Trump Bends the Knee in White House… to Zohran?!!

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0:43Ben Meiselas:It looks like Donald Trump bent the knee to Zoran Mamdani during their Oval Office meeting together. They held a press conference after and Donald Trump was like fawning over Mamdani. Let me just show you what happened. A reporter asked mom, Donnie, if you believe Donald Trump's a fascist and Donald Trump said, you can call me that. Just call me whatever you want. Donald Trump bent the knee. Here, play this clip. I clarify your answer to Stephen Melson. He asked about your comment calling the president a fascist. And your answer was, well, President Trump and I have been clear about our positions and our views.

1:17Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist? I've spoken about. That's OK. You can just say. Focus on. Okay. It's easier. It's easier than explaining it. I don't mind.

1:29Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump also then said that Mamdani told him that a lot of the voters for Mamdani were Trump voters. And he's like, I'm great with that. That's amazing. Here, play this clip. Refine it. And I think you're going to see some very positive things happen. Oh, sure. Oh, I would do that. Absolutely. And if the mayor would like to be here for that meeting, because I know he feels very strongly. I think you feel very, very strongly about peace in the Middle East. We desperately want it. And that's something that I shared with the president, that when I spoke to New Yorkers who had voted for the president last November on Hillside Avenue and Fordham Road, I asked them why.

2:07I heard again and again two major reasons. One was that they wanted an end to forever wars. They wanted an end to the taxpayer dollars we had funding violations of human rights. And they wanted to address the cost of living crisis. And I appreciated the chance to discuss both of those things. He said a lot of my voters actually voted for him. One in ten. And I'm okay with that. I'll do that. I'll sign it. Give it to me. I'll sign it in a minute. That's pretty good. Mr.

2:31Ben Meiselas:President. Mr. President. Yeah, please. Next up, Momdani is asked by a reporter why you referred to Donald Trump as a despot. Watch Trump's response right here. Play this clip. And some very liberal people. He won't surprise him because they already like him. And Mr. Momdani, It sounds like you had a productive discussion, but just days ago, you referred to President Trump as a despot who betrayed the country. You said he would be his worst nightmare and accused of having a fascist agenda. Are you claiming to retract any of these remarks in order to improve the relationship? I think both President Trump and I, we are very clear about our positions and our views.

3:10And what I really appreciate about the president is the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers. And frankly, that is something that could transform the lives of eight and a half million people who are currently struggling under a cost of living crisis with one in four living in poverty. And the meeting came back again and again to what it could look like to lift those New Yorkers out of struggle and start to deliver them a city that they could do more than just struggle to afford it, but actually start to live in it.

3:38And I've been called much worse than a despot. So it's not that insulting. Maybe I think he'll change his mind after we get to working together. Yes, please.

3:50Ben Meiselas:And Trump says that he thinks Mamdami is going to be a great mayor, and he's going to be great for crime, and he's going to be great for reducing crime, great for New York City. Huh? Here, play this clip. Very well. And I wanted to congratulate the mayor. He really ran an incredible race against, You know, a lot of smart people, starting with the early primaries against some very tough people, very smart people. And he beat him and he beat him easily. And I congratulate him. And we talked about some things in a very strong common like housing and getting housing built and food and prices and the price of oil is coming way down.

4:33Anything I do is going to be good for New York. If I can get prices down, it's good for New York. And we've got them down, way down from last year. We have, as you know, I've been saying to a lot of people, Walmart said that Thanksgiving this year is exactly 25 % less than last year. So that's good for New York, good for everybody. But I just want to congratulate. I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor. The better he does, the happier I am, I will say. There's no difference in party. There's no difference in anything. And we're going to be helping him to make everybody's dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York.

5:10And congratulations, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.

5:13Ben Meiselas:Then Mamdani responded that I appreciated meeting with Donald Trump. Let's play this clip right here. Thank you. I appreciate it. Please. I appreciated the meeting with the president. And as he said, it was a productive meeting focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City and the need to deliver affordability to New Yorkers, the eight and a half million people who call our city their home, who are struggling to afford life in the most expensive city in the United States of America. We spoke about rent. We spoke about groceries. We spoke about utilities. We spoke about the different ways in which people are being pushed out.

5:46And I appreciated the time with the president. I appreciated the conversation. I look forward to working together to deliver that affordability for New Yorkers. Thank you very much. Any questions, please?

5:57Ben Meiselas:Mayor elect Mamdani then said that this is what I told the president that I've been focused on affordability. Here, play this clip. I want you to be seeing a second. But first of all, from the mayor, you're both from different parts of the political perspective. You're both populist. And I just wonder to what extent the president's campaign style, his techniques, his social media, inspire any part of your campaign? Well, I actually told the president that, you know, so much of the focus of our campaign has been on the cost of living crisis. And when we asked those New Yorkers who had voted for the president, when we saw an increase in his numbers in New York City, that came back to the same issue.

