Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is desperate to wrest control of the narrative.
Shortly after New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani successfully charmed President Donald Trump into submission during their meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, Leavitt appeared on Fox News on Friday evening to attempt to mount an argument that Trump is a political mastermind who generously shared his wisdom with Mamdani.
Speaking to Fox’s Sean Hannity, Leavitt argued that Trump’s meeting proved the president was “willing to meet with anybody, to sit across the table, to shake hands, look people in the eye, and have discussions on how they can mutually benefit the American public.”
“Don’t forget, President Trump is a lifelong New Yorker. He loves that city. He helped build the skyline as it exists and shines today. So of course he wants New York to succeed. He wants all Americans to succeed because he’s a president for all of the country. The president wants this country to come together and you saw that on full display in the Oval Office,” Leavitt argued.
Leavitt’s description of the meeting is in stark contrast to what viewers witnessed of their joint Oval Office presser, during which the president spent much of the meeting essentially fawning over Mamdani, even going so far as to give the 34-year-old permission to call him a “despot” and “fascist.”
The president even posted about the meeting on Truth Social after the fact, sharing several photos taken during Mamdani’s visit to the White House and writing, “It was a Great Honor meeting Zohran Mamdani, the new Mayor of New York City!”
He also told ABC News’ Rachel Scott that Mamdani “couldn’t be nicer,” adding, “It was good chemistry, it’s always nice to have good chemistry with people.”
Prior to their meaning, Trump had denounced Mamdani as a “communist lunatic,” writing on Truth Social in September that he would end up being “one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party.”
“He is going to have problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great City,” the president wrote. ”Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist promises. He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him? This ideology has failed, always, for thousands of years. It will fail again, and that’s guaranteed!”
Mamdani has also not been shy about his opposition to Trump and his policies, using his victory speech to issue a challenge to the president: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: ‘Turn the volume up!’”
Leavitt assured concerned supporters, many of whom aired their grievances on Truth Social in response to the president’s posts about the meeting, that “Trump is never going to change his values… he’s always going to try to work with others to make this country great.”
Trump’s press secretary did concede that the administration hoped the meeting laid the groundwork for a “good working relationship moving forward,” but took great pains to stress that Trump’s positive reception of Mamdani was not a sign the president was going to embrace socialism.
”We know, and the president knows and the American people know that nationally, President Trump’s policies work, and capitalism works,” she told Hannity.
“President Trump’s economic formula does work. It is working. It worked in his first term,” Leavitt continued. ”Who knows? Maybe Mayor Mamdani will go back to New York and maybe he learned a few things from President Trump today.”
Mamdani, for his part, stayed on message, sharing a post on social media after leaving the White House that reaffirmed his commitment to his affordability agenda. “Working people have been left behind in New York. In the wealthiest city in the world, one in five can’t afford $2.90 for the train or bus,” he wrote.
”As I told Trump today—it’s time to put those people right back at the heart of our politics,” Mamdani wrote.
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