CNN commentator Ashley Allison has revealed a key moment when New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani “outplayed” Donald Trump as the pair met.
During Monday’s episode of CNN’s NewsNight, Allison said Mamdani’s decision to keep taking questions from the press at Gracie Mansion in New York, even after Trump was allowed to leave, was “masterfully done” by the mayor.
“They dismissed the president and said he is out of time, but the mayor will stay and fill the rest of your questions. And Trump knew, even if he didn’t want to answer the tough questions he would get, that if he walked away, it would look like…” Allison said.
“So he literally had to stand there as long as Mamdani, and Mamdani kept saying, ‘You can go if you want, you can go if you want,’ and he just had to stay there behind—not in front, not next to, not being the one at the podium.”
Allison added: “As someone who can acknowledge that Donald Trump is really good at making television—even if I don’t like to watch the television—he has this stage presence, he has this way. Mamdani, I will say, slightly outplayed Donald Trump today with that press conference.”
Trump met Mamdani at the mayor’s residence on Monday in what was their third meeting in less than a year.
Despite being politically polar opposites, Trump has taken an unusual shine to Mamdani.
The odd rapport between the MAGA president and the Muslim Democratic socialist mayor is so strong that Trump didn’t mind when Mamdani was asked during their meeting in the Oval Office in November last year about him calling the 80-year-old a “fascist”.
“That’s OK, you could just say, ‘Yes,’” an amused Trump said when reporters asked Mamdani whether he still believed the president was a fascist while he was sitting next to the mayor. “It’s easier than explaining it.”
Trump continued to praise Mamdani and his potential in office during their Monday meeting.
“I certainly hope he will be a great mayor. You have to understand—I want what’s good for New York. I want what’s good for the country,” Trump said. “I want him to be a great mayor.”
Mamdani added that he and Trump have been “frank about the many disagreements we have,” including the president’s hardline immigration policies.
