They found comrade ground.
Zohran Mamdani’s high-stakes White House meeting turned into a Freaky Friday lovefest – as President Trump lauded the socialist mayor-elect and predicted he’ll make New York City great again.
A sitting Trump, with Mamdani standing by his side behind the Resolute Desk, heaped praise on the democratic socialist, jovially touching his arm as he helped him dodge tough questions and unexpectedly predicted his mayoralty will be a success.
The long-awaited meeting between President Trump and newly elected NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani left many shocked, as the supposed rivals instead took turns praising eachother.
“I think he wants to make it greater than ever before,” Trump told reporters. “And if he can, we’ll be out there cheering. I’ll be cheering for him.”
The erstwhile foes’ gobsmackingly friendly joint appearance came after a 45-minute closed-door sit-down in the Oval Office, which they both touted as productive and focused on Mamdani’s core campaign issue of affordability.
“He’s different than your typical guy,” Trump said, adding Mamdani “has a chance to really do something great for New York.”
Mamdani notably avoided taking any bait to praise Trump, though he did offer that the president’s better-than-expected showing in New York City during 2024’s presidential election came because of his own focus on kitchen table issues.
The mayor-elect said he wanted to focus on delivering real-world results for New Yorkers, rather than duke it out with the president over their vast differences.
“I think both President Trump and I, we are very clear about our positions and our views, and what I really appreciate about the president is 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,” he said.
Trump agreed.
“We have one thing in common. We want this city of ours that we love to do very well,” Trump said as the two began fielding questions following their confab.
“I think he wants to make it greater than ever before,” Trump said. “And if he can, we’ll be out there cheering. I’ll be cheering for him.” Yuri Gripas – Pool via CNP
The president even swooped in when Mamdani — who during the campaign vowed he would be Trump’s “worst nightmare” — was pressed by reporters about his past insults calling him “fascist” and a “despot.”
“That’s OK, you can just say yes,” Trump joked, affectionately patting him on the arm, when Mamdani was asked if he still thought of the president as a “fascist.”
“I’ve been called much worse than a despot, so it’s not that insulting,” Trump also said when Mamdani was asked about that past dig.
Asked if he believed that the anti-Israel pol was a “jihadist,” Trump said he had met with “a very rational person.”
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Trump — who previously predicted the demise of the Big Apple if “my little Communist” Mamdani was elected — said he came away from their meeting feeling “very confident” the lefty upstart can do a good job.
“I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually, and some very liberal people,” he said.
The president even backed off his threat that if Mamdani became mayor, he’d send the National Guard to the city to fight crime.
“I expect to be helping him, not hurting him, a big help because I want New York City to be great,” said Trump, who has also warned that New York’s federal funding could be in jeopardy under Mamdani.
Mamdani requested the face-to-face, calling it customary for an incoming New York City mayor to meet with the president.
Trump said that their half-hour talk focused mainly of affordability. Yuri Gripas – Pool via CNP
The Queens native Trump first gave the Astoria state assemblyman a tour of the White House, before the two got down to brass tacks with their respective chiefs of staff, Susie Wiles and Elle Bisgaard-Church, sources said.
Bisgaard-Church said afterward the conversation focused on Mamdani’s long-shot win and affordability issues such as rent, utility and grocery costs.
She said Trump specifically perked up when talking about building housing.
“The president felt very interested in a kind of common-sense approach to reduce onerous burdens on the housing and development owners, actually,” she said, calling it an area of real agreement over how government can make New Yorkers’ lives better.
The former real estate mogul Trump, as the pair faced reporters in a somewhat surreal scene, said he shared Mamdani’s views that building more housing would help rents come down.
“Actually people would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing,” Trump said.
Mamdani’s housing platform during the campaign centered on his “freeze the rent” pitch but lacked specifics on boosting housing development — an issue he caught flak for as a candidate focused on the cost of living.
Other topics included a potential Con Edison rate hike, with the president pressuring the utility to lower costs.
And Trump said Mamdani knows the streets need to be “safe” as he praised his recent decision to keep tough-on-crime NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch as his top cop.
Trump repeatedly gave Mamdani an out when he was asked questions on his previous comments about the president. Getty Images
“Maybe more than anything else, he wants to have a safe New York,” Trump said of Mamdani.
“Ultimately, a safe New York is going to be a great New York,” he said. “If you don’t have safe streets, it’s not going to be a success.”
The chummy chinwag followed months of high-profile sniping between Mamdani and Trump – charismatic political polar opposites eager to make each other a foil.
But ahead of the meeting, both started to soften his rhetoric, with Mamdani saying he believed the two could “speak plainly” about affordability.
“I think it’s going to be quite civil. We’ll find out,” added the president during an appearance on “The Brian Kilmeade Show” earlier Friday.
Trump’s predicted civility exceeded expectations as he fielded some of the tough questions directed at Mamdani and praised his surprising election victory.
Trump also backed off his threat to send the National Guard to New York City. AFP via Getty Images
The president also didn’t take the bait when a reporter asked about Mamdani’s promise to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he steps foot in New York City.
He said they didn’t discuss Netanyahu, although they both agreed they wanted peace in the Middle East.
“He’s got views out there, but who knows maybe we’re going to see what works, or he’s going to change,” Trump said. “Also, we all change. I change a lot. Changed a lot from when I first came to office.”
But as Trump piled on praise, Mamdani didn’t exactly return the favor. He mostly dodged a chance to praise Trump’s ceasefire deal in Gaza.
“I appreciate all efforts towards peace and I shared with President Trump that when I spoke to Trump voters on Hillside Avenue – including one of whom was a pharmacist that spoke about how President Trump’s father actually went to that pharmacy not too far from Jamaica Estates – that people were tired of seeing our tax dollars fund endless wars,” he said.
The cordial summit arguably puts more pressure on Mamdani to deliver his sweeping promises to lower costs for New Yorkers – and elevates the socialist as a Democratic leader.
New York political insiders were equal parts dumbfounded and amused by how the faceoff played out, with one calling it a “kiss-ass fest.”
“Trump should move Bushwick how much he loves Z now,” a Democratic operative quipped.
“Unbelievably funny outcome,” another Dem operative said, adding, “I can’t even read it cynically. Trump loved him. It might even be reciprocated.”
Trump, when asked if he’d be comfortable returning to live in New York City with Mamdani as mayor, said he would.
“I want him to do a great job, and we’ll help him do a great job,” Trump said. “I would feel very, very comfortable being in New York, and I think much more so after the meeting.”