On Friday, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani met with President Donald Trump. It was a surprise pivot after the adversarial mayoral campaign, where Mamdani pledged that he would fight Trump and called the president a "fascist despot." Trump, in turn, called Mamdani a "communist" during the campaign, and grudgingly endorsed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), because "He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!"
Read More: Morning Minute: Mr. Mamdani Goes to Washington
Trump Says Meeting With Mamdani Could Happen: 'We'll Work Something Out'
To Trump's surprise, he and the proclaimed Democrat Socialist Mamdani found some common ground on which to forge a less divisive relationship for the good of New York City. After the meeting, Trump declared to the press gathered:
We had a meeting today that actually surprised me. He wants to see no crime, he wants to see housing being built, he wants to see rents coming down, all things that I agree with. We may disagree on how we get there. The rent coming down, I think, one of the things I really gleaned very much today, we'd like to see them come down ideally, by building a lot of additional housing. That's the ultimate way. He agrees with that. If I read the newspapers and the stories that I hear, I don't hear that. But I heard him say it today and I think it's a very positive step. No, I expect to be helping him, not hurting him -- a big help. Because I want New York to be great. Look, I love New York City, it's where I come from. I spent a lot of years there, now I'm right here. We took a big step back with the Mayor we had, "Dave" DeBlasio. I thought it was a tremendous setback for the city. I think this Mayor can do some things that will be really great.
WATCH:
"We had a meeting today that actually surprised me... We may disagree how we get there [on policy]," says @POTUS on his meeting with Mayor-elect Mamdani.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 21, 2025
"I expect to be helping him, not hurting him... because I want NYC to be great. Look, I love NYC. That's where I come from." pic.twitter.com/lHlT4jRP0q
Trump also made hay of how the legacy press was heavily invested in coverage of this meeting, as opposed to the other meetings Trump has held in the Oval Office with world leaders.
The press has eaten this thing up. You know, I've had a lot of meetings with the heads of major countries, nobody cared. This meeting, you people have gone crazy. You know, outside we have hundreds of people waiting, this is just a small little group. For some reason the press has found this to be a very interesting meeting. The biggest people in the world, they come over from foreign countries, nobody cares. But they did care about this meeting and it was a great meeting.
WATCH:
.@POTUS: "The press has eaten this thing up. I've had a lot of meetings with the heads of major countries—nobody cared.... outside, you have hundreds of people waiting... for some reason the press has found this to be a very interesting meeting." 🤣 pic.twitter.com/kJjYMXwaoi
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 21, 2025
Trump acknowledged the differences in their approach to leadership but also assured that he sees Mamdani changing some of his views.
WATCH:
.@POTUS on Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani: "He's got views that are a little out there, but who knows. We're going to see what works." pic.twitter.com/5qBVFKDLxm
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 21, 2025
I mean, he's got views that are, you know, a little out there. But, who knows, we're going to see what works. He's gonna change also, we all change. I changed a lot. I changed a lot from when I first came to office it's now quite a while ago. Quite a while. My first term was great, we had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We're doing even better now, we're doing much better now than we did even my first term. And I can tell you, some of my views have changed. We had discussions on some things, I'm not going to discuss what they were, but, I feel very confident that he could do a very good job. I think he's gonna be... I think he's going to surprise some conservative people, actually. And some very liberal people he won't surprise them because they already like him.
Trump further deemed the meeting a success because, for him, it's about the well-being of New York City, and both Trump and Mamdani sought common ground to see how this could be done.
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. 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 if he could be a spectacular success I would be very happy.
WATCH:
.@POTUS: "There will be topics that we disagree on. I think we'll probably come to a conclusion... Ultimately, it's for the good of New York... If this city could be unbelievable — if he could be a spectacular success, I'd be very happy." pic.twitter.com/bDO4FJGHLA
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 21, 2025
Editor’s Note: Zohran Mamdani is an avowed Democratic Socialist who will be the next mayor of New York City. Who knows what that will portend for New York's future?
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