Anticlimax: Trump and Mamdani Share Cordial White House Meeting After Months of Trading Attacks

In a highly anticipated face-to-face meeting, President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani described their first in-person conversation as cordial and productive on Friday, a striking shift in tone after months of both leaders slinging political attacks at one another.

Mamdani had previously called Trump a “despot” and a “fascist,” but standing beside the president in the Oval Office he echoed Trump’s interest in cooperating around shared goals. “I enjoyed our conversation and I look forward to working together to deliver that affordability for New Yorkers,” he said, according to NPR.

Trump, who during the campaign threatened to arrest Mamdani if he disrupted ICE operations and to pull the city’s federal funding if the democratic socialist won, struck a conciliatory tone. “I think you’re going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor,” Trump said, according to ABC News. “The better he does, the happier I am. There’s no difference in party, there’s no difference in anything.”

Affordability Takes Center Stage

Both men said they had focused their discussion primarily on addressing New York City’s cost-of-living crisis—the issue that dominated Mamdani’s historic November 4 victory as the city’s first Muslim mayor.

“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 told reporters, according to ABC News, emphasizing that both leaders wanted to ensure the city’s 8.5 million residents could afford basic needs like rent.

Mamdani told reporters Thursday before the meeting that New Yorkers see him and Trump as “two very different candidates who they voted for for the same reasons.” He said voters in neighborhoods with the biggest Republican swings—Hillside Avenue in Queens and Fordham Road in the Bronx—told him they supported Trump because of “cost of living, cost of living, cost of living.”

Trump appeared to acknowledge this shared concern. “We’ve just had a great meeting, a really good, very productive meeting,” Mr. Trump said, according to CBS News. “We have one thing in common — we want this city of ours that we love to do very well.”

President Defends Mayor-Elect From Conservative Attacks

In a particularly notable moment, Trump rose to Mamdani’s defense when reporters brought up Republican attacks on the mayor-elect. When asked about Rep. Elise Stefanik’s characterization of Mamdani as a “jihadist candidate” during her gubernatorial campaign, Trump declined to agree with the description.

“I met with a man who’s a very rational person. I met with a man who really wants to see New York be great again,” Trump said.

Trump expressed gratitude for the meeting and indicated he will work more closely with the mayor-elect in the future. “There will be topics that we disagree on. I think we’ll probably come to a conclusion and, ultimately, he’ll convince me or I’ll convince him.”

NPR reported that Trump also declined to agree with conservative attacks calling Mamdani a “communist,” and said he would feel comfortable living in New York City under a Mamdani administration. “We agree on a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump explained.

When reporters asked Mamdani if he still considers Trump a fascist—a charge he made during the campaign—Trump stepped in with a joke before taking another question, according to ABC News.

Immigration and ICE Operations Discussed

The meeting also addressed one of the most contentious issues between the two leaders: immigration enforcement and ICE operations in New York City.

“We discussed ICE and New York City, and I spoke about how the laws that we have in New York City,” Mamdani said, according to ABC News, adding that New Yorkers have concerns about both immigration enforcement and tackling serious crimes.

Trump later said of Mamdani: “He wants to see no crime,” according to ABC News.

Mamdani has been critical of ICE’s expanded raids and the administration’s surge in deportations, while Trump has repeatedly emphasized his commitment to aggressive immigration enforcement.

Middle East Policy and Gaza

Mamdani stated that Trump voters he had spoken with supported an “end to forever wars” and “end to the taxpayer dollars we had funding violations of human rights.” When a reporter claimed he had accused the U.S. of genocide, Mamdani clarified: “I’ve spoken about the Israeli government committing genocide and I’ve spoken about our government funding it,” according to Al Mayadeen English.

“We’re tired of seeing our tax dollars fund endless wars, and I also believe that we have to follow through on the international human rights, and I know that still today those are being violated,” Mamdani added.

Trump confirmed that they did not discuss Mamdani’s campaign pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he visit New York.

A Meeting Mamdani Requested

The Oval Office meeting was requested by Mamdani, the 34-year-old whose stunning triumph in the mayoral race over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has put him at the center of American politics, according to CNBC.

“I will work with anyone to make life more affordable for the more than eight-and-a-half million people who call the city home,” Mamdani said Thursday, CNBC reported.

CNN reported that Mamdani spent much of Thursday preparing for the meeting, including holding calls with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss how to approach it and how best to communicate with Trump.

“For me, it’s not about myself, it’s not about a relationship with an individual. It’s about a relationship between New York City and the White House,” Mamdani told reporters Thursday, according to CNN.

From Threats to Cooperation

The meeting represented a dramatic about-face for both leaders. Al Jazeera reported that throughout the campaign, Trump zeroed in on Mamdani as a target for public attacks, slamming the democratic socialist as a “communist,” mispronouncing his name, and threatening consequences if he won.

Trump even endorsed Democrat Andrew Cuomo over Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in the final hours before the vote, telling his followers that Mamdani was a “FAILURE,” according to Al Jazeera.

When Trump announced the meeting on Truth Social Wednesday night, he wrote: “Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting,” placing Mamdani’s middle name in quotation marks and falsely calling him a communist, CNBC reported. (Mamdani is a self-described democratic socialist, not a communist.)

Mamdani, for his part, regularly linked the Trump administration to authoritarianism during the campaign. “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the same city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani pledged in his election victory speech, according to Al Jazeera. “And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.”

Way Ahead

Trump expressed gratitude for the meeting and indicated he will work more closely with the mayor-elect in the future. “There will be topics that we disagree on. I think we’ll probably come to a conclusion and, ultimately, he’ll convince me or I’ll convince him,” Trump said, according to ABC News. “You know, it’s for the good of New York. Ultimately, it’s for the good of New York. I don’t care about affiliations or parties or anything else. I want to see if this city could be unbelievable.”

CBS News reported that Trump said “some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have,” and added that “I want him to do a great job, and we’ll help him do a great job.”

When asked whether he still planned to cut federal funding to New York City—a threat he made during the campaign—Trump said “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

The meeting comes earlier than is typical for incoming mayors. CNN noted that New York City Mayor Eric Adams met with Trump in the Oval Office in May 2025, and former Mayor Bill de Blasio met with him inside Trump Tower shortly after Trump was elected in 2016, but Mamdani has not yet taken office. He will be inaugurated on January 1, 2026.

Mamdani told reporters he is “really looking forward to delivering for New Yorkers in partnership with the president on the affordability agenda,” according to CBS News.

Top image: Screenshot. This story was aggregated by AI from several news reports and edited by American Kahani’s News Desk.