THE RETURN OF THE REALITY TV SHOW PRESIDENT

How does the bizarre meeting in the Oval pay off for the mayor-elect and the lame-duck?

You can’t find a person in America that isn’t gobsmacked by New York City Mayor-elect and rising star Zohran Mamdani’s meeting with President Trump. From giddiness or light intrigue and annoyance to gasps and awes, sly grins or clenched fists, you couldn’t find an American that didn’t at least raise an eyebrow while watching what just happened in the Oval. Although the argument is very 2017, we should remember those old, first-term hooks that played over and over again on cable news and in vapid New York Times commentariat bestsellers: Donald Trump is the first reality TV show president.

His grand strategy that has served him so well has been to exploit the hyperreal nature of our times, smartly propagating chaos and leaning on entertainment’s political utility in the midst of modern America’s ongoing reality collapse. No shared ideas or feelings or interpretations, but we are all feasting on the same new episodes. However corny it is to say, Trump seems to be going back to his roots: putting on quite the show.

In recent months, Trump has seemed tired and bogged down. In fact, it wasn’t lost on some commentators that palling around with Mamdani has been the first time that Trump has seemed genuinely happy in quite a while. Even Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade joked that the Vice President must be jealous of Mamdani. Between Trump’s trade war, which now just seemed like the price he was willing to pay to consolidate fealty from the oligarchs, and his endless Epstein nightmare, he hasn’t been riding the bull like he used to. The bull, of course, being our attention economy.

The Trump Show, with Special Guest…

Trump’s been a master at controlling the news cycle over his 10-year-reign dominating our political world. He has proven his command of media as one of the few public figures completely unfazed by the transition away from hefty cameras and television studios to podcast couches. So much of his success has been luck, just being the right charlatan for the right time, but it’s clear that no one can do what he does quite like him. Whether it’s dumb luck or, as some have speculated, a deal with the Devil, he’s always been a master of spectacle, which is, luckily for him, the currency of our civilizational consciousness.

But it’s been harder for him this year. People are exhausted of put-on political fireworks, only tuning in for moments that are truly exceptional. The president is also weaker this term, being unable to run again. After years of lawfare and chaos, he’s more reliant on the interests he owes, namely the Zionist billionaires and tech oligarchs. He seems like he’s lost his penchant for farce. There hasn’t been a rally in a while, and we were losing hope that we could randomly stumble into Trump in a McDonald’s drive-thru.

On the policy front, surprises aren’t materializing. When, for instance, Steve Bannon argued that the cuts to Medicaid in the Big Beautiful Bill would hurt Trump’s base, some suggested that he may stun us all by pulling the rug out from under the Republicans. No such thing happened, and it didn’t happen in the reprisal of the argument during the government shutdown either.

Still, there have been some shake-ups in Second Term MAGA World, but few of them have been conjured by Trump himself. Elon Musk’s bizarre early-June rampage on social media, claiming that the president is in the Epstein files and thereby implying that Trump is a pedophile (or, at the least, pedophile adjacent, I guess), didn’t give us any payoff in terms of Trumpian theatrics. Trump took a perfunctory tone, largely shrugging it off when asked in front of cameras and saying he was “disappointed.” When Marjorie Taylor Greene refused to be scared off the discharge petition to release the files, she seemed to get the better of him, causing a media firestorm by implying he was a traitor. (I guess she’s lost the war though, stunning everyone by resigning. As CNN’s Kaitlan Collins put it: “Marjorie Taylor Greene is out… and Zohran Mamdani appears to be in.”) He hasn’t successfully exploited spectacle here either; he has preferred to thank us for our attention to these matters via late-night Truths rather than putting on a performance for the cameras.

For the recent surprises Trump has led, they haven’t been politically useful, or, worse, appeared to be foisted on us out of desperation. His demolition of the East Wing of the White House on a random Monday afternoon surely made him feel like the young, wrecking-ball-to-Midtown Trump. But it was met by the general public with disdain. In another stunt, you could believe it if you were told he was in a nervous sweat as he ‘Truthed’ his last-second endorsement of the Epstein files release bill. This Sunday night Truth came after weeks of haranguing the few House Republican mavericks who were unwilling to give up their fight to release the files.

His second term has had a markedly different vibe, perhaps until now. He just dropped a bomb on politics, shocking everyone by treating Mamdani like the brown son he never had. For so much of the MAGA infrastructure, from Fox News to the Post to some of the most low-brow posters (members of Congress or otherwise), Trump just spiked the layup they took for granted painting Mamdani as a scary jihadist commie in preparation for next year’s midterms. For the Democratic equivalent, they have egg on their face as well. They’ve let their imaginations spin out telling us how Zohran’s going to be fresh meat for Trump. Just hours before Zohran met with Trump, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries voted with 85 other Democrats for an inconsequential resolution condemning socialism. Needless to say, they seem to look foolish as Zohran pulls out a masterclass, something that cardboard-chaisma Jeffries couldn’t pull off in his dreams.

