Fox Host Says Trump Wants to Use Mamdani as a ‘Running-Mate’: ‘JD Vance Is Jealous’

On Friday, just after President Donald Trump’s televised presser with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Fox’s Brian Kilmeade said on-air, “I think [Vice President] JD Vance is jealous,” adding that he thinks the president wants to use Mamdani “as a running-mate.”

“I think JD Vance is jealous,” remarked Kilmeade on The Will Cain Show, filling in for Fox’s Will Cain. “I think the president wants to use him as a running-mate. They really got along fantastic.” Obviously, Trump is not eligible for a third term, so Kilmeade’s “running-mate” joke remains impossible.

Kilmeade went on to explain how, “following months of heated back-and-forth,” Trump and Mamdani were taking “very candid questions, very direct questions” and shared “a very friendly handshake” during their Oval Office presser.

“The mood in the room today,” continued Kilmeade, was “pretty different than what they were talking about when they were talking about each other over the past few months,” before playing a clip of Trump congratulating Mamdani on his win.

The back-and-forth to which Kilmeade is referring includes repeated derogatory comments from the president. After Mamdani’s June win in the NYC mayoral Democratic primary, Trump called him a “Communist Lunatic,” “my little communist mayor,” and went as far as to suggest that he may not be in the country legally.

After winning the election on November 4, Mamdani name-dropped the president in his victory speech, saying, “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up!”

Former representative (R-UT) and current Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz later joined the Fox segment to add that “Donald Trump really, nationwide, wins on this meeting.” He continued, saying, “Democrats have done nothing but demonize the president of the United States. Could he have been nicer? Could he have been more polite? More magnanimous in trying to help? No.”

Watch the clip above via Fox.