 "This combination of pictures shows Democratic candidate for Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani (left) and US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC (right). AFP")
New York City’s new mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani , is set to meet US President Donald Trump in the White House on Friday, weeks before taking office. Trump formally confirmed the meeting on his social media platform TruthSocial on Wednesday night, saying that Mamdani has asked for it.
He went on to label the NYC Mayor-elect incorrectly as the “Communist Mayor of New York City," when he is a Democratic Socialist. Mamdani, who has fiercely criticised Trump, sees this meeting as a way to stand up to the American leader. Mamdani has been an ardent critic of the president’s immigration policies and threats to cut federal funding to the city.
While speaking at the upcoming meeting in an interview with MS Now on Wednesday, Mamdani confirmed that his team had reached out to speak to Trump about the concerns of the New Yorkers . “I want to just speak plainly to the president about what it means to actually stand up for New Yorkers and the way in which New Yorkers are struggling to afford this city,” Mamdani explained.
How Trump looks at Mamdani
The American leader has repeatedly attacked Mamdani and said that his victory would turn out to be disastrous for New York , the hometown of Trump himself. In light of this, Trump made a last-minute endorsement of his main rival, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo , after he started running against Mamdani as an independent.
However, in private, Trump has described Mamdani as a talented politician, calling him slick and a good talker, sources told The New York Times. On Sunday, Trump told reporters that he was open to a meeting, insisting: “We want to see everything work out well for New York”.
As the January 1 inauguration nears, Mamdani has spoken about trying to find common ground on issues such as bringing down grocery prices. However, he frequently maintained that he would stand up to the president if he hurt New Yorkers.
In his victory speech on election night, Mamdani urged Trump to “turn the volume up", calling out the likelihood that the president was watching and challenging him to take notice of his policies. He went on to vow to defend immigrants like himself. “Hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us,” he said at that time.