Trump discusses outcome of White House meeting with Hochul following Biden administration’s decision on NYC congestion pricing.

She arrived, they exchanged views, but he remained firm.

This is how President Trump characterized his recent meeting at the White House on Friday with Governor Hochul, which focused on congestion pricing.

“It was a very amicable discussion, and she presented me with a brochure containing data regarding the impact of the new tax,” Trump shared with me on Saturday.

“She believes it is beneficial.”

However, he was far from convinced to retract his decision to eliminate the initiative through revocation of the federal approval provided by the Biden administration.

“I don’t see how I can relent,” Trump remarked.

“The tax is crippling.”

“Naturally, traffic is down; who wants to go there and pay the toll? Working individuals lack sufficient earnings to tolerate that added expense.”

He provided the example of a technician traveling into Manhattan from a neighboring borough.

“If someone comes to repair your TV, do you think they can simply add a traffic fee that people will accept?”

Trump, demonstrating he was well-prepared, pointed out that the MTA suffers far greater losses from fare and toll evasion than the $1 billion the congestion tax is projected to generate.

According to the agency, it has lost over $5 billion due to toll evasions at its bridges and tunnels over the past four years.

Additionally, the agency reported an $800 million loss in fares last year when subway and bus riders opted not to pay.

“These figures are staggering,” Trump recounted telling Hochul.

“If you allow the police to perform their duties, they can remedy that. You feel like a fool if you pay the fare,” he continued.

“This is detrimental for New York, what they are doing.”

Why is Hochul unaware of this?

Awkward defiance

The most apparent reason is that she belongs to the club of extravagant spenders and the faction opposing Trump.

Since the election, Democrats have been searching for a leader to unify them and issues to rally their dispirited followers.

Some of the performances have been painfully awkward.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer led a disjointed chant of “We will prevail.”

Russia conspiracy theorist and habitual exaggerator Sen. Adam Schiff amusingly claimed that new FBI Director Kash Patel would politicize the bureau, while Kamala Harris delivered another incomprehensible speech.

Now Hochul has joined this crowd.

Though she may have been amicable during her private interaction with Trump, publicly she criticizes and ridicules him.

Moreover, the MTA, which she oversees, is pursuing litigation against him.

This approach is not only futile, as the policies she advocates aren’t even favored in heavily Democratic New York.

Alongside the congestion tax, she is also dedicated to shielding undocumented migrants from Trump’s deportation efforts.

She seems to believe this strategy will secure her re-election next year, despite the fact that only one in three New Yorkers express a likelihood of voting for her.

Oddly enough, Hochul seems to adopt a model from action films, imagining herself as a heroic figure.

Indeed, the New York Times interprets this moment as a significant opportunity for leftist supporters.

“Confronting Trump’s Threats, New York’s Governor Embraces a ‘Rambo’ Attitude,” a front-page headline proclaimed, applauding Hochul’s “more assertive approach.”

It credited her with exhibiting “uncharacteristic drama and anger” and referencing Sylvester Stallone films by stating Trump would pay for spilling “the first blood.”

In desperate circumstances, extreme measures are often taken, but I’m wagering that Hochul’s cinematic strategy won’t receive a long run, neither on Broadway nor elsewhere.

Kat’s ‘impersonation’

Representative Ritchie Torres, a fellow Democrat who is contemplating a challenge to Hochul next year, offered a scathing critique of her speech, in which she also pledged to report any malpractice by Mayor Adams to prevent him from collaborating too closely with Trump regarding the migrant situation.

“There’s nothing persuasive about the governor’s façade of being a strong leader,” Torres stated to me.

“All the aggressive rhetoric concerning the president and the mayor sounds as empty as Hochul herself.”

Ouch!

Hochul is embracing one of the most foolish notions circulating, which suggests that Democrats possess a “messaging” issue that can be remedied through lawsuits and fierce criticism of Trump and Elon Musk.

This extreme approach is exactly what cost the party the election in the first place.

Yet as March approaches, the Democrats have not advocated a single innovative idea or agreed to collaborate with Trump on any matter.

Their denunciations of the DOGE Musketeers exemplify their shortsightedness.

In a period where most Americans regard Washington as a bastion of corruption, resisting efforts to eliminate waste and fraud comes across as defending the indefensible.

Nevertheless, the Democrats find themselves rushing to the front lines to defend every cent of the $7 trillion federal budget boondoggle, with $1.9 trillion of it being borrowed.

They scream that any reductions in any programs would bring civilization as we know it to an end.

I have long held the view that Trump is fortunate in his adversaries, and his ability to provoke them into saying and doing incredibly foolish things is a divine gift.

His interactions with Hochul support this idea.

Notwithstanding how New York’s prosecutors and courts tried to bankrupt and imprison him, the president’s fondness for his native city remains.

As he often expresses, he aims to see New York achieve significant undertakings, especially regarding Penn Station.

His chief grievances are his awareness of corruption in the courts, as he has witnessed firsthand, and the belief that the congestion tax kills jobs.

Yet when his team rescinded federal approval for the tax, Hochul didn’t even consider the possibility that he might be correct.

Instead, she criticized and ridiculed him.

She is actively promoting ads touting the $9 daily fee for cars entering Midtown as evidence of her commitment to New York.

Radical leftist valor

Her approach is misguided.

Her narrative suggests a far-left interpretation of valor, where raising taxes becomes heroic simply because it is unpopular.

This strategy is doubly unwise when a tax increase isn’t warranted.

Such is the case here.

The combined budgets of the state, city, and the MTA approach $400 billion this year.

Nevertheless, in Hochul’s outlook, this is insufficient, hence her pursuit of $1 billion from the congestion tax.

Hochul also made another move to antagonize Trump.

Her demands for “guardrails” surrounding the mayor are aimed at ensuring Adams does not collaborate with Trump’s plan to detain and deport migrant offenders.

Even as the Justice Department aims to dismiss a Biden-era indictment against Adams, Hochul appears to believe that the mayor’s most egregious error was engaging with Trump’s border enforcer, Tom Homan, and signaling a willingness to collaborate despite city and state sanctuary policies.

This is why she called for additional safeguards to prevent the mayor from capitulating to the Trump administration.

“We are aware they will stop at nothing to try and exert control over New York,” she asserted.

How’s that for appreciation?