On Friday, many anticipated fireworks as the poster child of the progressive socialist’s arm of the Democratic Party, Zohran Mamdani, met with the Democrat’s nemesis, Donald Trump. Instead of fireworks, Americans witnessed how to effectively bargain against Trump’s political rhetoric, much like Claudia Sheinbaum has been doing for México.
As the New York City mayor-elect, Mamdani must ensure that Donald Trump stays out of the way of his political agenda – New York affordability. Mamdani needs federal dollars to deliver on his agenda and the last thing he needs are federal troops in New York – two key weapons Trump uses to impose his will on his opponents.
Likewise, the Mexican president needs to keep the Mexican economy humming along and U.S. troops off Mexican streets. Unlike Venezuela, Sheinbaum has so far navigated a treacherous Trump mindset keeping the American invasion rhetoric to a minimum and Mexican manufactured goods crossing the U.S.-México border.
It is important to note that there are key differences between Trump’s fixation on Venezuela and his interactions with México. It is no secret that the Trump administration is looking for regime change in Venezuela. México, on the other hand, is heavily tied to America’s economy making it more difficult for America to deal with.
Nonetheless, Sheinbaum has navigated the Trump turbulent waters with finesse and patience. On Friday, Mamdani did the same. He focused on what he needed and avoided antagonizing Trump be ignoring news media questions about their ideological differences.
Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America which generally encourages stronger governmental roles in social equality, including affordability and social justice.
Sheinbaum, on the other hand, outwardly holds similar political ideology as Mamdani but with a Mexican flavor to it. Both are considered left-leaning favoring progressive politics. Both advocate for strong social programs and economic equality.
And both Mamdani and Sheinbaum must deal with Donald Trump to get their political agendas off the ground.
Pragmatic engagement is how both navigate Trump. Both, although critical of Trump, negotiate with him on the politics both can rally around. Mamdani negotiated with affordability, while Sheinbaum has focused on common ground issues like fentanyl and trade. Both cordially interact with Trump on one-to-one conversations. Both Mamdani and Sheinbaum understand that Trump is transactional, easily swayed by feeling like he’s winning in any deal. When it comes to New York, Trump feels he wins when grocery store prices or rents drop, two issues that his supporters are rallying around now. When it comes to México, border security and fentanyl are two issues both Sheinbaum and Trump can carry to their voters. Thus, Mamdani and Sheinbaum leverage the “win” factor for Trump to get what they needed out of him.
But, for a victory there must be a loser.
There is no loser per se in the Sheinbaum/Trump transactional politics, only that Sheinbaum’s political agenda isn’t being overly distracted by an invasion force mustering around her borders like Nicolás Maduro is facing in Venezuela.
But in the case of Mamdani, the losers are the “old guard” of the Democratic Party who are being challenged by the rise of younger progressives within their ranks, and MAGA operatives.
The clear MAGA loser is Elise Stefanik (R-NY) who wants to unseat New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Hochul, who was elected in 2021, is running for reelection but is not too politically aligned with Mamdani. In many ways, Hochul is the kind of Democrat that the progressives want to move out of the way. Politically, Hochul and Mamdani share the same goal of keeping Trump at bay. But both are ideologically different. Hochul is the kind of Democrat the party progressives want out of the way. But for the Democratic progressives, the enemy of my friend is my friend, thus Hochul’s benefit is acceptable to the Democratic Party apparatus.
But for MAGA, the outward cordiality between Mamdani and Trump was a gut check. Consider Stefanik. Her job of defeating Hochul is now more difficult because Stefanik needs that MAGA support that Trump brings to the table. Friday’s meeting between Mandani and Trump was not what Stefanik wanted. She wanted fireworks to help her portray Hochul as a Mamdani lackey, which Hochul is not, but in politics most voters miss the nuance when fireworks are present.
Instead of fireworks, Trump signal to his New York MAGA supporters was that Mamdani may be a “communist,” but a likeable one, and not the bogeyman Stefanik wants New York MAGA to believe. The public coziness between Mamdani and Trump just made Stefanik’s road to victory through MAGA much harder. The silver lining for Mamdani’s progressive base is that it is a win-win for them in that Trump has sidelined New York MAGAs while Hochul must now make nice with the Democrat progressives to help her keep her seat.