And for the Zionist donors that straddle both parties and were more than comfortable pumping money into the lifeless scarecrow Cuomo, they’re agasp that Trump just nodded along while Zohran referenced “the Israeli government committing genocide” in Gaza. And he didn’t even smear Mamdani’s Muslim-anity! He practically scoffed at a question quoting top-New York Republican Elise Stefanik calling Mamdani a jihadist: “I met with a man who is a very rational person...” Oh, no! The braindead, Boomer-slop strategy of screaming about sharia law in the nation’s cultural capital, revived straight from when new episodes of Friends were still airing, has been blown apart! The talentless Loomers of the world are seething. (We don’t even have to go into it here that Trump welcomed a literal ex-Al Qaeda leader into the Oval just two weeks ago...)

And how much money they wasted! How much political capital they spent on that stupid, drawn out bit: “Why won’t you, New York City mayor-hopeful, visit Israel?!” If you think about it, this may have actually been a big part of Trump’s vision here. His recent shout-out to Miriam Adelson as they sat in the Israeli Knesset, in which he jokes about her loving Israel (not America) more than America (America) and “sitting there so innocently [even with] 60 billion in the bank!” may be an instance of Trump letting us in a bit. He may very well be thinking: “I bombed Iran for you and have given you some breathing room from the world on Gaza! Get off my back” to the Zionist money.

Trump has other interests here too. The MAGA coalition is not only splitting apart because of Epstein, but also because it’s clear that Trump’s not wasting much thought strategizing how to make the average American better off economically. When it comes to legislation, he’s largely spent. The Big Beautiful Bill is indeed big, but not very popular. Perhaps the Republicans can get it together for another bill or two before the midterms, but, with their “concepts of a plan” on healthcare still under wraps, it’s not remotely clear what the legislation would center on.

So how can he pull people back in? By showing himself to be a singular, unique force in politics. An Übermensch of hyperreality. He produces so much of our history and consciousness, unlike anyone who has come along in living memory, or perhaps, scarily, in all of American history. He does it by doing what absolutely no one can ever expect or imagine, and showing a level of narrative independence that is impossible to associate with any other political figure.

Even if, this past summer, you had considered the idea that Trump would be playful with Zohran because of the democratic socialist’s photogenic face and on-camera chops, you would have never estimated the degree of Trump’s conciliatory chumminess correctly. Who could have possibly predicted that Trump would laugh off an incoming Muslim socialist Democrat calling him a fascist to his face in the Oval Office? Who could have painted the picture: Zohran looking down at Trump with a cautious, uncharacteristically-closed-mouth smile, while Trump plays grandpa and roughs up his arm, smiling from ear to ear? Trump decided to do a big narrative rug pull on those moron suits, the journalists and politicians and donors and tech bros he either tolerates, exploits, or hates. And he knew that we would love it. Trump is a master of ceremonies for the wacky PoMo production called “United States of America.”

And there’s even more speculative reasons for Trump to throw this bomb. On Epstein, the story has been taking up too much oxygen for Trump, but the continued drippings of new stories about just how deeply Epstein worked with Israel, securing investment in Israeli cyberweapons on behalf of former heads of state and intel operatives and playing geopolitics between Israel and other countries, may actually be an opportunity for him. With Israel and the whole Zio-gang so deeply unpopular with huge factions of Americans across the political spectrum, Trump can start to drift a bit.

For Zohran, the way this meeting went also gives him some breathing room, as he’s juggling his own (albeit niche but nonetheless critical) controversies, one involving a democratic socialist challenger to Hakeem Jeffries and the other involving NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch (daughter of billionaire heir to the Lowes Corporation, James Tisch).

Capitulating for Fun

After New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé filed his papers to run against House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Zohran immediately started signaling that he didn’t approve. In what seems like some sort of deal with Governor Kathy Hochul and Jeffries, Mamdani has discouraged Ossé from primarying House leadership, saying in an interview that “now is not the time.”

Not only did he choose to intervene so publicly instead of giving the subtler, more typical politician’s answer of saying his focus is on the city, not Congress, but he also attended a Democratic Socialists of America meeting to spike an Ossé endorsement. Zohran was undoubtedly the deciding factor, as the margin was only 71 voters out of a total of 1,181, with 52% of the Citywide Electoral Working Group voting against an endorsement and 46% for. Although Zohran has argued that it’s not smart to waste his political capital on battling Jeffries, I guess it has not occurred to him that he’s now spending it instead on picking a fight with his own grassroots movement.

