Category: The American Spectator
Trump cracks jokes with Mamdani in cordial Oval Office meeting: ‘I’ve been called much worse’
President Donald Trump and New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani cracked jokes during a surprisingly cordial meeting in the Oval Office on Friday.
Mamdani arrived at the White House Friday afternoon for his highly anticipated meeting with Trump, leaving many to speculate if their interactions would be friendly or fiery. After the meeting, both politicians maintained that the meeting went well with a common focus on affordability, with Trump even slipping in a few jokes to lighten the mood.
‘I met with a man who’s a very rational person.’
Mamdani was confronted by a reporter about his previous characterizations of Trump as a “despot.”
“I’ve been called much worse than a despot,” Trump quipped. “So it’s not that insulting. I think he’ll change his mind after we get to working together.”
RELATED: Trump warns Mamdani ahead of high-stakes Oval Office meeting: ‘He has to be careful’
Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images
Trump also interrupted Mamdani with a lighthearted comment on another occasion when Mamdani was pressed about calling the president a “fascist.”
“That’s OK, you can just say yes,” Trump said, patting Mamdani on the shoulder. “That’s easier than explaining. I don’t mind.”
Mamdani promptly agreed with Trump and refrained from elaborating on his past comments.
RELATED: Zohran Mamdani becomes first openly socialist mayor of New York City
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Alongside the many moments where the two joked about contentious remarks they’ve made about each other, both Trump and Mamdani agreed on key issues like affordability and cost of living. Trump acknowledged that their solutions to these issues would likely be different, but he cordially praised Mamdani as a “rational person” who sincerely wants New York City to succeed.
“I met with a man who’s a very rational person,” Trump said. “I met with a man who really wants to see New York be great again.”
“I’ll be cheering for him.”
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Trump warns Mamdani ahead of high-stakes Oval Office meeting: ‘He has to be careful’
President Donald Trump has offered a preview of his highly anticipated meeting with New York City’s newly elected socialist mayor.
Trump’s meeting with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) in the Oval Office Friday afternoon is proving to be one of the most highly anticipated sit-downs of his second term. Trump described Mamdani, a staunch progressive and outspoken critic of the president, as “a little bit different” but remained optimistic about the meeting.
‘I give him a lot of credit.’
“He’s got a different philosophy,” Trump told Brian Kilmeade Friday. “He’s a little bit different.”
One of the focal points of Mamdani’s campaign was affordability, an issue that has also been a pillar of Trump’s administration. Although their respective solutions to address affordability are at odds, Trump maintained that the two New Yorkers are ultimately “looking for the same thing.”
RELATED: Is Trump meddling with Mamdani’s candidacy?
Photo by BG048/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
“I give him a lot of credit for the run. He did a successful run, and we all know that runs are not easy,” Trump said. “But I think we’ll get along fine. Look, we’re looking for the same thing. We want to make New York strong.”
Since his decisive victory in early November, Mamdani has continued to rail against Trump and his administration. During his victory speech, Mamdani infamously told Trump to “turn the volume up.” In response, Trump issued Mamdani a warning but commended his campaign nonetheless.
RELATED: Zohran Mamdani becomes first openly socialist mayor of New York City
Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
“Well, I was hitting him a little hard too, in all fairness,” Trump said. “It’s hard to be totally friendly to the opponent, you know. … He had some interesting opponents. But he ran a good race. I don’t know exactly what he means by ‘turn the volume up’ because ‘turn the volume up,’ he has to be careful when he says that to me.”
“I think it’s going to be quite civil. You’ll find out.”
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Male players take over women’s hockey in Minnesota — one team has 4 men
The Women’s Hockey Association of Minnesota appears to be for women in name only.
The league, which touts itself as the largest women’s hockey league in the world, follows USA Hockey guidelines, which allow for the participation of men.
‘Pretending it’s OK for men to play in a women’s league insults women’s sports.’
USA Hockey allows athletes to “participate on a team that is consistent with their gender identity” in order to allegedly “help maintain a fair and safe environment.”
