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Win McNamee/Getty Images and Jim Watson/AFP
Social media was stunned on Friday (21 November) when US president Donald Trump seemed to get on well with New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office, despite both politicians clashing with each other in the run-up to the election Mamdani won earlier this month.
When Mamdani was asked about his decision to travel to Washington by plane, Trump said he would “stick up” for the democratic socialist.
And in one particularly shocking moment, the US president told the mayor-elect it was “OK” to call him a “fascist”, telling Mamdani he can “just say it”.
And it’s the latter interaction which vice president JD Vance addressed on his X / Twitter account, sharing a copy of the clip and adding: “POTUS has a lot of good moments but this is an all-timer.”
However, both broadcasters and social media users have since speculated that Vance has another opinion on the rather civil meeting between Trump and Mamdani, with Fox News host Will Cain saying on his show following the press event: “I think JD Vance is jealous.
“I think the president wants to use him as a running mate. They get along fantastic.”
People on X / Twitter also played into the idea of jealousy to mock Vance:
“You vs the guy he tells you not to worry about,” wrote one:
Another posted the meme of Squidward watching SpongeBob and Patrick enjoying themselves outside:
And a third posted the graphic of a man putting on a smiling face mask while angrily crying behind it:
Following the meeting, Trump also spoke positively of the mayor-elect in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“It was a Great Honour meeting Zohran Mamdani, the new Mayor of New York City,” he said.
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