After meeting with Trump last week, Zohran Mamdani said on Saturday that he still thinks the president is a "fascist" and a "despot," reports NBC News. The far-left Islamist doubled down and said that he continues to believe everything that he said in the past regarding Trump.
Mamdani, however, viewed their first face-to-face meeting at the White House as an "opportunity" to work together on lowering the cost of living for New Yorkers. He continue to that he did not go to the Oval office to make a stand or point, but “to deliver for New Yorkers.”
After trading barbs during Mamdani's campaign, the two were cordial during the get together with Trump, telling reporters he'll be "cheering" for Mamdani and the mayor-elect calling the meeting "productive."
Robert Knight is a conservative activist and a columnist for The Washington Times.
"This reminds me of the time that Ronald Reagan met with communist leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986 at Reykjavik, Iceland,” says Knight.
He informs that the press reported it as a friendly meeting, but something else was going on behind the scenes.
“Reagan stiff armed Mr. Gorbachev and told them ‘we're so far ahead of you technologically, we're going to bankrupt you if you don't back off your nuclear ambitions.’ So shortly after that, real nuclear reduction talks began,” explains Knights.
Knight thinks that Trump was trying to show that he can meet with anybody and, in such a way, where he can get what he wants out of the meeting.
“He met with the North Korean leader with whom he shares very little in common, certainly, about values, and his meeting with Mamdani, I think, was to underline his ability to make a deal, to get along with anybody,” says Knight. “You got understand he's not a professional politician. He's a businessman at heart."
Knight says that Trump believes that, when it comes to working together toward a common goal, he's open to that.