6:37Cost of living, cost of living, cost of living. And they spoke about the cost of groceries, the cost of rent, the cost of con ed, the cost of child care. And too often, politicians are looking to lecture to New Yorkers what they should care about as opposed to listen. And when we spoke to those voters who voted for President Trump, we heard them speak about cost of living. We focused on that same cost of living. And that's where I am really looking forward to delivering for New Yorkers in partnership with the president on the affordability agenda. And I think we have to work a little bit. We talked about Con Edison.

7:07We have to work a little bit on getting the prices because, you know, we've gotten fuel prices way down, but it hasn't shown up in Con Edison. And we're going to have to talk to them. You know, if we're sending them fuel at a much lower price than it was a year ago, which is true, we have to get kind of lowering their rates. Absolutely.

7:26Ben Meiselas:Trump then says that he believes Mamdani will do a very good job. Let's play it. President Trump, Steven Nelson from the New York Post. I've got a question for you and then also one for Merrillette. For you, you've referred to Mr. Mamdani as a communist. Can you describe of why you feel that way? And also, will you do anything to stop him from arresting Prime Minister Netanyahu? Well, we didn't discuss your second part of the question. And on your first part, I mean, he's got views a little out there, but who knows? I mean, we're going to see what works or he's going to change also. We all change.

8:00I change a lot. Change a lot from when I first came to office. It's now quite a while ago. It's quite a while. My first term was great. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We're doing even better now. We're doing much better now than we did even the first time. And I can tell you some of my views have changed. And we had discussions on some things. I'm not going to discuss what they were, but that I feel very confident that he can do a very good job. I think he's going to be, I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually. And some very liberal people.

8:34He won't surprise them because they already like him.

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9:17Ben Meiselas:Basically, it's like having a personal chef watching the stove so you can hang out with your guests. No more oven peeking, no more dried out turkey, just perfectly cooked meals every time. And it works for steaks, chicken, fish, whatever you're cooking. You'll wonder how you ever cooked without it. Plus, it's the ultimate gift. Perfect for seasoned cooks, kitchen rookies, and everyone in between. Now get 30 % off site-wide with code MIDAS at chefiq.com. That's chefiq.com, promo code MIDAS. Trump has then asked this question about Zelensky, where Donald Trump gives a horrific response about his views on Ukraine and that Zelensky is going to need to take the deal.

10:00Ben Meiselas:Here, play this clip. I wanted to ask you also about this Ukraine plan. Yeah. President Zelensky said today that his country would risk either giving up a partner or giving up its dignity. There's been criticism that this deal. You mean he doesn't like it? It's unclear. He was sort of tenuous. He'll have to like it. And if he doesn't like it, then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess. The suggestion that he made, though, was that if he doesn't accept it, that the U.S. would pull back its support for Ukraine. Well, at some point, he's going to have to accept something. You know, he hasn't accepted.

10:32You remember right in the Oval Office not so long ago, I said, you don't have the cards. Don't forget, I inherited this war. I would have never. This war never would have happened. I inherited this war. And I thought he should have made a deal a year ago, two years ago. The ultimate deal would have been if it never started. That would have been a good deal. That could have been done, too, if you had the right president. But you didn't have the right president.

10:57Ben Meiselas:Trump was then asked about the report about the Coast Guard making swastikas no longer hate symbols. Let's play it. I was wondering if you could clear up some confusion around a Washington Post report. There was this explosive report that the Coast Guard is no longer going to characterize swastikas and uses as hate symbols. DHS called that a lie and fake news. Can you clear up? I don't know anything about it. When was this written? I think yesterday. Well, look, the Coast Guard's an incredible group of people. I know very well. We just ordered a lot of new Coast Guard cutters. Beautiful. The most magnificent ship.

11:33They look like yachts with lots of guns on them. So I don't know. I haven't seen any report like that. But certainly we want them to remain a great force. And they are.

11:42Ben Meiselas:And then Mamdani was asked about Middle East. Here, play the clip. Mr. President, you did a piece in all the nine months around the world. I would like to ask Mr. Mamdani, you've accused the U.S. government of committing genocide in Gaza while President Trump was working on this. Why that? I've spoken about the Israeli government committing genocide, and I've spoken about our government funding it. And I shared with the president in our meeting about the concern that many New Yorkers have of wanting their tax dollars to go towards the benefit of New Yorkers and their ability to afford basic dignity.

12:16And what we see right now is we're in the ninth consecutive year of more than 100 ,000 schoolchildren being homeless. in our city. And there's a desperate need, not only for the following of human rights, but also the following through on the promises we've made New Yorkers. And I appreciated the meeting we had and the work that we can do.