The policy, issued in 2021, adds that “gender identity” refers to one’s “internal psychological identification as a male or female, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum.”
Adhering to these guidelines, the WHAM has allowed at least seven different males to play among its teams, including four on a single squad.
According to Reduxx, a team in the league’s A-division called the Robins had four active male players in 2024. Kayley (Kody) Misialek, Rhea (Brady) Turner, Diana (Chris) Sulmone, and Paige (Dylan) Rainer were all listed on the team’s official roster. The team finished in second place in their division last season.
RELATED: Fathers step up to defend girls’ sports after liberal state defies President Trump — and biology
Reduxx further reported on the playing history of each of the four players, alleging that last year marked Turner’s first season competing as a female; at six feet tall, he has also played on a transgender hockey team.
Misialek has reportedly been playing women’s hockey since 2022, as has Sulmone.
Rainer allegedly played for a boys’ high school team before transitioning to co-ed teams. He also reportedly switched to the women’s league for the 2024-2025 season.
In cooperation with HeCheated.Org, the report named three more men playing in the women’s hockey league under girls’ names. This included one male who was alleged to run a venue that is labeled a “dyke and queer” bar.
RELATED: Olympics committee expected to reverse course on men in women’s sports
Two women have spoken out against WHAM’s inclusion of male players. Kelley Grotting said in February that playing against the men “feels unsafe” and is “not fun.”
“I am not a transphobe. To each his or her own, but pretending it’s OK for men to play in a women’s league insults women’s sports and creates safety issues,” she added, per Alpha News.
In October, a former college women’s hockey player said she was leaving hockey forever because men are allowed in the league in which she has played for 20 years.
“I am left to believe they do not care about my safety or the sanctity of the sport,” she explained. “I can no longer participate in a league that does not care about me.”
In response to criticisms about the league, a petition was filed in support of men in women’s athletics, started by a sports bar that exclusively shows women’s sports on its screens.
The petition said that the “safe and inclusive nature” of the league was being challenged, and therefore the community must “rally behind each individual’s right to sport, regardless of gender identity.”
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Mr. Bin Salman Goes to Washington
Mohammed bin Salman got a royal welcome to Washington this week. President Donald Trump greeted the Saudi crown prince with a horseback procession, a lavish banquet, and even a fighter jet flyover. This pomp did not go over well in Washington, which Bin Salman has not visited since the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and fierce critic of the crown prince. Many Americans see no reason to roll out the red carpet for a ruler on whose hands they see plenty of red already.
The post Mr. Bin Salman Goes to Washington appeared first on .
Big Tech’s AI boom hits voters hard — and Democrats pounce
Wouldn’t it be a bitter irony if Republicans lost the midterms — maybe even in conservative red states — because Democrats outmaneuvered them on the dangers of the AI data-center boom? The left now warns voters about land seizures, rising electric bills, water shortages, and Big Tech’s unchecked power. Meanwhile, Republicans stay quiet as Trump himself champions the very agenda voters increasingly fear.
During the Biden years, Republicans attacked Big Tech censorship, digital surveillance, Agenda 2030 land-grabs, and the artificial online culture reshaping young Americans. Every one of those concerns now intersects with the data-center explosion — energy demands, land use, power monopolies, and the rise of generative AI — but the political right barely whispers about it.
Republicans can channel AI toward focused, beneficial uses and away from a dystopian model that erodes civic life. Voters already want that shift.
Democrats don’t make that mistake. They see a potent electoral weapon.
Georgia hadn’t elected a Democrat statewide since 2006. Yet Democrat Peter Hubbard defeated a Republican incumbent on the Public Service Commission by 26 points by hammering “sweetheart deals” GOP officials granted hyperscale data centers. Voters in the state face repeated rate hikes linked to the massive energy demands of Big Tech facilities.
“The number-one issue was affordability,” Hubbard told Wired. “But a very close second was data centers and the concern around them just sucking up the water, the electricity, the land — and not really paying any taxes.”
