After attacking and demonizing each other incessantly during the New York City mayoral campaign, President Trump and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani have agreed to meet at the White House on Friday.
In a post on his Truth Social site around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Trump said, “Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran “Kwame” Mamdani, has asked for a meeting. We have agreed that this meeting will take place at the Oval Office on Friday, November 21st. Further details to follow!”
Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec confirmed that the meeting has been set and that he’ll be there.
“As is customary for an incoming mayoral administration, the mayor-elect plans to meet with the president in Washington to discuss public safety, economic security and the affordability agenda that over 1 million New Yorkers voted for just two weeks ago,” Pekec said.
Despite furiously railing against Trump on the campaign trail and during his victory speech on Election Night, Mamdani on Monday said he wants to meet face to face with the president to discuss ways the two leaders can work together for the good of the Big Apple.
“I made a commitment … to meet with anyone and everyone so long as it was to the benefit of the 8½ 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.
Among other things, the incoming mayor vowed to press Trump to avoid cutting off Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits, like he did during the recent government shutdown in his standoff with the Democrats.
Meanwhile, Trump, who has mocked Mamdani as a “little Communist,” threatened to deport him to his native Uganda and warned a Mamdani mayoralty would doom the city, also has recently softened his tone.
“We want to see everything work out well for New York,” he said.
