump and the far left as mortal enemies in an existential cable-news opera. Mamdani just demonstrated that even dyed-in-the-wool socialists can negotiate with Trump if the issue is affordability and governance. The political spectrum suddenly looks less like a battlefield and more like a food court.It makes moderate Democrats look unnecessary.The party’s moderates have always argued, “Choose us because we’re the only ones who can work with Republicans when needed.” Mamdani, one of the most progressive figures to win a major American city, just proved he can do that too — and with Trump, the hardest Republican of all.If a democratic socialist can walk into the Oval Office and emerge smiling with Trump, centrists lose their central justification for existing.
A spectacle of contradictions
What makes the whole thing almost comedic is that both men stood there pretending the last 12 months hadn’t happened. Trump, who once implied New York would become a Communist wasteland under Mamdani, suddenly spoke about “shared purpose”. Mamdani, who campaigned on being the anti-Trump, treated Trump with the politeness of a man asking for a loan from his father-in-law.Only in American politics can you call a man a fascist one week and exchange warm handshakes with him the next. Only in New York politics can the meeting be described as “productive” without anyone bursting into laughter.
Where this ends
Maybe this is a one-day romance. Maybe tomorrow they’ll start hurling insults again like two men auditioning for a Shakespearean tragedy staged on Twitter. Or maybe both have realised that survival in 2025 requires strange alliances, awkward hugs and photo-ops that disorient every political consultant within a five-mile radius.But for now, the bromance stands. Two ideological opposites. One Oval Office. Zero shouting. Maximum irony.Turn the love up?Apparently they already have.
