Trump Just Bent the Knee….

0:00By the time I hit my 50s, I'd learned a few things.

0:04Ben Meiselas:Like how family is precious. Work can always wait. And 99 % of people over 50 already have the virus that causes shingles. Not everyone at risk will develop it, but I did. The painful, blistering rash disrupted my life for weeks. Don't learn about your shingles risk the hard way. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today. Sponsored by GSK. It happened again, folks. Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Mamdani held a press conference outside Gracie Mansion in New York City. Donald Trump saying, I want Mayor Mamdani to be a great mayor. He certainly has potential. Donald Trump continuing to praise New York City Mayor Mamdani in public, which has the remaining Trump supporters, and there ain't all that many left, saying what the hell is going on?

0:59Ben Meiselas:Here, play this clip. No, I certainly hope he will be a great mayor. You have to understand, I want what's good for New York. I want what's good for the country. So if I had a choice of having him be a bad mayor or horrible mayor, I don't want that. I want him to be a great mayor. And he's certainly got potential, got great potential. Thank you so much. That's all the time we have. More of Donald Trump talking about how much he loves Gracie Manchin and how he's seen a number of mayors, some who are good, some who are not so great. And he says, you're off to a start there, New York City Mayor Momdani.

1:33Ben Meiselas:Here play this clip. Mr. Mayor, Mr. President, this is the first time that a sitting president has visited Gracie Mansion in decades. Mr. President, on the way here, you posted that this is one of your favorite places in the world. Why is that? And Mr. Mayor, what did you show the president? What did you want to see? Well, I can say from my standpoint, I love New York, and this represents New York. This is where the mayor lived and continues to live. And we were discussing it a long time ago when you first got elected. I said, well, are you going to move? Because you were maybe having some doubts about moving in, because it is a little bit on the luxurious side.

2:11And I said, when you're the mayor, you have to live there. And he's done that. And it was very nice inside, beautifully kept. And it's a very, very representative place of New York, a very important place. We appreciate the president's commitment to the city. And today, you know, the president shared many of his memories of having been to Gracie Mansion before, having been out here as well on the lawn. And we appreciated the conversation of how we can work together to deliver a lower cost of living for New Yorkers.

2:46Ben Meiselas:A reporter then asked Donald Trump what his views are about the fact that a lot of New York City residents are on protective status. Then Donald Trump said Mayor Mom Donnie told me he feels very strongly about protecting the people on protective status. Here, play this clip. The mayor will stay to take a few questions. A lot of New Yorkers are here on protective status and it's been removed. Well, the mayor feels very strongly about it. I can tell you that he did bring it up, but he feels very, very strongly about it. I feel strongly about a lot of things. I feel strongly about taking care of people and that's what we do.

3:26Ben Meiselas:We're doing a good job of it. And Donald Trump said that he told New York City Mayor Momdani that he understands why Momdani may not want to live in Gracie Mansion because of how luxurious it is, but that as the New York City Mayor, you got to live there. Is this the strangest freaking press conference you've ever seen as Donald Trump literally kind of shrivels in the presence of New York City Mayor Momdani? Here, play this clip.

4:10And I said, when you're the mayor, you have to live there. And he's done that. And it was very nice inside, beautifully kept. And it's a very, very representative place of New York, very important place. We appreciate the president's commitment to the city. And today, the president shared many of his memories of having been to Gracie Mansion before, having been out here as well on the lawn. and we appreciated the conversation of how we can work together to deliver a lower cost of living for New Yorkers.

4:45Ben Meiselas:A reporter then asks New York City Mayor Momdani, so what's your response to Donald Trump banning press outlets from the White House like Politico and CNN and MSNOW to which New York City Mayor Momdani says, well, I told him I don't agree. I have the press here. I'm having all the press here. We have freedom of speech and freedom of the press here in New York City. Here play this clip. Thank you. Mayor, do you first? What's your response to President Trump banning outlets from the White House grounds? Did you challenge him at all about this in your meeting with him? Historians and legal scholars have called it textbook authoritarianism.

5:26And Mr. President, are you banning outlets like MSNOW, CNN, and Politico in order to

5:34Ben Meiselas:distract from the Iran war and high gas prices? I told the president that we're going to have all of the members of the press here on the lawn. And that is something that I believe in is everyone, no matter the opinion or the critique that we engage. Another reporter asks New York City Mayor Momdani, like, do you think this tactic is productive for you to be soft with Trump like this? Like, do you think this is working? And I'll show you what New York City Mayor Momdani has to say. Here, play this clip. Do you still think that this tactic is worth it to sort of take a softer touch with the president in exchange for maybe sparing New York City more enforcement?

6:15And is there a point where this no longer makes sense for you? You know, the president and I have both been very frank about the many disagreements that we have. And immigration is one of those places. We've both spoken about very different approaches, very different beliefs. and I will continue to have conversations with the president and frankly with anyone who can deliver relief to the people of this city. And to me, you know, in the past meeting, at the meeting we spoke about Sunnyside Yard, we introduced that conversation. 30 minutes after the last meeting, he called me to let me know that the list of students that we had put forward to him, that he was going to release one of them.

6:53Soon after that, he released another one of them. And frankly, if a meeting can be the difference between detention and dignity, it's a meeting worth taking, all while being honest about the disagreements that we do have. Thank you, that's all the time we have. Thank you.

