US President Donald Trump on Friday met the man who had proudly proclaimed himself Trump’s “worst nightmare,” but seemed to find the opposite in what turned out to be a very cordial meeting between the two.
Speaking repeatedly of their shared goals to help New York rather than their combustible differences, Trump and New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani were warm and friendly.
Trump, who had in the past called Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job,” spoke openly of how impressed he was with the man who had called his administration “authoritarian.”
“I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually,” Trump said of the democratic socialist as Mamdani stood next to him in the Oval Office.
The meeting offered political opportunities for both men. For Mamdani, a sit-down offered the state lawmaker — who until recently was relatively unknown — the chance to go head-to-head with the world’s most powerful person.
Trump brushes off Mamdani’s ‘fascist’ criticism
Both discussed housing affordability and the cost of groceries and utilities, as Mamdani successfully used frustration over inflation to get elected, just as the president did in the 2024 election.
“Some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have,” Trump said of Mamdani about inflationary issues.
The president brushed aside Mamdani’s criticisms of him over his administration’s deportation raids and claims that Trump was behaving like a despot.
Instead, Trump said the responsibility of holding an executive position in the government causes a person to change, saying that had been the case for him.
When reporters asked Mamdani to clarify his past statements indicating that he thought the president was acting like a fascist, Trump said, “I’ve been called much worse than a despot.”
And when a reporter asked if Mamdani stood by his comments that Trump is a fascist, Trump interjected before the mayor-elect could fully answer the question.
“That’s OK. You can just say yes. OK?” Trump said. “It’s easier. It’s easier than explaining it. I don’t mind.”
“We’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York,” the president said.
All about making New York City affordable
For Trump, it was a high-profile chance to talk about affordability at a time when he’s under increasing political pressure to show he’s addressing voter concerns about the cost of living.
Mamdani, who takes office in January, said he sought the meeting with Trump to talk about ways to make New York City more affordable. Trump has said he may want to help him out — although he has also falsely labelled Mamdani as a “communist” and threatened to yank federal funds from the city.
But Trump on Friday didn’t sling that at the mayor. He acknowledged that he had said he had been prepared to cut off funding or make it harder for New York City to access federal resources if the two had failed to “get along,” only to pull back from those threats during the meeting.
“We don’t want that to happen,” Trump said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
With some dramatic public Oval Office faceoffs this year, including an infamously heated exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February, many had feared the worst.
Ahead of the meeting, Mamdani said Thursday that he was not concerned about the president potentially trying to use the meeting to embarrass him publicly and said he saw it as a chance to make his case, even while acknowledging “many disagreements with the president.”
“What I really appreciate about the president is that the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers,” Mamdani said.
Ultimately, both men avoided a public confrontation in a remarkably calm and cordial series of comments in front of news reporters.
With tensions subdued, Trump seemed sympathetic to Mamdani’s housing-building policies.
“People would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing,” the president said.
