Jaws drop as Trump has 'nothing but praise' for Mamdani, boogeyman of right-wing media

The Briefing with Jen Psaki

MS NOW, Jen Psaki

Politics, News, Ms Now, Versant Media, Versant

4.4 • 975 Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Right-wing, Trump-supporting media had so thoroughly demonized New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani that it seemed all but a certainty that Donald Trump would play his part and make a show of his disdain for the young upstart upon their meeting at the White House. Instead, Trump was nothing short of fawning and even affectionate. How were Trump supporters (and political observers) so wrong in their expectations of the historically fickle Trump? Ali Velshi discusses with Rev. Al Sharpton and Molly Jong-Fast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	A lot of news to get to tonight, including, as Chris was talking about, that surprise meeting between, the surprising meeting between Dora, Zoran Mamdani and Donald Trump at the White House.
0:09.6	But I have to start with some other breaking news that I didn't also have on the agenda.
0:14.4	Republican Congresswoman and conservative firebrand Marjorie Taylor Green has just announced that she will resign from Congress and leave office on January 5th, basically a full year before the end of her term. The announcement comes just after
0:26.4	the longtime Maga Diehard publicly broke with the president over the Epstein files, which she fought
0:31.7	to make public alongside House Democrats. Tonight, Congresswoman Green made clear that was a factor in her
0:37.3	decision.
0:39.6	Standing up for American women who were raped at 14 years old, trafficked in use by rich,
0:46.3	powerful men should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the
0:51.7	President of the United States whom I fought for. I have too much
0:55.7	self-respect and dignity. I love my family way too much, and I do not want my sweet district
1:02.1	to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president that we all fought for,
1:08.7	only to fight and win my election while Republicans will
1:12.6	likely lose the midterms, and in turn be expected to defend the president against impeachment
1:18.5	after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me.
1:24.7	It's all so absurd and completely unsurious. I refuse to be a battered wife,
1:31.0	hoping it all goes away and gets better. I refuse to be a battered wife, hoping it all goes away
1:36.9	and gets better. Starting us off tonight is MS Now senior White House correspondent Vaughan Hilliard,
1:41.2	who's been covering Marjorie Taylor Green for a long time. Von, she put out a statement, put out on X and that video statement, I think they matched
1:48.4	each other.
1:49.8	Says a lot of stuff in there.
1:51.8	What's your sense of what motivated her decision to announce her retirement?
1:56.6	The fact that she used the word cult-like when suggesting that that is the state of political
	...

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