He wasn’t exaggerating. In 2022, Georgia’s Republican legislature passed a sales-tax exemption for data centers. In 2024, a bipartisan bill attempted to halt those tax breaks, but Gov. Brian Kemp (R) vetoed it. Voters noticed — and punished the GOP for it.
Georgia now surpasses northern Virginia in hyperscale growth. Atlanta’s data-center inventory rose 222% in two years, with more than 2,150 megawatts of new construction under way. It’s no mystery why Democrats flipped two PSC seats in blowouts.
Republicans lost because they defended crony capitalism that inflated energy bills, devoured land, and fed an AI industry conservatives once warned about. If Kamala Harris had pushed the data-center agenda as aggressively as Trump now does, Republicans would be in open revolt. But Trump’s support silences the conservative grassroots and leaves Democrats free to define the issue.
Virginia tells the same story. Democrat John McAuliff flipped a GOP seat by attacking Big Tech’s land-grab and the rising utility costs tied to data-center expansion. He blasted his opponent for profiting while family farms vanished under the footprint of hyperscale development. He became the first Democrat in 30 years to carry the district.
At the statewide level, Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the governor’s office by arguing that AI data centers must pay their “fair share” of soaring energy costs. She framed the issue as a fight to protect families from Big Tech’s strain on the grid.
New Jersey voters heard similar warnings as they faced a 22% electric rate increase. Democrat Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli by double digits after blaming part of the spike on hyperscale energy demand. She pledged to declare a state of emergency to halt increases and require data centers to fund grid upgrades.
This pattern repeats in reliably red states.
Indiana saw dozens of new hyperscale proposals, yet not a single Republican official pushed back. Ordinary citizens blocked one of Google’s planned rezonings near Indianapolis. Liberal groups — like Citizens Action Coalition — filled the leadership vacuum and demanded a moratorium on new data centers, calling it a fight against “big tech oligarchs that are calling all the shots at every single level of government.”
RELATED: Stop feeding Big Tech and start feeding Americans again
Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Republican leaders, meanwhile, worked to ban states from regulating AI at all. This summer they attempted to insert a sweeping prohibition into the budget reconciliation bill that would bar states from regulating data-center siting or AI content for 10 years. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) now seeks to attach the same language to the FY 2026 defense authorization act. President Trump backs the provision.
Instead of ceding the issue to the left, Republicans should correct course. They can channel AI toward focused, beneficial uses and away from a dystopian model that erodes civic life. Voters already want that shift. A new University of Maryland poll found residents believe — by a 2-1 margin — that AI will harm society more than it helps. More than 80% expressed deep concern about declining face-to-face interaction, the erosion of education and critical thinking, and job displacement fueled by AI.
Capital expenditures cannot sustain the current pace of expansion, and public patience with Big Tech’s demands is running out. The political party that recognizes these realities first will earn the credit. Right now, the party that once defended property rights, community values, and human-centered technology is getting lapped by the party that partnered with Big Tech oligarchs to censor Americans during COVID.
Republicans still have time to lead. But they won’t win a fight they refuse to join.
Columbia Student Groups Promoted Protest That Saw Anti-Semitic Mob Throw Bottles at Holocaust Survivors Outside Synagogue
Columbia University student groups promoted a protest at which an anti-Semitic mob threw bottles and sticks at a Jewish group, which included at least two Holocaust survivors, outside a historic Manhattan synagogue.
The post Columbia Student Groups Promoted Protest That Saw Anti-Semitic Mob Throw Bottles at Holocaust Survivors Outside Synagogue appeared first on .
EEOC Takes Northwestern Mutual To Court For Refusing To Comply With DEI-Related Subpoena
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Thursday filed a subpoena enforcement action against Northwestern Mutual after the company refused to produce information about its diversity policies.
The post EEOC Takes Northwestern Mutual To Court For Refusing To Comply With DEI-Related Subpoena appeared first on .
The Spectacle Ep. 301: Is the U.S. Economy As Good As President Trump Says It Is?
While the stock market soars, Americans struggle to afford housing, groceries, and a McDonald’s Happy Meal. (RELATED: The Answer to…
