An Ungainly Bromance of Donald and Zohran: The Whole Affair Left Much to Decipher and Read Between the Lines

The optics of the New York City mayor elect standing next to the president, hands clasped in front, like one of his staffers, was jarring to say the least.

Then came the smiles and the pats, and the president craning his neck to catch Mamdani’s eyes as he prodded him to take on the journalists. The whole affair left much to decipher and read between the lines.

The next morning the media and the blogosphere with its trolls and influencers, was aghast, scratching their heads, trying to make sense of what they witnessed. Many were expecting a Zelensky style slap down, based on how adversarial the two had been.

Earlier this week, I read that the mayor’s team had called into the White House, asking for a meeting. The president welcomed the call and said he would be happy to meet the “communist” mayor elect of New York and see what he had to say.

I thought it was a smart move on Zohran’s part, to gauge what he was up against, even though the writing was on the wall.

Both had called each other names during the campaign. The president endorsed Mamdani’s rivals and kept calling him a “commie.” A word that is as disparaged as the N-word in American parlance. Zohran called him a zealot, fascist and a despot, and during his victory speech looked straight into the camera and said he would have to go through him, if he messed with New Yorkers. All the bravado got him a rousing applause. His supporters were fired up to take on the Trump Machine and its illegal bullish maneuvers.

The mayor-elect is very adept at deflection. When asked tough questions about controversial topics such as the Israel/Palestine conflict or the police, he pivots with ease.

All that seemed like just performance when they both emerged at the oval office. They seemed like old chums. The president said he was impressed by his electoral victory and mentioned it a few times. The body language was like that of a leader and his protégée. And even when the press asked hard questions about all the bellicose things that were said, both shrugged it off as campaign talk.

The mayor-elect is very adept at deflection. When asked tough questions about controversial topics such as the Israel/Palestine conflict or the police, he pivots with ease. He deployed this tested tactic by bringing all hard questions back to the “affordability crisis” for New Yorkers, on which he had found common ground with the president. At least for now.

He then kept repeating how he had won over the president’s supporters on Fordham Road and Hillside Avenue by addressing kitchen sink issues as Trump had during his campaign. He made it clear that this was his singular focus in the meeting with the president. Trump was glad to nod along with a “winner.”

When asked why he took the plane and not the train or bus, which would have been more “greener,” Trump came to his defense by saying he is a “rational person.”

Zohran clarified he was a social Democrat and brought up Franklin D. Roosevelt and the “New Deal” and they both commiserated over a portrait hanging at the White House which Trump claimed he had found in storage. The next morning the president posted a few photos of both of them framed in front of FDR with cheerful faces and a thumbs up.

What are we to make of all this?

The last adversary to walk into the Trump lair and come out a bit charmed was the talk show host Bill Maher. He said the Trump you see on TV is not the one you meet behind closed doors. He then quickly clarified that the meeting had not changed anything as far as his criticism of him would be on his TV show. Bill Maher has not been attacked by Trump since. While Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Steven Colbert have all become objects of his daily disdain.

Zohran, has gotten some support for taking this bold step, as he is no longer the activist candidate. He has to govern now, so making compromises and deals will be an essential job qualification in his roll as mayor. Maybe there is a chance New York will be spared from Trump’s baseless wrath, thanks to this meeting.

One of the running criticisms of Mamdani, while running for office was that he was inexperienced, he was a “new kid on the block” and Trump would eat him for lunch. With this move and the optics of its aftermath, Zohran may have silenced the neigh sayers and those who would revel in his downfall.

If there is one quality that Donald Trump possesses with consistency is — inconsistency. For all you know, this could be a short lived honeymoon and he could call for Zohran’s arrest, deportation and possibly his head, as he has done with recent Democrat congressmen and women in his tweets.

In terms of pure optics it’s a win for the president. He was able to parade the mayor elect of the biggest city in America and sound conciliatory and caring for New York, the city that made him. For Zohran, it’s a much more treacherous path, as any support of Trump could instantly alienate his base and frame him as a sellout.

There is no stopping Trump’s carnage tour. In less than a year, this nation is battered and bruised and unrecognizable for many here and abroad.

It does not even phase many, that Epstein, a convicted pedophile, is the headline of the day, everyday, with the president’s name and those of other rich white men, deeply embroiled in the scandal.

In all this dirt and filth, Zohran Mamdani stands out like a breath of fresh air.

But he could become roadkill if he does not play his chips right.

For now he seems to be off to a good start.

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Anand Kamalakar is a Brooklyn based documentary film director, producer and editor. His film OSBORNE will premiere on PBS nationwide next year.