This is exactly it. Trump is a malignant narcissist and views people and policy only in terms of how it affects him. Mamdani was a useful foil to scare people with while he was running for mayor (“look at the Democrats pushing Socialism!”), but now that he spanked the field, Trump sees the potential to score points by riding his coattails.
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tl;dr: Trump is trying to ride Mamdani’s coattails.
My mind completed that a totally different way.
This is exactly it. Trump is a malignant narcissist and views people and policy only in terms of how it affects him. Mamdani was a useful foil to scare people with while he was running for mayor (“look at the Democrats pushing Socialism!”), but now that he spanked the field, Trump sees the potential to score points by riding his coattails.
Yup. Trump has been saying the word “affordability” non stop since Mamdani started crushing the polls.