Nobody should be even slightly surprised that Zohran Mamdani successfully charmed the pants off Donald Trump. Remember that Mamdani has spent the last year selling elderly New Yorkers on his vision of the future, so for him Trump was just another old geezer nostalgic for 1980s Manhattan.
On top of that, the two can unite over their common enemy in establishment Democrats. Despite Mamdani being the most exciting thing to happen to the party in years, the likes of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi only praise him (if they mention him at all) through gritted teeth.
Plus there’s the simple fact that Trump likes winners, and if they’re good-looking, charismatic, and wear a suit well, so much the better.
But even I wasn’t expecting Trump to fall quite so hard for Mamdani. Photos of their encounter show Trump grinning at him like a teenage girl with a crush. We’ve certainly never seen him look at Eric or Donald Jr. this way. And he’s absolutely never looked this happy in JD Vance’s company.
Now, in an indication of how deeply Trump has fallen for Mamdani, he appears to be copying his outfits. Any change of outfit for Trump is notable, with him almost always wearing a suit and tie. But now?
Is he copying his style?
— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) November 23, 2025
BREAKING: Trump COPIES Mamdani’s outfit.
Who wrote it BETTER? pic.twitter.com/n1HlmIz32G
As one user commented, Trump’s shift in look “wasn’t on my bingo card”. But, sadly, we’re going to have to pour some water on this supposed “twinning”.
As identified by People, the image of Mamdani has been digitally edited to put him in a crimson turtleneck. In the original image, the turtleneck is actually grey, so any theories that the pair are swapping style tips probably aren’t true.
But what is true is that Mamdani has already done what few believed he ever could. Many assume the mayor-elect was marching into a Zelenskyy-style trap in the Oval Office, where Trump and his MAGA cronies would ritually humiliate him before the press.
Trump had already teased that he was considering cutting federal funding to New York under Mamdani, with his former opponent, Andrew Cuomo, campaigning on being able to negotiate with the president. Those fears were unfounded, and Trump and Mamdani are clearly able to work together. Now all we have to do is wonder just how long this honeymoon will last.
