A flurry of social media posts from Maga influencers have laid bare the disorientation felt by members of Trump\u2019s base at the spectacle of Friday\u2019s cordial Oval Office meeting with Mamdani, who the president previously painted as a \u201ccommunist lunatic\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWild to allow a jihadist communist to stand behind the president\u2019s desk in the Oval Office. Sad to see,\u201d wrote<\/a> far-right activist Laura Loomer, one of Trump\u2019s most fervent online backers.<\/p>\n She returned to the theme several times. \u201cI had to drink a bottle of ginger ale today after seeing Mamdani in the Oval Office because it physically nauseates me seeing Islamic jihadists infiltrate our government and continue to get a pass to promote Islamic jihad and anti-American values with zero push back,\u201d Loomer wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Friday\u2019s news conference, Trump retreated from his previous all-out opposition, forecasting that Mamdani \u201ccan do a very good job\u201d as mayor, despite having previously threatened to withhold funds from New York for electing him.<\/p>\n Loomer seized on that to predict that the Republicans<\/a> would suffer catastrophic defeats at next year\u2019s congressional elections and in the 2028 presidential election.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Democrats will have a landslide in the midterms after today. Mamdani is the face of the Democrat party,\u201d she wrote<\/a>. \u201cHow will the GOP campaign ahead of 2026 if Mamdani and his policies are now considered rational and good for New York?\u201d<\/p>\n Elise Stefanik, a member of Congress who is running to be New York state governor next year, had a similar reaction.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all want NYC to succeed,\u201d she wrote<\/a>. \u201cBut we\u2019ll have to agree to disagree on this one. If he walks like a jihadist. If he talks like a jihadist. If he campaigns like a jihadist. If he supports jihadists \u2013 he\u2019s a jihadist.\u201d<\/p>\n Inna Vernikov, a Republican New York city councillor, wrote <\/a>that she was \u201cdisappointed\u201d that Trump had \u201clegitimized\u201d Mamdani.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should never KOSHER a Marxist with Jihadist aligned views,\u201d she posted. \u201cDid we forget that @ZohranKMamdani<\/a> wants to cease [sic] the means of production, disproportionately tax white neighborhoods, & eliminate the anti-terror unit? Did we forget that he refused to condemn \u2018globalize the intifada,\u2019 refused to condemn Hamas.?\u201d<\/p>\n Benny Johnson, a pro-Trump influencer, seemed to implicitly condemn the president\u2019s approach by highlighting a hardball question posed by fellow activist, Jack Posobiec, who asked Mamdani if he was planning \u201crace-based property taxes\u201d on white people.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is how it\u2019s done @JackPosobiec<\/a>,\u201d he wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n But not all Trump supporters were downcast.<\/p>\n Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist who has praised Mamdani\u2019s skills and depicted him as a political threat, suggested Trump was using political subtlety.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to boost Mr Mamdani, whose policies will crater the city,\u201d Bannon said in a discussion with Posobiec on his War Room podcast. \u201cTrump will let him collapse because he\u2019s a Marxist jihadist.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Mamdani supporters seemed as disorientated as Trump backers by the show of harmony.<\/p>\n Jumaane Williams, New York\u2019s public advocate and a Democrat, called the meeting \u201cpretty shocking\u201d.<\/p>\n