I’VE SEEN POWER UP CLOSE

THIS WAS NO ORDINARY PHOTO-OP

By Indjerjit Badhwar, Journalist, friend for 57 years

I’ve spent my life watching political power from the inside.
Twenty years in Washington as an investigative
reporter — first with Army Times and then under the
legendary muckraker Jack Anderson — taught me how
to read gestures, silences, and symbolic moments better than most

\After returning to India to work with the India Today Group, and now serving as Editor-in-Chief of India Legal, I’ve had the privilege of seeing political cultures collide, merge, and evolve. So when I saw the photo of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani shaking hands with Donald Trump, I didn’t react the way most people did.

I didn’t gasp.
I didn’t panic.
I didn’t assume betrayal.
My instincts kicked in —
and what I saw was something far more interesting.
I also felt a personal connection.
Mamdani carries an Indian legacy into American politics, and in some strange way, that makes the moment feel a little closer to home for me.

Let me explain what actually happened there.

Trump Didn’t Do This Out of Strength.
He Did It Because He’s Fading.

Trump is at the weakest point I’ve ever seen him:

• His approval ratings are in free fall.

• His MAGA base is fracturing for the first time.

• Epstein-linked revelations are eroding his inner circle.

• Even loyal Republicans in Congress are quietly stepping back.

When a politician is cornered, their moves become less about winning the next election and more about shaping their final chapter.

And that’s exactly what this was.
Trump wasn’t reaching for influence.
He was reaching for legacy.

That handshake let him pretend, for a moment, that he’s still a statesman — not a man watching the scaffolding of his power collapse.
Mamdani Didn’t Compromise — He Graduated.

What impressed me — truly impressed me — was Mamdani’s posture. I’ve seen hundreds of activists meet power and shrink.
Mamdani didn’t shrink.
He expanded.
This wasn’t a man bending to Trump. This was a man who knows that being mayor of New York means operating on a bigger stage.

He walked into that room as a leader, not a leftist firebrand. And he walked out looking like someone who understands governing, not just protesting.

As a journalist who has watched American politics for decades, I can tell you: These are the moments where a political career quietly shifts from “interesting” to “serious.”

The MAGA Outrage Doesn’t Matter — But Mamdani’s Base Needs Reassurance.
MAGA’s anger here is irrelevant.
They were already abandoning Trump on entirely different grounds.
But on Mamdani’s side?
Yes — some progressives are shaken.
They fear he’s normalizing Trump.
They fear softness.
They fear surrender.
But politics isn’t fear-based.
It’s results-based.

If Mamdani brings home: housing support , affordability help , federal cooperation……his base won’t just forgive him — they’ll applaud him. Movements evolve when leaders evolve.

This Moment Lifted Mamdani Into National Relevance
Let me say this plainly:

A mayor-elect who can sit across from a hostile president without blinking is a man ready for national leadership.
I’ve seen senators who couldn’t do that.
I’ve seen cabinet secretaries who couldn’t handle that level of political tension with grace.

But Mamdani did.

And he did it while holding onto the authenticity of his immigrant, Indian-rooted story — something America is increasingly responding to. Whether he wants it or not, the national stage just got closer.

One Man Is Exiting History — The Other Is Entering It

In that single handshake, Trump looked like a man begging time to slow down, Mamdani looked like a man whose time is speeding up.
One is looking backward. The other forward.
This wasn’t a meeting of equals.
This was a meeting of trajectories.
And having spent my life watching the rise and fall of political power, I can tell you:

It’s not who shakes the hand — it’s who has something left to lose.
And who has everything left to gain. ###