However, the chumminess between Trump and Mamdani during their first meeting at the White House last week suggested that messaging could be problematic for the GOP as it works to maintain control of the House and the Senate.

“I want him to do a great job, and we’ll help them do a great job,” Trump said after previously threatening to pull federal funding from the city if Mamdani won.

The president even disagreed with Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) calling Mamdani a “jihadist,” as she faces a tough battle running for governor in deep blue New York.

“You say things sometimes in a campaign,” Trump explained matter-of-factly.

Stefanik said, “We’ll have to agree to disagree,” in response to Trump’s comments.

Some conservatives were astounded by the positive relationship between the two men.

“How will the GOP campaign ahead of 2026 if Mamdani and his policies are now considered rational and good for New York?” Laura Loomer, an ally to the Trump White House, posted on X. “I hope the GOP can codify Trump’s agenda over the next year because we are losing the midterms. There’s nothing to combat if the policies of the leader of the Democrat Party are rational and comfortable.”

Loomer also said, “Dems just need to run clips of the presser today to defeat Elise.”

In the aftermath of the meeting, Trump appeared to soften his more aggressive threats to deploy the National Guard to New York, and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) said the city is in a “better place.”

Yet, despite Trump’s embrace of Mamdani, a stance that goes further than House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) relationship with the mayor-elect, the GOP will likely still try to heavily feature Mamdani in its attacks against Democrats in the run-up to the midterm elections.

TRUMP DOWNPLAYS STEFANIK BRANDING MAMDANI A ‘JIHADIST’

“I imagine Republicans will continue to run against the specter of Mamdani in special elections and the midterm elections to come,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington. “His vision of the Democratic Party is the vision that energizes the Republican base.”

Christopher Nicholas, a veteran Republican political consultant, said, “Regardless of what happened in that meeting, the mayor-elect is going to try to implement his far-left agenda. So there’ll be ample time and opportunity to criticize him as he starts his plan to try and remake New York City.”

Some Republicans and Democrats expressed hesitation that the warm relations would last beyond their initial meeting.

“It was really just a pro forma, courtesy meeting. New York City is, after all, America’s biggest city. Let’s see what happens when the mayor-elect actually takes office,” said Dennis Lennox, a GOP strategist. “Trump and Republicans also want to elevate Mamdani into a national leader for Democrats, which that meeting helped do.”

Shekar Narasimhan, founder of the AAPI Victory Fund, a political action committee, added, “Before anybody declares victory, let’s see how this holds together for the next 90 days. And if it does, then I think it will be one of the most unlikely alliances in American politics.”

Two days after meeting Trump in the Oval Office, Mamdani told NBC News’s Meet the Press that he stands by his previous comments calling Trump a “fascist.”

“After President Trump said that, I said, ‘Yes,’” Mamdani said. “That’s something I’ve said in the past, and I say today.”

Notably, the president gave Mamdani his blessing to call him a fascist after a reporter pressed him about the phrase.

“That’s OK, you can just say yes,” Trump told Mamdani. “It’s easier than explaining it. I don’t mind.”

The lack of anger over the name-calling indicated that the juvenile attacks are no longer effective, Narasimhan said.

“I don’t think those labels work anymore, honestly,” he said. “It’s just like the president was joking about being called a fascist … does anybody really believe that stuff anymore?”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared untroubled by Mamdani’s comments to NBC News.

“I think talk is cheap, and I think that the president is going to judge Mamdani by his actions that he takes to New York,” Leavitt said on Monday. “The meeting was positive, as you heard from the president last week, and I think the fact that the president is willing to meet with somebody who said those types of things about him shows that he really is interested in being a president for all Americans, regardless of where they live or who their leader is. He wants what’s best for New York.”

The cordial meeting, in hindsight, was likely inevitable given their similar personalities and backgrounds, experts told the Washington Examiner.

“These are two guys who love being charming. They both are from Queen, and they both have a deep level for New York, and they have the same enemies. I could see how they could easily get along,” said a fundraiser with ties to New York, who requested anonymity to speak freely.

TRUMP TRADES IN ATTACKS FOR PRAISE AS HE HOSTS MAMDANI IN REMARKABLY RESPECTFUL OVAL OFFICE MEETING

According to the fundraiser, major donors largely fell into line after Mamdani won the Democratic primary.

“They were talking about it in the same vein as Trump is going to win 2016 … we can’t have this. We’ve got to fight this head-on. The moment he won, it all kind of went away,” they continued. “Everyone just accepted the fate that he was winning. And again, to this class, he’s an existential threat.”

Farnsworth added, “The reality is that both of these men need each other. If something goes wrong, they’re very ready to blame the other. But the connection between New York City and the federal government has been a close one since the founding.”