This is purely sabotage. We cannot have a credible, insurgent movement in the Democratic Party without an open confrontation of at least the House leadership. How could you possibly justify not seizing the moment and taking the risk of throwing Ossé at Jeffries, especially after upstart Zohran won the district twice just this year? He’s at least as charismatic as Zohran, and, regardless, in the case of getting what we want, the best defense is the best offense. Do you remember the Build Back Better bill in the Biden era, where the House Progressive Caucus splintered during a key bottleneck vote in return for a promise on a vote for $15 an hour minimum wage and other goodies (which of course never came)? What about just earlier this month, when Senate Democrats folded on the government shutdown with only a promise from the GOP to vote on critical healthcare subsidies to show for it? It’s a running theme with these capitulating progressives: the cliché Charlie-Brown-football routine. Why is it that the psuedo-socialists never seem to learn any lessons?

The politico left needs to get serious when it comes to thinking about timing and leverage. It’s actually quite simple, however complicated the poindexter-pundit class makes it out to be. Hochul and Jeffries are scared of primary challengers. They don’t want to spend the money, and they don’t want to deal with the language landmines and scrutiny. They don’t want to sound like cringey oligarch tools defending capitalists, and they don’t want to be harassed in public by activists. The reason why a primary challenger would be tough for Governor Hochul or the Minority Leader is precisely because it’s really one of the few times that the left has any guaranteed, formal leverage.

This is particularly important for Hochul. Between now and her primary next summer, Hochul has to pass a state budget. The incoming mayor cannot complete large parts of his agenda without money from the state, as well as permission to raise taxes. He must exert pressure now to set up the political stakes in order to achieve any real momentum going into springtime budget talks. That doesn’t seem to be happening. If the waters stay calm, Hochul can get her budget over with and do her best to skate into the primary. If she succeeds in winning a second term, when would be the next opportunity for Zohran to extract concessions from the Governor? Even with a Commie Corridor insurgency into Albany over the next couple years, it will still be much, much harder once Hochul doesn’t have another race to lose for several years.

And Trump made her job a lot easier: the New York State GOP was eager to tie Hochul to Mamdani during next year’s gubernatorial race. Instead, whoever the nominee ends up being is now DOA, with Trump saying that he would be “comfortable living in New York” under Mamdani’s mayorship. This makes Hochul’s next few months leading up to the primary the whole shebang for her, making it even more important that the Bernie-AOC-Zohran-wing of the party are credible challengers that demand policy concessions (not just the rhetorical gestures towards affordability).

It’s the same thing with Jeffries. If he could just survive a primary, he could probably become Speaker of the House of Representatives. Who wouldn’t make promises you never plan to keep in such circumstances? Some on the left have warned that he doesn’t have anyone to replace him yet, and that that should push us to consider going with the devil we know. Others have suggested that going at the king of the party would be costly, and not winning would make the left look weak.

When asked on one of the Sunday shows “Do you want to see Leader Jeffries become the Speaker of the House?” Zohran brought back his big, toothy smile on the Sunday shows. His quick ‘yes’ shocked the NBC newscaster. Let’s be clear: after one of the most historic wins for socialism in American history, with a charismatic firebrand having toppled a political dynasty decades and generations in the making, in which the race did more than any other to completely flip the national narrative on Israel, the rising star completely backs the establishment tool who has not even publicly conceded anything to Zohran.

And neither him nor AOC even bother to truly explain themselves. AOC, Zohran, and Co. don’t bother publicly describing the details of a hypothetical backroom deal with Democratic leadership. It’s likely there are no details, that it’s more of a you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours understanding between them all, and that we’re supposed to be good and loyal followers and join in that groveling refrain now so associated with MAGA: “Trust the plan!”

At least for AOC, the reason is clear and cynical: the credibility of the movement as a threat to the party establishment can wait because she has her eye on a Senate seat. For Zohran, he seems to be playing dumb for the fun of it. At least when Bernie pathetically dropped out in 2020, which obviously ended up giving the left absolutely nothing during dementia Joe’s presidency, he had the wherewithal to make Biden pay some lip service to some of the left’s demands like a $15 minimum wage. In this millennial slice of his movement, 5 years later, we are bending the knee to a nobody leader for nothing. Not a word on Jeffries loosening up the purse strings for Mamdani’s agenda, or anything else for New York City for that matter.

This is all happening in a world in which the entire last decade of Republican Party history consists of a series of mutinies strung together, from Trump’s takeover to the succession of GOP House Speakers. How can you possibly witness, with your own eyes, the success of Donald Trump and (to some degree) Bernie Sanders, and still not think that the best tactic is a domestic version of Madmen theory? Take reality hostage by humiliating the establishment. That’s the lesson of Trump World. But still, we’re playing nice with the equivalent of a horrible Times Square Obama impersonator (or, if you prefer, “Brooklyn’s Barack,” as referenced in the Epstein emails), who will not be remembered by anyone at all within a year of him leaving office. A Democratic Party leader that has given the left nothing, not even any policy overtures. Somehow, fingers crossed, we should believe that this should work out for the movement’s benefit, even though the left has been totally institutionally irrelevant since Bernie’s last campaign.

