It’s never a bad thing to wear a tie to President Donald Trump’s Oval Office, even if it’s blue.
Volodymyr Zelensky is still ruing his sartorial choices, and maybe Elon Musk would still be modeling his goth band T-shirts around Washington if he wore a bespoke suit more often.
But Trump doesn’t need a billionaire right now. They are 10 a penny.
He needs an authentic voice on affordability—and there are none of those in Trump’s White House.
Trump’s poll numbers are dropping; the markets are getting suspicious over his tariffs, he’s tying himself in knots over the Epstein files and the courts are questioning the legality of his crime and immigration crackdown.
He can divert, procrastinate and lie about these issues. And move on. He’s a master at it.
But he is being questioned about the cost of living, as much as he claims it’s going down. Americans go to the store. They know how much eggs cost. They can look at their bank statements.
And the procession of billionaires through the White House for (free) dinners in the empty shadows of the nascent $250 million ballroom doesn’t help the growing perception that the billionaire president is entirely out of touch with his citizens.
So, the president didn’t see the emergence of Zohran Mamdani as a bad thing.
Far from it.
It was an opportunity.
The New York City Mayor-elect has everything that Trump does not. He is a genuine man of the people and walked the breadth of his city on foot to meet them, while Andrew Cuomo was hiding in his fancy apartment, counting the cash from his billionaire donors.
He knows what groceries cost because he doesn’t have flunkies to pay for them. He takes the bus, he flies commercial, and he is just 34… not 79.
Why wouldn’t Trump want a bit of that?
It was naive to assume that Trump would go for Mamdani’s throat when he got him to the White House. There was no mileage in that. Trump is an astute, natural politician and has no shame.
So what if he called him names? It wasn’t personal.
Trump respects winners. Especially when he can take some of their shine.
He’s a political vampire, and he was determined to suck the popularity out of the younger man who stood next to him behind the Resolute Desk.
Call me a despot? No problem, it’s all in the heat of battle. A fascist? You don’t need to explain it to me. Of course, I’d live in Mamdani’s New York. I’m cheering for him.
Oh, and what about affordability? We’re both in lockstep on that. Let’s work together.
Elizabeth Warren wasn’t fooled for a moment. “People need prices down,” she said on CNN as Mamdani made his way home to New York.
“Zohran Mamdani is the person who is now associated with fixing that problem. Is it any surprise that Donald Trump wants to stand next to Zohran Mamdani?” she asked. “He wants to take a little of that shine and see if he can rub a little on Donald Trump.”
Trump shrugged when a reporter asked about Mamdani being called names. Who me? This was a charm offensive, and he could hardly suppress his pleasure at Mamdani’s response.
As much as he loves to insult people, he loves being liked even more.
Make no mistake, Trump will start questioning Mamdani’s politics and his citizenship again if the situation demands. He will turn nasty.
But for now, there’s a vacancy for First Buddy.
And the People’s Prince from Queens is the ideal candidate.
All he has to do is stand and smile. And wear a tie.
The post Opinion: Trump, 79, Latches Onto New First Buddy, 34, to Save His A** appeared first on The Daily Beast.
