In the Oval Office. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

President Donald Trump’s exceedingly warm reception of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House last week left observers attempting to decipher what it all meant.

To longtime Trump watchers , it showed the popularity-hungry president responding to a charismatic winner; to one anti-monopolist , it showed a potential alliance between left and right populists; to a hyperlocal New York newspaper , it showed two men from Queens getting together.

To South Asians and third culture kids, the encounter showed an immigrant son of the Indian diaspora flexing a very familiar and particular skill — one likely honed over years of uncomfortable interactions with paternalistic elders .

“Desis have found Mamdani’s polit

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