Lucas: Healey, Wu aren’t joining Trump’s buddy list
In a recent article, political commentator Peter Lucas draws attention to the contrasting approaches of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu towards engaging with former President Donald Trump. While both progressive leaders have vocally opposed Trump and his policies, Lucas argues that they are missing out on potential opportunities to benefit their constituents by refusing to reach out to the White House. He contrasts their stance with that of Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York City, who, despite his vocal criticisms of Trump during his campaign, sought a meeting with the former president to discuss pressing issues facing the city. This strategic move highlights the pragmatic approach Mamdani is taking, prioritizing the needs of New Yorkers over partisan politics.
Lucas emphasizes that while Healey and Wu seem committed to maintaining a hardline stance against Trump to satisfy their left-wing base, Mamdani’s willingness to engage with the former president demonstrates a more effective political strategy. Mamdani recognized the necessity of collaboration, particularly in addressing affordability and public safety in New York City. By setting aside their differences and focusing on common goals, Mamdani and Trump were able to discuss actionable solutions, showcasing a model of governance that prioritizes policy over politics. This approach, Lucas suggests, could serve as a lesson for other Democratic leaders, including Healey and Wu, who may find themselves at a political impasse if they continue to alienate potential allies in the pursuit of ideological purity.
Ultimately, the article serves as a call to action for progressive politicians to reconsider their strategies in dealing with Trump and other political adversaries. By fostering a willingness to collaborate on shared objectives, they could better serve their constituents and navigate the complexities of modern governance. As Mamdani’s experience illustrates, sometimes reaching across the aisle can yield significant benefits, even for those who identify as Democratic Socialists. Lucas urges Healey and Wu to adopt a similar mindset, suggesting that the future of Massachusetts politics could be more fruitful if leaders prioritize effective governance over rigid partisanship.
That could have been Maura Healey or Michelle Wu standing beside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office the other day.
All Governor Healey and Boston Mayor Wu had to do was pick up the phone, call the White House and ask for an appointment the way Zohran Mamdani did.
Trump meets with everyone, including war criminals like Vladimir Putin.
But they won’t. The pair of Democrat progressives would rather “stand up” to Trump — and appease their left-wing base — than work with him to benefit their larger constituencies, meaning the city and the state.
Wu, in fact, arrogantly insists that she has no interest in a “bromance” with Trump.
In one-party Democratic Massachusetts, politics beats policy every time. And the politics call for Democratic office holders to hurl hate bombs against Trump no matter the consequences.
What will they do when Trump is gone?
Mamdani, the brash 34-year-old mayor-elect of New York City, and a Democratic Socialist to boot, threw the same hate bombs at Trump in his campaign for mayor.
He called Trump everything from a fascist to a despot.
“We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks,” Mamdani said in his belligerent victory speech.
Trump, not to be outdone in the insult department, called Mamdani, among other things, “a nut job” and a “lunatic” communist. He would have labeled him “Moscow Mamdani” had he thought of it.
But a funny thing happened that changed everything.
Mamdani was elected.
He then realized that he needed help to run the biggest city in the country and keep people safe.
So, after brutally attacking the New York police, he first asked Jessica Tisch, the effective law-and-order police commissioner, to stay on the job and promised to keep the number of cops at their present level.
Then Mamdani realized that he needed help to pay for all the free stuff he, like a true socialist, promised, things like free day care, free buses, city-run grocery stores, and so on.
But, instead of reaching out to other Democratic Socialists, like Sen. Bernie Sanders or Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for instance, who offer nothing but socialist platitudes, he reached out to Republican President Donald Trump, the capitalist who can do things for him and for New York.
It was a shrewd maneuver on his part, and for Trump as well. Three months ago, nobody knew who Mamdani was, and here he was in the White House meeting with the most powerful man in the world.
The socialist had come hat in hand asking the capitalist for help.
The key to the success of the meeting was that the pair discussed what they could agree on — helping New York on affordability issues — while ignoring what they differed on, like ICE rounding up criminal illegal immigrants, law and order, Israel, protecting Jews in New York, and Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the Intifada.
While Mamdani stood by a seated Trump, like pupil and teacher, Trump said, “Some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have.”
“We’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York,” Trump said.
While Mamdani faces criticism from militant Trump-hating socialists for cozying up to Trump, it was a bold move on his part. Mamdani put the policy of helping New York over the politics of hating Trump.
Others should follow suit.
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com.
Mayor Michelle Wu, seen here as she arrived with this year’s Christmas tree from Nova Scotia, has said “I’m not interested in a bromance with the federal regime.” (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald) .
Eric
Eric is a seasoned journalist covering General news.
