There’s something almost comical about watching Barack Obama sing “The Wheels on the Bus” with a democratic socialist mayor while Donald Trump simultaneously threatens to defund the entire city. Welcome to the bizarre political theater that is Zohran Mamdani’s New York.
The former president met with Mamdani on Saturday at a preschool reading event, marking their first in-person encounter since the 34-year-old took office in January. They read “Alone and Together” to a room full of preschoolers, which is either perfectly on the nose or the most ironic book choice possible given Mamdani’s current predicament. He’s trying to cozy up to both the Democratic establishment and a Republican president who just called him out for “DESTROYING New York” on Truth Social.
Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. Mamdani ran on a platform that would make any free-market advocate’s hair stand on end. He wants to refocus government power toward helping the working class, which sounds noble until you realize that “refocusing government power” is code for expanding it. The guy’s a democratic socialist who somehow thinks he can make New York City more affordable through the very policies that have historically driven costs through the roof.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Obama, the ultimate Democratic insider, has apparently decided to play mentor to this young progressive firebrand. The former president offered to be a “sounding board” for Mamdani, whose youth and star power have made him stand out in Democratic circles. They spoke by phone days before the November election when other major Democrats were keeping their distance from the socialist label like it was radioactive.
You know what’s really happening? Obama sees something familiar. A young, charismatic politician with big ideas and even bigger ambitions. The Democratic Party loves a good narrative, and Mamdani fits the bill perfectly. Never mind that his policies would strangle the economic engine that makes New York City run.
Meanwhile, Mamdani is also courting Trump. He’s met with the president twice already, in November and February, to discuss issues affecting the city. That takes either courage or desperation, possibly both. In an interview with CBS Mornings, Mamdani claimed that he and Trump share one thing in common: they both love New York City. That’s like saying a surgeon and a chainsaw enthusiast both care about anatomy. The methods matter.
Trump’s recent Truth Social post threatening to pull federal funding tells you everything about how well that relationship is actually working. The president doesn’t make idle threats, especially when it comes to money and cities he believes are being mismanaged. Mamdani’s taxing policies are exactly the kind of big government overreach that drives conservatives crazy, and rightfully so.
The real question is what Mamdani thinks he’s accomplishing with this political tightrope walk. Does he believe he can extract concessions from both sides while implementing an agenda that fundamentally contradicts conservative principles? That’s not pragmatism. That’s delusion dressed up as diplomacy.
New York City doesn’t need more government intervention. It needs less. The city’s affordability crisis wasn’t created by too much freedom and too many market forces. It was created by decades of regulation, rent control, and progressive policies that sound compassionate but deliver misery. Mamdani’s vision for refocusing government power will only accelerate that decline.
Obama can sing nursery rhymes all he wants. Trump can threaten funding cuts. But at the end of this story, New Yorkers will be left holding the bill for another progressive experiment that promises equity and delivers stagnation. The wheels on the bus go round and round, indeed. Straight into the same pothole every other liberal mayor has hit.
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