‘Slumped’ Trump Is ‘Losing So Badly He Has No Idea What to Do’: Lawrence O’Donnell

New York, NY – MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell unleashed a blistering takedown of President Donald Trump on Monday’s The Last Word, framing the president’s cordial Oval Office meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as nothing less than an “unconditional surrender” born of desperation and defeat.

Holding up a now-iconic photo of Trump leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, as Mamdani stands confidently beside him, O’Donnell declared it “the most vivid image of the decline and fall of Donald Trump.”

“There is no more vivid image of the decline and fall of Donald Trump than the image that was created on Friday,” O’Donnell said. “With Donald Trump slumped in the Oval Office, at the desk in defeat, offering a political surrender to the man who stood beside him in the Elon Musk position.”

O’Donnell argued that Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist who crushed Andrew Cuomo in the November 4 mayoral race, “took over that room as no one before him has ever taken over that room with Donald Trump in it.” He pointed to Trump’s stunning pivot from branding Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and threatening to defund the city during the campaign to glad-handing him publicly on November 21, just as he does with his “beloved dictators.”

The MSNBC host didn’t mince words about what he sees as the president’s unraveling. “He’s losing so badly now that he desperately has to do something and he has no idea what to do,” O’Donnell said. “Offering an unconditional surrender.”

The Meeting That Broke the Internet

O’Donnell’s monologue came two days after the now-legendary Oval Office press spray, where reporters asked Mamdani if he stood by calling Trump a “despot” pushing a “fascist agenda.”

The mayor-elect started a diplomatic answer about “shared purpose,” but Trump cut in with a grin: “I’ve been called much worse than a despot. Believe me. So it’s not that insulting.”

When Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich followed up, “Mr. Mayor-elect, do you still consider the president a fascist?,” Mamdani paused, but Trump patted his arm and said: “That’s OK, you can just say yes. It’s easier than explaining it. I don’t mind.”

Mamdani smiled, shrugged, and replied: “OK.”

Trump laughed, gave him another pat, and added: “See? We’re getting along great. Beautiful.”

The 22-second clip has been viewed 120 million times in three days, spawning endless memes and reaction videos. Top X comments include: “Did Trump just green-light being called a fascist and laugh about it? I need to lie down” and “This is the most New York interaction ever. Two guys who hate each other’s guts just went full ‘fuhgeddaboudit’ and moved on”

O’Donnell’s Full Indictment: “Slumped in Defeat”

O’Donnell zoomed in on the photo: Trump leaning back, arms crossed, looking almost resigned, while Mamdani stands tall in the foreground. “With Donald Trump slumped in the Oval Office, at the desk in defeat,” he said, pausing for effect. “Offering a political surrender to the man who stood beside him in the Elon Musk position.”

He drew a direct line from the meeting to Trump’s broader struggles: tanking poll numbers, the Epstein files scandal and more.

O’Donnell tied it to Trump’s pattern of cozying up to adversaries when cornered: “This is Trump’s foreign policy playbook — threaten, attack, then pivot to photo-ops when the polls turn south.”

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O’Donnell’s monologue arrived amid a cascade of humiliations for the administration. The November 18 House vote mandating Epstein file release (427–1) and Senate unanimous consent the same day forced Trump to sign the bill November 19, after months of calling it a “Democrat hoax.”