The Trump/Mamdani “Surprise”
Published at 07:55 on 22 November 2025
Not sure how much of a surprise it was, though I expected them to be each others’ foils, too.
Perhaps Trump senses picking fights with Mamdani would be a losing game for him.
Perhaps Mamdani’s charisma won out. The guy is a natural-born politician: absolutely great at making people like him. It’s one of the reasons he won.
But, again, I am not sure just how much of a surprise this really is. That is because, despite all the rhetoric about the two being polar opposites, they are less so than many realize. Yes, they are on opposite ends of the left/right political spectrum, but that is only one way of classifying politicians.
They are both outsiders, disliked by their party’s established elites (though this is no longer the case for Trump, given that he now is one of his party’s established elites, it once was the case). They both appeal to some of the same crowds (in the wake of Mamdani’s surprise primary victory, polls indicated no small amount of Trump/Mamdani voters). They both play the populist game. They both are New Yorkers.
Yes, there are important differences despite all that. I am not saying they are two peas in a pod. I am just saying they are not the absolute diametric opposites they are often portrayed to be.
And this is the big problem with the whole “Trump is far right, and his victory shows the Democrats need to move to the right in response to the verdict of the recent election” line. Voters are not pundits, and do not think about politics like pundits do. It’s one of the things Rachael Bitecofer (not leftist by any means) harps on.
And yes, arguably this means that many voters are stunningly ignorant and misinformed. Cry harder. There is the electorate you might wish the USA had, and the one it actually has, and they are two distinct and different things. To paraphrase a famous ex-Secretary of Defense, elections are fought with the electorate we actually have, not the electorate we might wish to have. See also Rule No. 3.
Finally, this is how things stand with Trump and Mamdani right now. Wait a week (or even a day) and they might be quite different. This is Trump we are talking about, and Trump is famously unpredictable. They may well still turn out to be each others’ foils.