7:06Ben Meiselas:A reporter then says, should you be criticized for even holding this meeting with Donald Trump in the first place? Here's what Mamdani says, let's play it. I committed over the course of the campaign, as well as while being in office, that I would meet with anyone, work with anyone that could deliver for New Yorkers. And in the previous meetings I've had with President Trump, we've been able to secure the release of a New York City college student who had been detained by ICE. We've been able to move forward what has been a longstanding dream about the construction of Sunnyside Yard. And we know we have a significant way to go, but these meetings do truly assist in that path.

7:45And to me, the question always is, how can we deliver for the city? How can we deliver for the people of the city? And so having a conversation about potentially building 12 ,000 homes, about the importance of our Haitian neighbors here in the city. Those are conversations that are worthwhile to have. And to the first question, this was part of a conversation I was having with the president. I invited the president to come to Gracie Mansion, and he had also remarked to me in prior conversations about how many memories he has of this as a home for prior mayors. And I thought it would be a good location for a continuation of the conversation of how to deliver for the people who are being priced out of the city.

8:24Ben Meiselas:More from New York City Mayor Mamdani over here about what he says is a major priority for him. And he says, when I talk to Donald Trump, I tell him about the struggles that people face in this city. We talk about lifting the weight off New York City residents back. Watch this response here. Play this clip. We both are so fortunate to serve New York City. Each time the president and I speak, it is about the same topics. how to improve the lives of New Yorkers and how to use the power of government to take on the cost of living crisis, to grow our economy, and to build a better, stronger New York.

9:02Each day, millions of New Yorkers struggle to get by in a city where a decent life costs too much, where a future of possibility and prosperity feels forever just one paycheck out of reach, where dignity is not accorded to all, but only afforded by some. I have said time and again that I will work with anyone, no matter what party they belong to, no matter how much you may disagree on other topics, whoever has the power and the will to lift that weight off New Yorkers' backs. At a time where hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are asking the questions of how they can afford this city, I appreciate the conversation the President and I have had on the subject of how we can make it easier to afford life in this great city that we call our home.

9:46Ben Meiselas:With that, more from New York City Mayor Mamdani over here talking about one of the focuses of the conversation has been about housing. Let's play this clip. You know, one of the focuses of the conversation the president and I have been having is about the possibility of building more housing here in New York City. We've spoken about Sunnyside Yard. And it's a real pleasure that just today we've agreed to set up a new level of that conversation between our housing and operations team at City Hall and the White House team. because what we're speaking about is 12 ,000 homes, 30 ,000 jobs, the prospect of an entire new neighborhood in a city where housing is the number one cost.

10:27And I appreciate the president, his interest in this, and we also know the president not just as the leader of the country, but also as someone who has built quite a lot of housing here in our city. I don't know if this president will add it. Well, I can tell you that Sunnyside's a big job. I've been watching that for 35 years. everybody's wanted to do something with Sunnyside Yards. When we met at the White House a couple of times, but we met at the White House, the mayor brought that up, the possibility of doing Sunnyside Yards. It's a very, I would say, that was a very federal-oriented job.

11:01You're going to need a lot of federal approvals and probably some federal money to do it. But it's always been a great location. I owned a building in Sunnyside. It was a great building. I know it very well. So when he mentioned Sunnyside Yards, They've been talking about developing that for 50 years. So maybe they have a shot at doing it.

11:18Ben Meiselas:Then after whatever the hell that was, Donald Trump left Gracie Manchin, you see over there. And then he started doing what he always does, which is wine. Donald Trump attacks a judge that he appointed during his first term, Judge Kelly. And Trump already predicts that he's going to lose the lawsuit that was filed against him by Politico, CNN, and MSNOW, which was assigned in Washington, D.C. federal court to Judge Kelly, a federal judge who Trump appointed. And here's what Trump writes. As expected, fake news, CNN, Politico pay back the$8 million contribution made by the government to keep them afloat.

11:59Ben Meiselas:And MSNOW, formerly MSDNC, have brought suit to gain access to the White House and your president, me. They have drawn a great judge for them, a man who ruled in favor of Jim Acosta, who now seems to have disappeared from the planet. The judge's name is Tim Kelly, and he was sadly appointed by Trump. In other words, almost without question and as usual, will go for appeal because fake news people and publications that only write negatively and who violate national security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown sources shouldn't be allowed access to the most important office anywhere in the world.

12:42Ben Meiselas:It's called the Oval Office, and it should be treated with decorum, respect, and dignity, by the way, all things that Donald Trump is not doing with the Oval Office. He has utterly disgraced it, turned it into this dystopian, fake gold that looks like a bunch of dog piss all over the walls at this point. And no wonder Donald Trump's approval is at an all-time low. The latest Ipsos Reuters poll has Donald Trump's approval at 32%. Republican approval dropped nine points in just one week. His approval amongst Republicans is now only at 73%. And for the first time, more Republicans disapprove than approve of his handling of the cost of living.

13:28Ben Meiselas:the Iran war and surging fuel prices are drivers. Both contradict his 2024 promises, of course. Then you look at the American Research Group poll, Trump's approval at 29%, his disapproval at 68%. His approval has dipped into the 20s, folks, and it's only getting lower. That's probably why he wanted to be in the presence of someone whose approval is basically at 70 % trying to use that to boost his popularity. Who the hell knows? But that's what went down moments ago. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks for watching, everybody. Appreciate you.

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