Insider reveals why Trump went soft on Mamdani during surprise love-in

Donald Trump's surprisingly cozy meeting with New York City's mayor-elect is all part of a wider ploy to encourage civil war within the Democrats, an insider has claimed.

Zohran Mamdani's reception in the Oval Office was dramatically warmer than many had expected given the months of hostilities between the two leaders in the run up to Mamdani's election.

But a veteran GOP operative who witnessed the spectacle unfold on Friday framed the meeting as nothing short of a political grenade lobbed directly into Democratic ranks. 

'To be honest, I think this pours gasoline on the internal war within the Dems,' the source told The Hill's Julia Manchester.

'[Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries won't talk or work with him [Mamdani], but Trump is open to working with him. Further forces Dems to fully embrace Mamdani and his agenda.'

The president's supportive tone stood in sharp contrast to the attacks he and his allies leveled at democratic socialist Mamdani for months.

During Mamdani's campaign Trump branded him a '100% Communist Lunatic', threatened him with deportation and flirted openly with cutting federal funds to New York City. 

Friday's meeting made for surreal viewing as the president lavished praise and offered political protection for Mamdani. 

BLACK FRIDAY SALE

EXCLUSIVE
A White House official has told me the REAL threat to Trump. Epstein is a distraction: ANDREW NEIL

Trump beamed as he introduced the 34-year-old mayor-elect, lauding him in front of a stunned White House press corps.

'I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually,' Trump said.  'We're going to be helping him, to make everybody's dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York.' 

He helped Mamdani navigate tough questions from the conservative press, even quipping that it was okay for the mayor-elect to call him a 'fascist' when pressed by a reporter about his previous characterizations of Trump. 

The president also defended Mamdani while dismissing GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik's characterization of the mayor-elect as a 'jihadist'.

When a reporter pressed him directly on her remarks, Trump waved the accusation off as nothing more than campaign fighting talk.

'She's out there campaigning,' she said. 'You say things sometimes in a campaign. You'd have to ask her about that. I met with a man who is a rational person.' 

Stefanik doubled down on her remarks with a post on Twitter afterwards repeatedly branding him a 'jihadist'.

Still Trump signaled he was prepared to work with Mamdani on affordability, public safety, and housing. 

Mamdani tactfully returned the compliment. 

'What I really appreciate about the president is that the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers,' he said.

Trump appeared giddy from the encounter several hours after it took place, barely reacting to new of former ally Marjorie Taylor Greene's resignation from Congress before steering the conversation back to the Mamdani meeting.

The president said Greene's departure is 'great news for the country' before gushing about Mamdani.

'It was good chemistry, it's always nice to have good chemistry with people,' he told ABC's Rachel Scott.