12:36I appreciate all efforts towards peace. And I shared with President Trump that when I spoke to Trump voters on Hillside Avenue, including one of whom was a pharmacist that spoke about how President Trump's father actually went to that pharmacy, not too far from Jamaica States, that people were tired of seeing our tax dollars fund endless wars. And I also believe that we have to follow through on the international human rights. And I know that still today, those are being violated. And that continues to be work that has to be done no matter where we're speaking of.

13:06Ben Meiselas:Then Donald Trump said that he would be comfortable living in New York City with Mamdani. Play the clip. Okay, how about you? You're a billionaire. You have a different address nowadays than you used to. You used to call New York City home. Would you feel comfortable living in New York City under a mom-down-hated administration? Yeah, I would. I really would. Especially after the meeting. Absolutely. What makes you comfortable? We agree on a lot more than I would have thought. I think he's I want him to do a great job and will help him do a great job. He may have different views but in many ways, you know, we were discussing when Bernie Sanders was out of the race, I picked up a lot of his votes and people had no idea because he was strong on not getting ripped off in trade and lots of the things that i've practiced and been very successful on uh tariffs a lot of things bernie sanders and i agreed on much more than people thought and when he was uh put out of the race i think quite unfairly if you want to know the truth uh many of the bernie sanders voters voted for me and i felt very comfortable frankly and seeing that and saying that and you know just turned out to be a statistical truth.

14:19But no, I feel very comfortable. I would be I would feel very, very comfortable being in New York. And I think much more so after the meeting. Yes, please.

14:28Ben Meiselas:You can see all of the young interns and young workers at the White House were thrilled to see Mom Donnie. And I think Donald Trump probably saw that huge crowds of some of the young workers right there out there who were at the White House and who were there here play this clip.

14:56As Jake Sherman, who covers Congress, writes, Trump showering praise on Mamdani in the

15:08Ben Meiselas:White House may throw House Republicans for a loop. The House GOP signaled their entire 2026 campaign is to tie Democrats to Mom Donnie. And Donald Trump's out there saying that he loves Mom Donnie. He loves Mom Donnie right now. And remember what Donald Trump, though, just said a few weeks ago when he was on Fox. He said, I'm going to call him my little communist. Play this clip. Mr. President, see these buildings, a lot of them in New York City you built. I do. That's It's called capitalism, not socialism. We have Mom Donnie, who is ahead in the polls here. What's your reaction? It's amazing.

15:39It's up by 20. I call him my little communist. He's my little communist mayor.

15:43Ben Meiselas:Or remember when Donald Trump said that he better be very careful what he says to me, Zoran. Mom Donnie's better be very careful. Here play this clip. I was hitting him a little hard, too, in all fairness. I was, you know, hard to be totally friendly toward the opponent. you know his opponent wasn't he had some interesting opponents but he ran a good race i don't know exactly what he means by turn the volume up because turn the volume up he has to be careful when he says that to me but nobody really was able i said what does that mean turn the volume up does that mean let's go at it yeah i don't think so i mean he was very nice and calling as you know and we're gonna have a meeting i guess we meet at three o 'clock today and I think it's going to be quite civil.

16:27We'll find out. You'll be the first to know.

16:29Ben Meiselas:Or remember here when Donald Trump falsely suggested that Mamdani is in the country illegally. Do you remember that? We're going to be watching that very carefully and a lot of people saying he's here illegally. He's, you know, we're going to look at everything. But and ideally, he's going to turn out to be much less than a communist. But right now, he's a communist. That's not a socialist. You know, I've always said we will not have socialism in this country in the speeches. I said, well, what? They skipped socialism. And you get a lot of them like that. And you see AOC. She's out there with her, you know, bad IQ.

17:05Ben Meiselas:Well, here's what he's saying today that he wants to see no crime at all. He goes, I believe Zoran's going to stop crime in New York. Play this clip. Well, I think if we didn't get along, whether it's cut off or just make it a little bit difficult or not give as much, we want to see a use the term. and we don't want good money going after bad. We just, we don't want that to happen. I don't think that's going to happen. I did say, you know, subject to what policies are being said. We had a meeting today that actually surprised me. He wants to see no crime. He wants to see housing being built. He wants to see rents coming down, all things that I agree with.

17:42Now, we may disagree how we get there. The rent coming down, I think one of the things I really gleaned very, very much today. He'd like to see him come down ideally by building a lot of additional housing. That's the ultimate way he agrees with that. And so do I. But if I read the newspapers and the stories, I don't hear. I don't hear that. But I hear I heard him say it today. And I think that's a very positive step. No, I don't expect I expect.