Prominent MAGA-aligned New York radio host Sid Rosenberg unloaded on President Trump Tuesday over his increasingly friendly rapport with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, demanding answers after the two shared another cordial encounter.
Rosenberg, who hosts WABC Radio NY’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning,” slammed Trump’s Monday meeting with Mamdani at Gracie Mansion, where the president said the democratic socialist mayor had the “potential” to become great at the job.
“So, this has gone on way too long, these two meetings at the White House were grotesque, and then yesterday, this nonsense at Gracie Mansion, where the president actually says this guy’s got potential to be a great mayor – who the hell is advising President Trump?” Rosenberg said on air.
Trump and Mamdani met privately at the mayoral residence while the president was in town for the United Nations General Assembly. Trump later told reporters at a joint press conference that he wanted Mamdani to succeed, despite their well-documented ideological differences.
Rosenberg, a frequent critic of Mamdani who describes himself as a friend of the president, said he reached out to White House communications adviser Margo Martin hoping to get an explanation straight from Trump, but said no one from the administration would speak with him.
“I need to talk with the President. He’s got to explain to me what the hell is going on here,” Rosenberg said. “Please explain this to me! I understand he still loves New York, so what? So what?! I love New York too. So he still loves New York that means you’re going to buddy up and be nice and smile and compliment a guy that has not done one thing right for this city? Not one thing!”
Co-host Noam Laden offered a simpler theory, suggesting the two men may just genuinely get along, pointing to their friendly public exchanges.
Rosenberg conceded that might be the only explanation but continued to hammer Mamdani in harsh terms, calling him dangerous and accusing him of hostility toward multiple communities. He questioned why the president would speak warmly of someone he believes is consistently hostile toward Trump and his administration.
The radio host also pointed out that the meeting took place on Yom Kippur, noting that Trump’s daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are Jewish, and expressed frustration that the president would engage warmly with Mamdani on that particular day.
Rosenberg said he had not received a satisfactory answer from anyone close to the president about the relationship. He went on to mention, while stressing repeatedly that he had no evidence and was not making any accusation, that an unnamed local government source had relayed a claim to him involving the Sunnyside Yard project, a proposed development project in western Queens, as a possible factor behind the warmer dynamic between the two men.
Ultimately, Rosenberg framed the Trump-Mamdani rapport as a political liability for Republicans heading into the midterm elections, questioning how it could possibly help the GOP’s chances in the coming weeks. Laden agreed, saying it did not help at all.