Unfortunately, Zohran’s slam-dunk meeting with the president is giving the mayor-elect the wrong ideas. The meeting could be seen as an opportunity to get around party leaders. Zohran should be raising the possibility that he holds the cards in the New York State Democratic Party, as he is the one with the best working relationship to the president. Instead of using the meeting to extract more from House Leadership and the Governor to help fund his policy ideas, he’s immediately squandering the moment to double-down publicly on discouraging any challenger to Jeffries. And, even more unfortunately, this meeting going so well for him, and the meme carnival that follows, gives him cover as he crosses the movement.

A Post Tantrum Avoided

Zohran’s been making some wise moves, too. He committed to keeping the NYPD Commissioner Tisch on board. Some on the left have taken this up as a key test for Zohran, pointing to the way that Tisch is implicated in stifling pro-Palestine protesters. The bottom-line here is that the establishment has chosen Tisch staying on as Commissioner as their red-line, and the left really shouldn’t open up a can of worms anywhere near concerns around crime and safety. Like it or not, Zohran will get absolutely nothing done if he takes on the NYPD. It’s not 2020 and Zohran didn’t run a campaign focused on police reform; the left has absolutely zero momentum here.

The moment someone inevitably gets stabbed in Times Square or shoved in front of the F Train, the Post and the rest will pounce. Those irritated over Zohran’s Tisch move have argued that it would be a critical victory over Zionism. Let’s be clear: the mayor will not beat the NYPD. Perhaps in a world where Zohran saw this success during the BLM reckoning, and the promise of enacting sweeping structural reforms to the force was what he chose to spend his charisma on during the campaign. That is not this world. It is 2025 and we’re in Trump’s second term. We’re still wondering if New York City will eventually be occupied by National Guard forces. There is no momentum here for us to take on such a challenge now, especially when his sewer socialist agenda is on the line.

The most vocal critics of Zohran’s Tisch sitch are pissed because it’s yet another sign of the mayor-elect backing away from the fight against Zionism. After witnessing Zohran let the establishment media push him around until he finally discouraged the use of the protest chant “globalize the intifada,” you can’t fault them. Still, we should show restraint here. If we’re looking for retribution on Zionism, Zohran’s victory should satiate us enough when it comes to this arena. We’re still owed a pound of flesh from our national representatives, including Alexendria “Working Tirelessly” Ocasio-Cortez.

The meeting with Trump immediately vindicated this move. Trump himself brought up Zohran keeping Tisch onboard, saying “He just retained the great Police Commissioner,” telling us that Tisch is a family friend of the Trump’s, naming Ivanka specifically. He went on, “They tell me she’s really good, really competent, so that’s a good sign.” Now, Zohran can look forward to dragging Tisch out for press conferences whenever a lunatic shoots up a subway or some other terrible disaster, false flag or otherwise. And Trump’s helping make sure Americans know that Zohran will be responsible in handling “New York’s finest.” The mayor-elect is smart for not picking a fight here, unlike in the case of the Jeffries race.

Duper’s Delight

So what does Trump get out of this? It’s important to understand that Trump’s power is derived from his control over our attention, which in turn is derived from the way that he evades all expectations. More often than not, we have no idea how he’ll react to anything, granting him strategic maneuverability and plausible deniability. Like a TV show, this was a sort of season premiere, and we know we’re in for an exciting season. We are all titillated knowing that this is just a game to Trump, and he will eventually choose a fun moment to eviscerate Zohran in public. One headline hits the nail on the head: “How Zohran Mamdani won over Donald Trump — for now.” That “— for now” is what keeps our whole society running at this point. We don’t know when, why, where, or how, but we know he’ll give us something to gossip about. There will be new memes.

When Street Fighter character (and politician) Curtis Sliwa was asked about the meeting, he said we all got played by “these two thespians,” as they convinced us for months that they were mortal enemies only to be chummy in the Oval. “They’re antagonizing their followers, and then all of the sudden today we are expected to believe kumbaya, everything is fine?” I wouldn’t say that we should hold them to the same standard. On one side, the ancient President-Emperor, and, on the other, the 34-year-old mayor-elect that’s about to either get bought out or have his world rocked by the powers that be.

Donald Trump had a fun Friday afternoon. Part of his fun was knowing that we also had some fun. Another part of his fun was knowing that he was consolidating narrative power, flexing his connection with everyday people to completely change the right-wing’s approach to the mayor-elect. Newsmax, the New York Post, Benny Johnson, or House Speaker Mike Johnson will just have to adjust. Because they don’t call these shots, he does. And that’s why the White House is gold.