Trump And Mamdani Meet At White House, Focus On Affordability And Housing

President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani held an unexpectedly warm meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, setting aside their past clashes to emphasise shared concerns about affordability and public safety. According to Associated Press, the encounter brought together two figures who have long used each other as political foils and had until now reserved some of their harshest attacks for the other.

Trump, who once labelled Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job,” said he had come away impressed by the democratic socialist who previously described his administration as “authoritarian.” Standing beside Mamdani, Trump said, “I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually.”

For Mamdani, the meeting offered a rare moment on the national stage. The state lawmaker, who ran and won on the issue of affordability much as Trump campaigned on cost-of-living pressures in 2024, said their discussion centred on areas where cooperation was possible. “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.

Trump and Mamdani both said they discussed the price of housing, groceries and utilities. “Some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have,” Trump said when asked about their approach to inflation.

Throughout the public portion of the meeting, Trump repeatedly stepped in to shield the incoming mayor. When reporters pressed Mamdani over past statements that Trump behaved like a despot or a fascist, the president interjected: “I’ve been called much worse than a despot.” Moments later, when Mamdani was asked directly whether he stood by those comments, Trump cut in again: “That’s OK. You can just say yes. OK? It’s easier. It’s easier than explaining it. I don’t mind.”

The president also defended Mamdani when asked why he had flown to Washington rather than taking lower-emission transport. “I’ll stick up for you,” Trump said.

Mamdani, who takes office in January, said he had requested the meeting to discuss affordability measures for New York City. Trump acknowledged that he had previously threatened to cut off or restrict federal funds to the city if the two failed to “get along,” but pulled back from that stance during the session. “We don’t want that to happen,” he said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Elle Bisgaard-Church, Mamdani’s former campaign manager and incoming chief of staff, told NY1 — as reported by Associated Press — that the pair clearly disagreed on some issues but found common ground on reducing crime. “We discussed that we share a mutual goal of having a safe city where everyone can move around in comfort and ease,” she said, adding later that they focused on affordability “where we could find agreement.”

Trump loomed heavily over the mayoral campaign. On the eve of the vote, he endorsed former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, saying the city had “ZERO chance of success, or even survival” if Mamdani won. He also questioned Mamdani’s citizenship — the mayor-elect was born in Uganda and became a naturalised American citizen after college — and said he would have him arrested if he refused to cooperate with immigration agents. Mamdani defeated Cuomo after framing him as a “puppet” for the president and telling voters he would be “a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and actually deliver.” He once declared, “I am Donald Trump’s worst nightmare, as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in.”

Despite that rhetoric, Trump suggested the new mayor might ultimately benefit Republicans. He predicted Mamdani “will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party,” a theme he has returned to repeatedly while casting Mamdani as emblematic of the Democratic Party’s divisions.

Some in Washington had expected a tense exchange. The president has had several dramatic confrontations in the Oval Office this year — including a heated March meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — and, in May, he dimmed the lights during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to play a four-minute video with widely rejected claims about attacks on Afrikaner farmers. But Associated Press reported that a senior Trump administration official said the president had put little planning into the session with Mamdani, even as threats to block federal funding technically remained in play.

Mamdani said on Thursday he was not worried about being embarrassed publicly and viewed the meeting as a chance to make his case, while acknowledging “many disagreements with the president.” In the end, both men kept their comments calm and cordial.

The two even converged on housing policy. Mamdani has made construction of affordable homes central to his platform, and Trump signalled he was open to similar goals. “People would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing,” he said.

(With inputs from AP)