SACRAMENTO, United States (MNTV) – California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a pointed warning to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani this week, cautioning that any friendly political relationship with President Donald Trump could end badly.
The remark, delivered with a laugh, came during a conversation with liberal influencer Jack Cocchiarella, who joked that Trump appeared to have “a crush” on both politicians.
Newsom was promoting his new memoir at an event when he recalled Trump once giving him a tour of Air Force One, including its bedroom. When Cocchiarella quipped that Trump “has got a crush” on “you and Zohran,” Newsom chuckled. “I’ve got to talk to Zohran,” he said. “I know how this love story ends, Zohran.”
The comments, made on stage in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, were brief and casual but reflected Newsom’s broader thinking about dealing with Trump. The governor had repeatedly said after Trump’s second election victory that he would approach the president with “an open hand, not a closed fist” — and the two famously embraced after deadly wildfires struck Los Angeles early last year.
Since then, however, Newsom has grown considerably more combative, saying the president only respects displays of strength after the Trump administration directed a wave of lawsuits, immigration raids and funding cuts at California.
That stance stands in contrast to Mamdani’s recent approach. The democratic socialist mayor of New York has met with Trump at the White House several times, with the two political rivals striking an unexpectedly warm tone.
As part of his campaign to secure federal support for housing construction in New York City, Mamdani even presented Trump with mock newspaper front pages bearing the president’s name.
“I think this mayor is going to be doing some things that are really great,” Trump said of Mamdani in November following a notably cordial Oval Office meeting.
The dynamic has surprised political observers, given the sharp rhetoric of the election campaign, during which Trump labeled Mamdani a radical socialist while the mayor criticized Trump’s policies.
Now, as both men emerge as prominent voices — Newsom within the Democratic Party and Trump in the White House — their contrasting relationships illustrate a wider strategic divide over whether cooperation or confrontation is the better path for dealing with the current administration.