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NYC Local News: Trump and Mamdani Hold a White House Love Fest
Trump Sings Mamdani’s Praises After White House Chat
Both the mayor-elect and the president said they found common ground on a range of issues, including making New York City more affordable.
This article originally appeared in The City.
“We agree on a lot more than we would have thought,” Trump said following the meeting. “I feel very confident that he can do a good job.”
Mayor Mamdani might even encourage the former New Yorker, who in 2019 moved his legal residency to Florida, to return to the city where he was born.
“I would feel very very comfortable being in New York and much more so after the meeting,” Trump said.
“I appreciated the meeting with the president, and as he said, it was a productive meeting focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City,” Mamdani said.
Trump, who at times looked admiringly at the next mayor and gave him playful slaps on the arm, said he’d look to be a help to Mamdani and the city.
“The better he does, the happier I am,” Trump said.
“I will say there’s no difference in party, there’s no difference in anything," he added. "And we’re going to be helping him to make everybody's dream come true: having a strong and very safe New York. And congratulations, Mr. Mayor.”
The meeting was the first between Mamdani and the president, and was requested earlier this week by the incoming mayor — who told reporters Thursday he’d meet with anyone if it could help New Yorkers.
“It’s about a relationship between New York City and the White House, the president, the federal administration — it’s for the people that I look to represent.” Mamdani said.
During the meeting, which lasted around 30 minutes, the pair discussed the rising cost of groceries, rent and utilities, which have contributed to people being pushed out of the city, Mamdani said. Trump also said they talked about ways to build more housing.
Trump has disparagingly called Mamdani, a democratic socialist, “my little communist,” endorsed his rival Andrew Cuomo in the general election and threatened to withhold federal funding to the city if Mamdani won the election. But in a Fox News radio interview Friday morning, hours before the meeting, the president struck a tone of civility.
“He’s got a different philosophy, he’s a little bit different, I give him a lot of credit for the run, he did a successful run and we all know that runs are not easy,” he said on the "Brian Kilmeade Show."
“We’re looking for the same thing, we want to make New York strong and there’s such a different philosophy.”
Mamdani, 34, will be sworn in as the city’s 111th mayor on Jan. 1 and plans to immediately address rising costs throughout the city, he said.
But he can’t do that without state and federal help.
New York City receives billions in federal tax dollars, paying for everything from homeland security to food assistance to housing programs.
Mamdani has also been critical of Trump, calling him a fascist and a despot.
“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” he said in his election-night speech.
Trump brushed off Mamdani’s comments on Friday, saying he was fine with him calling him a fascist.
“I’ve been called much worse than a despot,” he said with a laugh.
Trump closed the post-meeting briefing with words of aspiration for New York City and its new mayor.
“I think he wants to make it greater than ever before, and if he can, we’ll be out there cheering," the president remarked. "I’ll be cheering for him.”
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