“Game Recognizes Game” - Mehdi Hasan Claims Trump GOT PLAYED By Mamdani

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Do you think that's the part with Mamdani, he's got a little bit of that Obama-esque thing going for him? For sure.

**Mehdi Hasan** (0:05)
I mean, look, he won over your guy.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:07)
Yeah. You're talking about Cuomo or you're talking about Sliwa?

**Mehdi Hasan** (0:09)
I'm talking about Donald Trump. He won him over.
He went to the White, you swarmed in the White House.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:14)
Tell me you don't love the fact that you're saying my guy, that my guy said, just tell him how you feel. Tell me you don't respect that.

**Mehdi Hasan** (0:19)
That was an amazing moment.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:20)
Tell me you don't respect that.

**Mehdi Hasan** (0:21)
I respect Mamdani for pulling it off.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:22)
But do you respect that Trump's like, just tell him you don't like me. I don't respect it.

**Mehdi Hasan** (0:25)
I don't understand it.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:26)
You can't say that.

**Mehdi Hasan** (0:26)
I swear to God I don't understand.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:28)
I swear you respect the fact that...

**Mehdi Hasan** (0:29)
I've studied Donald Trump, unfortunately, through no choice of my own, for 12 years. I moved here months before he came down that golden escalator.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:37)
You respect it.

**Mehdi Hasan** (0:37)
I do not respect Donald Trump. But I watched that clip, and I genuinely... I'm someone who, you could ask me about Trump. I could talk about Trump all day long. I know everything about Trump.
That moment still is...
He looks at Mamdani the way I've never seen him look at anyone. I've never seen him look at Melania the way he looks at Zohran Mamdani. Right? In love. Just in awe. He goes on Sid Rosenberg's radio show. You say that? Sid Rosenberg. He's a jihadist. Mr. President, he hates you. No, he's a good guy. He's at the State of the Union.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:01)
And that still doesn't get you to say you respect...

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:03)
I don't understand why. But can you tell me why?

**SPEAKER_1** (1:05)
Yeah, I think he respects talent.

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:06)
Honestly, like game recognizes game.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:09)
No, it's... Look, you're here. I like your talent. And I watch and I see what you're doing. Listen, we may not agree on, you know, 50% of the thing.

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:17)
Most other people.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:17)
But no, he is. He respects talent. And he's got it.

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:21)
Fawning over people? Trump doesn't fawn over people.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:23)
To bring the guy over... He's done it with a few different people.

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:26)
Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Zohran Mamdani.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:29)
What does that say about your Mamdani? You got to be careful with that.

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:31)
That's why I don't understand. That's why I don't understand.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:33)
Be careful what you're doing.

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:34)
That's why I don't understand.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:36)
Mehdi Hasan compares Mamdani to Putin and Kim Jong Un. Don't do that.

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:40)
Out of context. This is why no one likes right-wing media.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:43)
Out of context. Just say you like the fact that they got along with him.

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:47)
I do like the fact they got along.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:48)
I do as well.

**Mehdi Hasan** (1:48)
Because Zohran Mamdani went, in his second time he went to New York, he's so smart, he knows how, you know, Trump is very easily won over.
He takes a front page of a newspaper, right? He takes a fake newspaper front page. Why people not thought of this before? With Trump saving New York, gives it to Trump. And then he goes, can you free this Palestinian student who ICE just picked up? By that afternoon, Trump has freed that student, right? That is a mayor who knows how to get results and win over Trump without giving up his own self-respect, without like fawning over him like, I think Wes Moore was in one clip where they used it against him where he was very friendly.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:17)
Will you give any credit for the fact that by the afternoon, the most powerful man in the world gave him what he asked for?

**Mehdi Hasan** (2:24)
No, I'll tell you why. Can I tell you why?

**SPEAKER_1** (2:25)
When is your birthday? Let me tell you. Where is the July 10th, 79? You are this stubborn.

**Mehdi Hasan** (2:29)
You've done your home book. I'll tell you why I don't respect it. Because I'm glad Zohran Mamdani did it, but what does it say about our leader, the president of the United States, the commander in chief, the self-proclaimed leader of the free world, that it's so easy to play this guy. World leaders have been doing it for years. This is the problem with him. It's so easy to manipulate him. He's so easy to be won over. And I'm glad when my guy's doing it for a good cause, but people do it for bad causes too. I'm sure we're going to talk about Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu did it to get him into a war of Iran. That's my problem. You know when Trump first went to Saudi Arabia after he got elected in 2017, there was a story about how when he drove from the airport to the embassy or hotel, wherever he was staying, the Saudis, this is in 2017, remember his first trip as president was to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis put up on billboards his tweets.