Mamdani plays Trump 'like a fiddle' to secure huge housing funds with 'genius' move

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani paid a visit to Donald Trump at the White House, where he pitched an ambitious housing investment in a way that would appeal to the president.

Trump is known for always looking at his and his administration's press coverage, with Associated Press reporting how he often consumes local New York City publications.

With this in mind, Mamdani's team created a mock front page and headlines for Trump to look at to show what kind of headlines he could make if he approved new federal housing investments.

The specific proposal Mamdani shared was to secure $21 billion in federal grants, which would go towards the building of 12,000 new affordable homes at Sunnyside Yard in Queens and build a deck over the rail yard site. This could create 30,000 jobs and would be the biggest housing and infrastructure investment in over five decades.

X/NYCMayor

To communicate the positive reaction this housing proposal could receive, Mamdani presented the mock New York Daily News front page, which read “Trump to City: Let’s Build." This is in reference to the famous 1975 cover that read “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” about Gerald Ford’s vow to veto financial assistance to the city.

The mayor posted the photo of their meeting, where Trump could be seen grinning from ear to ear as he posed with the front pages.

"I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon. I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City," Mamdani wrote in the social media post.

Following this, people have been sharing their thoughts and reactions to Trump's positive response towards Mamdani's big house agenda, particularly with the mock front page.

One person wrote, "Speechless. Literally jaw droppingly good."

"Like a fiddle," a second person said.

A third person added, "All those frothing 'Mr. Mamdani got elected with a lot of promises, now let’s see how he plans to enact them' op-eds and he just figured out the infinite money glitch like two months into the job."

"As far as Trump pathologies go, 'taking credit for buildings in Manhattan' is a really smart one to exploit," a fourth person commented.

Another called the move "genius".

Ron Filipkowski posted, "Mamdani’s political skills are amazing."

"Obsessed with his dedication to not smiling in his Trump photos," someone else reacted.

Meanwhile, during their meeting, Mamdani also mentioned the detainment of Ellie Aghayeva, a Columbia University student from Azerbaijan who was arrested earlier Thursday by federal immigration agents.

Aghayeva’s attorneys and Columbia’s president say that the agents had accessed a campus residence by claiming they were searching for a “missing person."

The mayor provided an update on this, following a phone call with Trump after their meeting, where the president told him that Aghayeva would be "released imminently."

This positive update also prompted plenty of reactions online.

One person wrote, "Trump on the phone to Mamdani."

"Wow. Didn’t know American politicians can actually do stuff instead of merely tweeting about doing stuff. Shock to my system," a third person posted.

A fourth person responded, "This man is on a generational run."

Mamdani previously met with Trump in the White House back in November, and despite previously calling the newly elected mayor "100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job," the president has positive words for him in their in-person meeting.

"I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually,” Trump said in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing beside him.

Elsewhere from Indy100, The lawmakers who challenged Trump – and were flooded with praise, and Trump rants about Zohran Mamdani and is immediately distracted again.

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