A rising political star on the left may have revealed the best way to disarm President Donald Trump, according to one analyst.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist mayor-elect of New York City, recently met with Trump at the White House after enduring weeks of threats from the president that he would cut off funding to Mamdani's city if he were elected. Will Saletan, a writer at The Bulwark, argued in a new article that the "chummy" meeting between the two leaders also revealed Mamdani's strategy for dealing with Trump.
Part of Mamdani's strategy is to show Trump that he can take away Trump's voters, Saletan noted. That was why Trump "fawned" over Mamdani during the meeting, even though Mamdani implicitly called him a fascist during the meeting.
"Why did Trump laugh off these words?" Saletan asked. "Because to him words mean nothing. The only thing he respects is power."
"That might sound cold-blooded," he continued. "But if Mamdani is right about the big picture—if the best way to disarm a despot is to dismantle the conditions that brought him to power—then calling out Trump’s fascism won’t do the job. What will do the job is proving to Americans that an anti-fascist government can make their lives more affordable."