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In a Oval Office encounter that caught even hardened White House reporters off guard, President Donald J. Trump extended an olive branch Friday to New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani—the self-styled “democratic socialist” he’d once branded a “100% Communist Lunatic” and threatened to deport—signaling a pragmatic thaw amid mounting economic pressures. The 90-minute sit-down, billed by skeptics as a potential fireworks display, unfolded with unexpected cordiality: Trump lavished praise on…