On Friday, President Donald Trump met the man who had declared himself to be "Donald Trump's worst nightmare," but he appeared to discover the contrary.
The Republican president and Zohran Mamdani, the next mayor of New York City, were cordial and cordial, frequently discussing their common objectives to support Trump's hometown rather than their explosive disagreements.
Trump, who had previously referred to Mamdani as a "100% Communist Lunatic" and a "total nut job," publicly expressed his admiration for the man who had referred to his administration as "authoritarian."
Regarding the democratic socialist, Trump remarked, "I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually." He expressed astonishment at their "great" meeting.
Trump and Mamdani reportedly talked about home affordability as well as the price of groceries and utilities. Mamdani, like the president in the 2024 election, utilised his dissatisfaction with inflation to win.
"We're going to be helping him, to make everybody's dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York," the president said to reporters while Mamdani stood next to 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 stated.
Mamdani's accusations that Trump was acting like a despot and his criticism of his administration's deportation raids were dismissed by the president.
Rather, Trump claimed that having an executive position in the government changes a person, citing his own experience as an example.
At times, he appeared to be especially defensive of Mamdani, intervening on his behalf while he was being questioned by reporters.
For instance, Trump responded, "I've been called much worse than a despot," when reporters questioned Mamdani about his previous remarks suggesting that he believed the president was behaving like a fascist.
Before the mayor-elect could respond to a reporter's query about whether Mamdani still believed that Trump was a fascist, Trump spoke out. "It's alright. Simply respond "yes." Alright? Trump stated.
"It's simpler. It's simpler than trying to explain it. I'm fine with it. When a reporter questioned Mamdani about why he flew to Washington rather than using less fossil fuel intensive modes of transportation, Trump intervened once more. "I'll stick up for you," Trump declared.
Mamdani, who will enter office in January, stated that he requested the meeting with Trump to discuss measures to lower the cost of living in New York City.
Although he has inaccurately called Mamdani a "communist" and threatened to withhold government cash from his community, Trump has stated that he could want to assist him.
However, Trump refrained from criticising the mayor on Friday. He admitted that if the two had not been able to "get along," he had threatened to stop financing or make it more difficult for New York City to obtain federal resources. "We don't want that to happen," the president said, retracting such threats. I don't believe that will occur."
Trump dominated this year's mayoral contest, endorsing independent candidate and former Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo on election eve and declaring that the city would have "ZERO chance of success, or even survival" if Mamdani prevailed.
Additionally, he questioned Mamdani's status he was born in Uganda but obtained U.S. citizenship after graduating from college and threatened to have him arrested if he carried out his threats to refuse to comply with municipal immigration officers.
Cuomo challenged Mamdani, who dismissed him as a "puppet" for the president and declared that he would be "a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and actually deliver." In one primary discussion, he said, "I am Donald Trump's worst nightmare, as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in."
Mamdani "will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party," according to the president, who has often used political rivals to energize his supporters.
Trump has frequently portrayed Mamdani as the Democratic Party's spokesperson since he upended the Democratic establishment by defeating Cuomo and his far left progressive proposals sparked internal strife.
Mamdani saw a meeting with the US president as an opportunity to confront the world's most powerful individual. Until recently, Mamdani was a relatively unknown state senator.
At a time when he is under growing political pressure to demonstrate that he is responding to voter concerns about the expense of living, the meeting provided Trump with a prominent opportunity to discuss affordability.
"Some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have," the president remarked regarding Mamdani's views on inflation. Some had anticipated fireworks during the visit at the Oval Office.
This year, the president has engaged in a number of dramatic public confrontations at the Oval Office, such as the infamously heated debate with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, in March.
While meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May, Trump turned down the lights and aired a four minute film in which he made widely disproved accusations that South Africa is viciously oppressing its white Afrikaner minority farmers.
Trump had not given the meeting with the new mayor much thought, according to a senior Trump administration source who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal internal conversations. However, the official stated that Trump's threats to stop federal funds from going to New York were still on the table.
Even while he acknowledged "many disagreements with the president," Mamdani stated on Thursday that he was not worried about the president perhaps attempting to exploit the meeting to publicly humiliate him and that he saw it as an opportunity to present his case.
Instead, in a rather cool and friendly exchange of remarks in front of press reporters, both men avoided a public altercation. Like Trump as a candidate, Mamdani, who resides in Queens, where Trump grew up, has displayed a ruthless tendency.
He seemed to take a cue from Trump during his campaign when he pointed out that one of the woman who had accused the former governor of sexual harassment was present during a televised debate with Cuomo. Cuomo has refuted any misconduct.
However, on Friday, tensions were reduced as Trump appeared to support Mamdani's plans to construct more housing. "People would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing," the president stated.
