After months of public sparring, U.S. President Donald Trump and New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani held an unexpectedly warm and collaborative meeting at the White House on Friday, exchanging praise and pledging to work together on crime and affordability in the nation’s largest city.
The encounter between the 79-year-old Republican president and the 34-year-old democratic socialist, political opposites who have feuded over immigration, economic policy and ideology, marked a dramatic shift from the rancor that defined their pre-election exchanges.
At the end of their private meeting, Trump ushered in cameras, smiling broadly as he patted Mamdani on the arm.
“We agree on a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump told reporters. “We have one thing in common: We want this city of ours that we love to do very well.”
Mamdani, who enters office on January 1, echoed the sentiment. “What I really appreciate about the president is that the meeting focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, but on the shared purpose we have in serving New Yorkers.”
The two announced no new policy initiatives, but their warm rapport signaled what could become an unusual and politically consequential partnership. Mamdani’s victory this month was part of a national wave of Democratic wins that rattled Republicans.
Trump, facing low approval ratings on his handling of inflation, only 26% of Americans approve, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, nonetheless brightened when Mamdani emphasized the need for more housing and noted that some Trump voters had backed him.
“Some of his ideas are the same ideas I have,” Trump said. “The better he does, the happier I am.”
The tone was a striking departure from the fierce barbs exchanged before Mamdani’s Nov. 4 victory. Trump had called him a “radical left lunatic,” a communist, and a “Jew hater,” while Mamdani criticized Trump’s threats to strip federal funding from New York and his plans to step up immigration enforcement in a city where nearly 40% of residents are foreign-born.
Yet on Friday, both men brushed off their past rhetoric. Asked whether he still considers Trump a fascist, Mamdani hesitated before Trump jumped in with a grin: “That’s OK, you can just say ‘yes.’ It’s easier than explaining it.”
Trump also defended Mamdani against Islamophobic insinuations, rejecting a reporter’s question suggesting that the Uganda-born, soon-to-be first Muslim mayor of New York was a “jihadist.”
“I met with a man who’s a very rational person,” Trump said.
The visible warmth between the two startled political observers. Some Republicans expressed skepticism, while Democrats openly marveled at the sudden thaw. “What the heck just happened?” Representative Rashida Tlaib posted on social media with a clip of the meeting.
Trump, who left New York for Florida after his first term and has frequently portrayed the city as unsafe despite national crime data, even suggested he might consider moving back. “Yeah, I would,” he said. “Especially after the meeting.”
The unusual alliance comes as Trump steps up pressure on Ukraine to accept a controversial peace plan he has proposed, framing it as a “difficult choice” Kyiv must eventually make, another issue likely to test the new dynamic between the president and America’s newest high-profile progressive leader.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
