Yesterday’s meeting between Donald Trump and New York City's Mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, was marked by an unexpected cordiality. Trump praised Mamdani’s “passion for his community” and called him “a very energetic young man with strong ideas,” while Mamdani, in turn, described Trump as “gracious” and “surprisingly open to dialogue.” The exchange was strikingly civil, even warm — a sharp departure from the months of hostility that had defined their relationship in the public eye.
That warmth stood in stark contrast to the bitter words exchanged before and after Mamdani’s election. Trump had dismissed him as a “radical socialist who wants to destroy America,” while Mamdani blasted Trump as “a corrupt demagogue who thrives on division.” Republican Senator Rick Scott piled on, branding Mamdani a “literal communist” and predicting Trump would “school” him at the White House. Representative Elise Stefanik went further, labeling him a “jihadist” during her gubernatorial campaign and, even after Trump’s praise, insisting that “if he walks like a jihadist… he’s a jihadist.” For Republicans who had invested heavily in demonizing Mamdani, Trump’s embrace left allies fuming and fractured, caught between loyalty to their leader and the hardline attacks they had once championed.
Surprisingly, Scott has not issued any follow-up statement after Trump’s conciliatory tone. In stark contrast, Stefanik doubled down, saying after the meeting, “We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. If he walks like a jihadist… he’s a jihadist.” Conservative activist Laura Loomer blasted Trump’s friendliness as “normalizing communism” and warned it could hurt GOP messaging in the 2026 midterms.
Trump’s cordiality toward Mamdani highlights a potential broader backlash among hardliners who saw his tone as a betrayal and a political liability heading into the fall elections. At the very least, Trump’s praise has fractured GOP messaging, with some Republicans openly disagreeing with him and warning of electoral fallout. The divide could come down to conflict between hardliners — who insist Mamdani is an existential threat and believe Trump’s friendliness risks alienating the base — and pragmatists, who argue that a softer tone could help peel away progressive critics and project statesmanship.
Of course, the strategic risks are many. If Republicans continue to send two conflicting messages — some demonizing Mamdani, others echoing Trump’s friendliness — the public will be left confused. The likely result is that the election of an ultra-liberal mayor in New York will no longer allow Republicans to use Mamdani as a foil to rally their supporters against Democrats.
This split underscores a deeper GOP challenge: Trump’s unpredictability regularly creates contradictions that throw Republicans off balance, undermining party discipline and exposing fractures that could widen as the 2026 campaign intensifies.
Polling consistently shows that Trump’s greatest vulnerability heading into 2026 is the public’s frustration with inflation and affordability — the very issues that were at the heart of Mamdani’s campaign. By striking a conciliatory tone with Mamdani, Trump may be attempting to reposition himself on economic concerns before they damage Republicans more broadly. In praising Mamdani’s focus on community and cost-of-living struggles, Trump could be signaling that he wants to co‑opt the affordability narrative, turning a potential Democratic strength into a bipartisan talking point under his banner.
Democratic reactions since the meeting have been equally telling. Many Democrats expressed surprise at Trump’s conciliatory tone, with some framing it as a rare moment of bipartisanship and others dismissing it as political theater. Progressive allies of Mamdani hailed the exchange as validation of his growing influence. At the same time, more centrist Democrats warned that Trump’s praise could be a tactical move to soften his image without changing his policies. In either case, Democrats appear eager to exploit the GOP’s internal divisions, casting Trump’s embrace of Mamdani as evidence of a party in disarray.
In trying to blunt Mamdani’s affordability message, Trump may have opened a new problem with voters worried about the cost of supporting a party that shifts with the wind. His gesture of magnanimity now risks being seen not as statesmanship, but as the emblem of a party at war with itself — led by a president whose opportunism is laid bare.
David Nevins is the publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.