Adversaries Trump, Mamdani have a ‘great’ meeting at the White House

President Trump met the man who had proudly proclaimed himself “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare,” but on Friday seemed to find the opposite.

- By MICHELLE L. PRICE

President Trump greets New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office on Friday.

(Jim Watson AFP/Getty Images)

Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani were warm and friendly, speaking repeatedly of their shared goals to help Trump’s hometown rather than their combustible differences.

Trump, who had in the past called Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job,” spoke openly of how impressed he was with the man who had called his administration “authoritarian.”

Trump said he was surprised by their “great” meeting and said of the democratic socialist, “I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually.”

Mamdani and Trump said they discussed housing affordability and the cost of groceries and utilities, as Mamdani successfully used frustration over inflation to get elected, just as the president did in the 2024 election.

“We're going to be helping him, to make everybody's dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York,” the president told reporters with Mamdani beside him in the Oval Office.

“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.