New York City Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani President Donald Trump took questions at the White House on Friday after meeting for the first time to discuss growing affordability issues.
President Trump and President Mamdani, who have hurled fierce attacks at each other in recent days, continued their firing as they appeared side by side in the Oval Office.
They discussed areas of agreement, particularly about efforts to make life cheaper in New York City, and even exchanged a few compliments.
President Trump said, “If things go well, I think we’ll have a really great mayor.” “The better he does, the happier I will be.”
While Trump sat resolutely at his desk, Mamdani stood and said, “I thanked the president for the meeting.” “And as he said, it was a productive meeting that focused on New York City, a place of mutual admiration and love, and the need to provide affordability to New Yorkers.”
The conciliatory tone was brand new. Just two days ago, Trump called Mamdani “the communist mayor of New York City.” The mayor-elect is a self-proclaimed democratic socialist and denies being a communist.
The Oval Office meeting was requested by Mamdani, the 34-year-old who became the center of American politics with his stunning mayoral victory over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“I will work with anyone to make life more affordable for the more than 8.5 million people who call this city home,” Mamdani said Thursday.
Before the mayoral election, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from New York City if Mamdani won.
I had not had that threat in mind before the meeting. Asked Thursday whether Mamdani might be able to persuade Trump not to shut down New York City, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said: “Let’s see how the meeting goes tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, the president’s approval ratings have fallen sharply in many polls, with respondents consistently citing the high cost of living as their main concern.
Mamdani and other Democrats who won a series of elections this month have relentlessly focused on the issue of affordability, a term Trump has bristled at while insisting that prices have already fallen significantly.
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