Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor-elect, walked out of their meeting on Friday afternoon with an unlikely alliance, agreeing to work together on housing, food prices and cost-of-living concerns that have defined both their political appeals to working-class voters.
“We agreed a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump said in the Oval Office, sometimes jumping in to shield Mamdani from aggressive questioning from the press.
The sit-down – which many had anticipated would be contentious, given months of intense rhetoric in which Trump branded Mamdani a “communist lunatic” – instead produced camaraderie, warm words and concrete pledges of cooperation between the Republican president and the self-described democratic socialist who secured a commanding electoral victory earlier at the beginning of November with over 50% of the vote.
“I feel very confident that he can do a very good job,” Trump said after the meeting, offering praise for his ideological opposite. “The better he does, the happier I am. I will say there’s no difference in party. There’s no difference in anything, and we’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York.”
The president congratulated Mamdani on his mayoral victory, describing it as “an incredible race against smart people” – and the two politicians shook hands.
Trump added that he had already seen signs the young politician might surprise both conservative and liberal observers alike.
For Mamdani, the meeting represented vindication of his strategy to focus the discussion on economic issues rather than ideological divides. He described the meeting as “productive” and “focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City”.
“We spoke about rent, we spoke about groceries, we spoke about utilities, we spoke about the different ways in which people are being pushed out,” Mamdani told reporters after emerging from the Oval Office.
Trump added: “We had some interesting conversation, and some of his ideas really are the same ideas that I have.” He pointed to their agreement on lowering crime and building housing.
The meeting marked the first face-to-face discussion between the combative Republican president and the defiant democratic socialist.
For Mamdani, a leftwing state assemblymember until his shock primary victory, the sit-down presented an early test of his ability to negotiate with a president who controls vast federal resources that the city depends upon. Mamdani’s team made the first move in reaching out for a meeting, all while Trump earlier threatened to withhold federal funding from New York if Mamdani took office, though he has since suggested a more conciliatory posture, telling Fox News: “I’m so torn, because I would like to see the new mayor do well, because I love New York.”
The administration has deployed multiple pressure tactics ahead of the meeting. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have signaled plans to escalate operations in New York City, while a number of rightwing congressional Republicans suggested investigating whether Mamdani’s citizenship is valid, despite his naturalization in 2018 after immigrating from Uganda as a child.
Mamdani’s team spent Thursday preparing for the encounter through calls with Kathy Hochul, New York’s governor, Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, and the civil rights leader Al Sharpton to strategize the approach. He also spoke with Robert Wolf, the former chief executive of UBS Americas and a known ally of Barack Obama.
When asked on Thursday whether he feared receiving hostile treatment similar to the contentious Oval Office meeting between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, earlier this year – where Trump accused Zelenskyy of “gambling with world war III” – Mamdani brushed aside concerns. “I’ll stand up for New Yorkers every single day,” he replied.
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The incoming mayor had framed the meeting as an opportunity to advance his central campaign platform: making New York more affordable. His promises include free public buses, government-run grocery stores, rent freezes for more than 1m stabilized units, and the city’s first universal childcare program.
“I view this meeting as an opportunity for me to make my case,” Mamdani said on Thursday. “It behooves me to ensure that I leave no stone unturned in looking to make this city more affordable.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, similarly said Trump’s willingness to meet was evidence of his openness to dialogue across political divides.
“President Trump is willing to meet with anyone and talk to anyone and to try to do what’s right on behalf of the American people, whether they live in blue states or red states, or blue cities,” Leavitt said.
But the underlying tensions were not subtle. Trump got directly involved in the mayoral election, dismissing the candidate from his own party, Curtis Sliwa, as a lightweight and instead endorsing Andrew Cuomo, the Independent, formerly Democratic governor, while branding Mamdani a “little communist”. The Trump administration also yanked federal aid for critical infrastructure projects – including the Gateway Tunnel between New York and New Jersey and the Second Avenue subway line – during budget negotiations.
Among New York voters, Trump garnered only 27% approval compared with 70% disapproval in CNN’s exit polling from the mayoral election. However, 10% of Trump’s 2024 voters also cast ballots for Mamdani, suggesting there is indeed overlap in their populist economic messaging, despite their vast ideological differences.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
