The unexpected warmth radiating from the Oval Office on Friday has left at least one former contender crying foul. Curtis Sliwa, the defeated Republican nominee for New York City mayor, dismissed the cordial meeting between President Donald Trump and Democratic Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani as nothing more than political theater orchestrated by “two thespians.”
Sliwa, appearing on “Laura Coates Live” shortly after the meeting, argued that the sudden shift from bitter rivals to friendly collaborators proves the public was manipulated during the heated mayoral race.
“Everyone in the world, everyone in the country, everyone in New York City, got played by these two thespians, these actors,” Sliwa told CNN. “Because remember, eight months ago, we thought it was Godzilla versus King Kong.”
The meeting in Washington stood in stark contrast to the rhetoric that defined the months leading up to the November 4 election. During the campaign, Trump had threatened to withhold $7 billion in federal funding if the city elected the socialist candidate, while Mamdani frequently labeled the president a “fascist.”
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Yet, on Friday, those tensions seemed to evaporate. In a moment that went viral, Trump even laughed off the past insults. When a reporter asked if Mamdani still stood by his “fascist” characterization, the president cut in before the mayor-elect could respond.
“That’s okay, you can just say, ‘yes’ … It’s easier than explaining it, I don’t mind,” Trump joked.
For Sliwa, who finished a distant third in the race with just 7% of the vote, the friendly banter was proof that the ideological war was a sham. Sliwa’s campaign had suffered a fatal blow when Trump urged New Yorkers to vote for former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an Independent, viewing Cuomo as the only viable shield against Mamdani’s coalition.
Sliwa expressed frustration that the two men “foment[ed] anger” among voters only to pivot immediately after the votes were counted.
“There was Zohran Mamdani calling Donald Trump a fascist — he’s not. And then Donald Trump calling Zohran Mamdani a communist — he’s not,” Sliwa argued, claiming the American people were turned into “suckers.”
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While Sliwa admitted to Coates that a functional relationship between the White House and City Hall is ultimately beneficial for New Yorkers, he insisted the rapid shift requires contrition. “They went into that meeting today, ‘Oh, all is forgiven. All is forgotten,’” he said. “Don’t you think [they] owe the American people… an apology?”
Not everyone viewed the détente with cynicism. Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate and Forward Party co-founder, took a pragmatic view of the sit-down.
Speaking to Kayleigh McEnany on Fox News, Yang expressed that the meeting’s “tenor” was the best-case scenario for a nervous city.
“One of the major pitfalls potentially for a mayor like Mamdani was getting crosswise with this administration, having resources pulled, having ICE officials downtown,” Yang said on Saturday.
Yang, who did not endorse a candidate in the mayoral general election, suggested that ideology matters less than logistics for the city’s immediate future.
“The fact that Zohran and Donald Trump seem to be on the same page, so many New Yorkers today are breathing a huge sigh of relief,” Yang added. “I hope it holds up.”
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