Kellyanne Conway, a former senior counselor to President Donald Trump, said Monday on Fox News that she thinks socialist New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani lost some of his credibility during his Friday meeting with the president.
Conway said during an appearance on “The Five” that her former boss got the better of Mamdani during the Oval Office sit-down, which has been widely described as stunningly friendly and civil in spite of the previous animosity between the two New York politicians. The former Trump advisor also said that the president demonstrated during the meeting his “classic” ability to charm people across the political spectrum, which she likened to a “gravitational pull.”
“I think Mamdani would have done better saying ‘no’ to the meeting. He’s reduced some of his credibility among the folks who basically are addled with Trump Derangement Syndrome and essentially look at Trump and say, ‘The more that he enrages me, the less I should engage him,’” Conway said. “And Mamdani did the opposite here.” (RELATED: Everyone ‘Got Played’: Curtis Sliwa Says Americans Were ‘Suckers’ Going Into Trump-Mamdani Meeting)
“This is classic Trump. He’s the charmer here,” the Republican strategist added. “He’s charming this guy who hasn’t even taken office yet, and he’s hoping that this guy will not follow through on some of his radical ideas, hope that he will rethink some of his non-radical ones.”
“And for a movement, Jessica, that talks about ‘No Kings,’ you got Trump sitting there like royalty, and the guy looking like he’s going to go get him a Diet Coke,” Conway said, addressing “The Five” co-host and Democratic strategist Jessica Tarlov, and referencing the president’s favorite beverage. “It looked like the apprentice to the senior partner, no doubt.”
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“But this is classic Trump. He did this with Barack Obama and Joe Biden during transition. Same kind of meeting. He congratulated Hillary Clinton when he beat her and said, ‘Wow, she ran a really tough campaign. She’s really tough’. He hopes she’ll help in his presidency. Of course, she did nothing of the sort,” Conway said.
The Republican strategist said Mamdani could have either more directly confronted or ignored Trump but instead let himself become “cowed” by the president.
“Imagine if Mandami had gone in there and said, ‘Look, I disagree with things you’re doing. Here are the names of the people who have been abducted by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and deported unfairly. He did nothing like that. He looked totally cowed and charmed to be there,” Conway said. “If you really wanted to make Donald Trump irrelevant and wish him away, you would ignore him.”
She added that in the decade since Trump announced his run for president in the 2016 election, she has “never encountered” who could “actually ignore” him.
“He [Trump] is a gravitational pull. He is a magnetic field,” Conway said, giving examples of the U.S. president’s recent meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 21: U.S. President Donald Trump meets with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (L) in the Oval Office of the White House on November 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The Republican strategist said she hopes Trump and Mamdani “work together for the good of New York and the good of the country.”
During a Sunday interview on “Meet the Press,” Mamdani said he still considers Trump to be a fascist following their meeting, after he was pressed on the topic by NBC News’ Kristen Welker.
“And that’s something that I’ve said in the past. I say it today,” the avowed socialist politician told Welker. “And, I think, what I appreciated about the conversation that I had with the president was that we were not shy about the places of disagreement about the politics that has brought us to the moment.”
During the Friday meeting, a reporter asked Mamdani if he stood by past remarks calling the president a “fascist.” As Mamdani seemed about to answer the question, Trump jokingly interjected, “That’s OK, you can just say yes … I don’t mind.”
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