NEW YORK: Earlier in the month, President Donald Trump warned voters that democratic socialists - extreme, crazed, lunatics, he called them - were threatening to transform America into "a communist country.”
This week, a smiling Trump patted on the shoulder one of the nation's best known democratic socialists, shook his hand, and said he was "off to a start” to being a great mayor of the country's largest city.
Trump's cozy relationship with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, which began last year, has confounded people across the political spectrum. But with the midterms approaching, Republicans are increasingly frustrated by the unexpected bromance, which threatens the party's message about Democratic radicalism.
"You’re trying to say, ‘Here’s how extreme they are,' and the president’s saying, ’I love this guy,” said veteran Republican strategist Doug Heye. "It doesn’t help.”
It's hard to overstate the extent to which Republicans are focused on the rise of democratic socialism in the midterm season. At a moment when the party is saddled with Trump's weak approval ratings on virtually every major issue - the economy and the war in Iran chief among them - Republicans from Georgia and Texas to New York and Michigan are working to scare voters away from Democratic candidates by warning that the party is controlled by far-left extremists.
At Trump's unusual midterm convention in Texas earlier in the month, Mamdani's name was evoked over and over again.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called the New York Mayor "Comrade Mamdani.” Rep. Tom Emmer, the No. 3 House Republican, called him "Mamdani the commie.”
Trump sent a similar message although he didn't mention Mamdani.
"They call themselves Democrat socialists, but actually they’re communists,” he said in his keynote address. "They’re crazy.”
In all, the words socialist or socialism were referenced dozens of times during the convention.
Trump did not mention those words while standing alongside Mamdani in New York on Monday, however. The president was in town for the United Nations General Assembly and made time to swing by Gracie Mansion.
Instead, the president highlighted efforts underway to work together, noting that he's worked with numerous mayors over the years - "some great ones and some not so great ones.”
Republicans in New York were quick to downplay the latest example of Trump's friendliness with Mamdani.
David Laska, a spokesperson for the New York Republican Party, said "President Trump is the greatest dealmaker in history, and he has proven repeatedly that he can deal from a position of strength with America’s enemies, be they foreign dictators or the mayor of New York City.”
Mamdani faced his own questions about why he was playing nice with a president that he's previously described as a fascist.
"The president and I have both been very frank about the many disagreements that we have,” he said Monday. "I will continue to have conversations with the president, and frankly, anyone who can deliver relief to the people of this city."