President Donald Trump on Friday expressed an unexpected vote of confidence in Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani following their first face-to-face meeting at the White House, saying he was “very confident that he can do a good job” and touting their shared interest on the issue of affordability.
Trump said the two had “a great meeting” and described Mamdani as a “rational man” who “really wants to see New York be great again.” The president even said the incoming mayor could “surprise some conservative people.”
The remarks amounted to a striking about-face for Trump, who had characterized Mamdani as a radical communist whose election would destroy New York City. Instead, he focused on areas where the two could work together.
“The new word is 'affordability,'" Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Mamdani, who stood beside a seated Trump, smiled and struck a conciliatory tone toward a leader he once called a “despot.”
The president seemed to make light of those insults when reporters asked Mamdani about them.
“I’ve been called worse things than a despot,” Trump joked.
He later added: “We agreed on a lot more than I would have thought.”
The meeting between the two men, who are both from Queens, could set the tone for a relationship that could help the city secure federal funding. Ahead of the general election, Trump threatened to cut funding for the city and deploy the National Guard in the five boroughs if Mamdani were elected.
“I expect to be helping him — a big help,” Trump said.
Trump said he wanted to work with Mamdani on lowering electricity costs in the city, saying he has "gotten fuel prices way down, but it hasn't shown up in Con Edison."
The pair appeared before the press after a closed-door meeting, which lasted less than an hour. Mamdani, who stood beside a seated Trump, said the two had connected to some of the same voters.
“Politicians are looking to lecture to New Yorkers what they should care about, as opposed to listen,” Mamdani said. “And when we spoke to those voters who voted for President Trump, we heard them speak about the cost of living. We focused on that same cost of living.”
Following the 2024 election, Mamdani appealed to working-class Trump voters in the city who were frustrated by the spiraling costs of living. Voters in Trump districts helped him win the Democratic primary in June.
But Mamdani, a democratic socialist, mostly campaigned as an antagonist to Trump. A video of him confronting Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan in March at the State Capitol helped catapult him as the candidate who would most vigorously stand up to Trump and defend immigrants.
When Trump was asked if, as a billionaire, he would feel comfortable living in New York City under a Mamdani administration that aims to raise taxes on the rich, he gave the incoming mayor yet another nod of approval.
" Yeah, I really would," Trump replied. "Especially after the meeting."
