Washington

President Donald Trump has called New York City's Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a "100 per cent Communist Lunatic" and a “total nut job.” Mamdani has called Trump's administration “authoritarian" and described himself as “Donald Trump's worst nightmare.”

But their first-ever meeting Friday at the White House focused more on their shared goals rather than their combustible differences. They discussed housing affordability and the cost of groceries and utilities, as Mamdani successfully used frustration over inflation to get elected, just as the president did in the 2024 election.

“We're going to be helping him, to make everybody's dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York,” the president told reporters with Mamdani beside 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 said.

Working people have been left behind in New York. In the wealthiest city in the world, one in five can't afford $2.90 for the train or bus. As I told Trump today— it’s time to put those people right back at the heart of our politics. pic.twitter.com/PUVQfuT38s

— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) November 21, 2025

The president brushed aside Mamdani's criticisms of him over his administration's deportation raids and claims that Trump was behaving like a despot. Instead, Trump said the responsibility of holding an executive position in the government causes a person to change, saying that had been the case for him.

“I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually,” said Trump, who later seemed to take little umbrage when reporters asked Mamdani to clarify his past statements indicating that he thought the president was acting like a fascist.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist who takes office in January, said he sought the meeting with Trump to talk about ways to make New York City more affordable. Trump has said he may want to help him out — although he has also falsely labelled Mamdani as a “communist” and threatened to yank federal funds from his hometown.

Trump loomed large over the mayoral race this year, and on the eve of the election, endorsed independent candidate and former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, predicting the city has “ZERO chance of success, or even survival” if Mamdani won.

He also questioned the citizenship of Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalised American citizen after graduating from college, and said he'd have him arrested if he followed through on threats not to cooperate with immigration agents in the city.

Mamdani beat back a challenge from Cuomo, painting him as a “puppet” for the president, and said he would be “a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and actually deliver.” He declared during one primary debate, "I am Donald Trump's worst nightmare, as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in.”

The president, who has long used political opponents to fire up his backers, predicted Mamdani “will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party.” As Mamdani upended the Democratic establishment by defeating Cuomo and his far-left progressive policies provoked infighting, Trump repeatedly has cast Mamdani as the face of Democratic Party.

For Mamdani, a sit-down with the president of the United States offered the state lawmaker who until recently was relatively unknown the chance to go head-to-head with the most powerful person in the world.

The meeting gave Trump a high-profile chance to talk about affordability at a time when he's under increasing political pressure to show he's addressing voter concerns about the cost of living.

“Some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have,” the president said of Mamdani about inflationary issues.