We ply our trade with words and we like to think they have weight. But the wild Donald Trump-Zohran Mamdani news conference at the White House Friday almost convinced us of the opposite. When it comes to saying what we mean, or not, America has gone totally bananas.

Consider: Mamdani has often said Trump is a “despot who betrayed the country” and a fascist. Hitherto, if you were called a fascist and you were not either the person or a follower of Benito Mussolini, that generally disinclined you to invite the name-caller for a cozy chat.

Consider: Trump had called Mamdani “a communist lunatic.” The same disinclination would normally apply.

But there the two of them were, offering up sweet nothings, the one to the other. Reporters in the room were incredulous. On social media, some people even suggested this was the dawning of a new populist coalition of left and right.

May God protect us from that.

“I think, hopefully, you’ll have a really great mayor,” Trump said of the man who was that communist lunatic about five seconds ago.

“I appreciated the time with the president,” Mamdani said. “I appreciate the conversation, and I look forward to working together …”

Why do you think a “communist lunatic” would make a great mayor for New York, Mr. President?

You appreciated your time with a despot with a fascist agenda, Mr. Mayor? Why would you appreciate such time spent? Did you not fear the fascism would rub off on you?

Americans, of course, knew what was really going on. As insulting as those terms were, they were the words of two transactional men. Trump is, of course, one of the great flip-floppers of all time, a man without any evident moral core who simply says and does what serves him in the moment, even if that means making nice with his “little communist.”

Mamdani, who would not have been caught dead near Trump prior to winning his election (“I’ll be his worst nightmare,” he promised), clearly now has decided that the White House contains the king of malleable men, someone who he could flatter and thus win over to snag some goodies for New York City, and maybe simultaneously avoid the arrival of some baddies, such as the Border Patrol cowboys who caused such distress here in the Second City.

This is a very reasonable tactic on the part of the mayor. We just did not expect it from Mamdani, who convinced so many folks of his ideological purity, openly embracing the socialist monicker and all, and we sure did not expect it to happen so quickly.

Still, our other takeaway from a presser that looked like a clip from “Saturday Night Live” was, “Why are we not getting some of this grace and favor?

If all it takes is to show up at the White House and say that you appreciate time with Trump, where is Brandon Johnson? Why did the New York mayor-elect do this, but the mayor who presides over Chicago, a city in which we have to stare at the “Trump” name atop a hotel downtown, has not hopped a plane to D.C. and made nice for, oh, the 30 seconds it apparently takes? Where for that matter is Gov. JB Pritzker?

Leading the resistance, of course.

Certainly that plays well with the progressive wing of the Democrats, but it’s also very striking how little that progressive wing has criticized this cozying up with Trump on the part of Mamdani.

Why has he gotten away with this? Where is the outraged disappointment from The Squad?

Simple. Trump’s transactional approach is everywhere now. Mamdani’s followers know he is playing the game and doing what he has to do to get those free buses, that rent control and all the other nice, shiny things that will need someone else to help foot the New York bill.

Please forgive our cynicism. That’s not our entire message here.

The reality here is that mayors and governors need a productive relationship with the federal government, however odious they find the duly elected president. They can huff and puff for political gain, or even out of genuine moral conviction or outrage, but the price then paid is years of resource limitations and interventions only of the unwelcome kind. (You may have noticed.)

We respect our readers who believe there must be no compromise with Trump. We even sympathize. But in the end, it’s not the right call.

A sworn enemy in the White House can do too much damage. With the help of surrogates, a reputation will be trashed. Resources will be directed elsewhere. The wrong stories will be amplified. We are watching all of this play out now in real time. It is not pretty.

Meanwhile, that “little communist” from New York just schooled us on how to go about getting what we need, too, from Trump.

One last thought, though. Does a great country not better thrive when people mean what they say and then act accordingly?

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