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Cynics and sycophants alike have been licking their chops in anticipation of the White House meeting between President Donald Trump and New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Friday afternoon. Their combined volatile natures would make for a good televised tilt, were it not for the fact that $10 billion in federal aid to the city is at stake. Furthermore, the two leaders clearly don’t trust each other; Trump has been dismissive of “my little Commie,” while Mamdani seemed to campaign primarily on the promise to stand up to Donald Trump on New York’s behalf. J.C. Polanco is a political analyst and associate professor at Mount Saint Vincent University; he appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning to preview the showdown for the survival of New York City.
Polanco told host Larry Mendte that New York will have problems if the combative Trump shows up, but will have even bigger problems if Mamdani is the ornerier of the two: “Who is the Mamdani that is showing up? Is it the happy warrior, smiling a billion-dollar smile guy of the last year that we’ve gotten to see on TV, or is it the guy of election night, who told President Trump to turn up the volume and is ready to be bombastic with the President. We don’t know which one is showing up, either. So it’s important that both of them show up and understand that it is critical for Manor Mamdani to have a good working relationship with this President, because we need those $10 billion.”
Polanco even advised Mamdani to act with Trump today much like he did with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch earlier this week and prove to his detractors that he is willing to be a real leader: “I would worry less about the socialists that supported you in your rise to power and worry more about the 50% of New Yorkers who didn’t vote for you… because they didn’t think you were prepared, they didn’t vote for you because of the Jewish rhetoric that you had during the campaign, or some of the defund the police rhetoric- how can you step up and show them that you will be their mayor, too?”
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