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Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Thursday began with an oddity: a blank public schedule, which has not happened on a weekday since he took office less than two months ago.
By midday, the cat was out of the bag. Mamdani was en route to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Donald Trump, just two days after Trump had name-checked the mayor during his rambling state of the union address.
The ostensible purpose of the meeting was "housing," but the press corps was kept in the dark until, at 3:07 p.m., the mayor tweeted this:
I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon.
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) February 26, 2026
I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City. pic.twitter.com/XnPbt0KXYU
Setting aside the weird filter put over the photo (which was taken by the White House, according to the mayor's communications director) and the strange sight of Mamdani not smiling, the photo shows Trump holding up the New York Daily News's famous "Ford to City: Drop Dead" headline, and then a mocked-up Daily News cover touting "Trump to City: Let's Build." It's an unsubtle, kind of stupid reference from the 1970s, meaning that it is perfect for our current commander-in-chief.