Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Monday he wants to meet face to face with President Trump to discuss ways the two leaders can work together for the good of the city.
The incoming mayor confirmed that his staff has reached out to the White House to open lines of communication with Trump’s team and that he hopes to discuss ways to make NYC more affordable.
“I made a commitment … to meet with anyone and everyone so long as it was to the benefit of the 8-1/2 million people that call the city their home, and so long as it would help to address the affordability crisis that is pushing many out of them out of this city,” Mamdani said after serving meals to New Yorkers at a Bronx food pantry.
Mamdani vowed to press Trump to avoid cutting off Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits like he did during the recent government shutdown.
“The president ran a campaign where he (promised) to deliver cheaper groceries, promised to reduce the cost of living (but) we are seeing his actions and that of his administration in Washington leading to the exact opposite,” Mamdani said. “I will go to make the case to the president and to anyone, frankly, that these are the kinds of things we need to change.”
No date has been set for any meeting.
Trump suggested Sunday that Mamdani had already agreed he “would like to meet” with Trump and predicted that they would “work something out.”
“We want to see everything work out well for New York,” Trump said.
Agreeing to sit down with Mamdani would amount to a major reversal for Trump, who has derided Mamdani as a “communist” who would destroy New York with his radical policy platform.
He also threatened to deport Mamdani, an immigrant from Uganda who is a naturalized American citizen, and to yank all federal funding from the city, which would be a legally dubious move.
Mamdani, for his part, rose from a state assembly seat to become a social media star in large part due to his message of resistance to Trump along with making the city more affordable for working people.
The democratic socialist championed an array of progressive policies that are diametrically opposed to the aggressive, anti-immigration agenda Trump has rolled out in his second White House term.
Mamdani in his victory speech said he wanted New York to show the country how to defeat the president. But the day after, while speaking about his plans for “Trump-proofing” New York once he takes office in January, the incoming mayor also said he was willing to work with anyone, including opponents like Trump, if it can help the city.
