After months of racist smears and outright lies about communism and terrorism, President Donald Trump heaped praise on New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani during their Oval Office meeting on Friday.
“He really ran an incredible race,” said Trump, predicting that Mamdani would be “a really great mayor”—a 180-degree turn from his claims in recent weeks that the democratic socialist’s win was terrible for New York and that he would act to withhold federal funding to the city after the Democrat’s decisive win.
Trump even said he was happy to hear that one in 10 Trump voters in New York voted for Mamdani.
For his part, Mamdani said his discussions with Trump were productive.
“We spoke about rent, we spoke about utilities, we spoke about the different ways in which people are being pushed out,” the mayor-elect said.
The meeting was a far cry from the showdown hyped up by the right. Hours before the two men met, Fox News claimed it would be a “Showdown With Socialism.” It was not, and if it was, then Trump’s rhetoric seemed to show a clear win for socialism.
Fox News was super-hyped for a death match between New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump.
For the bulk of their comments to the press, Trump said he would work with Mamdani and even adopted much of the Democrat’s rhetoric on addressing the cost of living in the city and throughout the U.S.
When a reporter asked Mamdani if he stood behind his previous remark calling Trump a fascist, Trump interrupted and said, “That’s okay, you can just say yes.”
Trump also claimed that some of Mamdani’s ideas are “the same ideas that I have.” Of course, Trump has focused on increasing the wealth of the already wealthy while Mamdani and other Democrats have focused on assisting the middle and working class—the opposite of Trump’s longtime focus.
Mamdani and other Democrats surged to victory in multiple states on Election Day by hammering at the cost of living, which has increased since Trump enacted tariffs on various goods, raising prices for consumers.
The encounter was an instance of Trump talking tough on social media and in comments to the press about a notable Democrat—only to wilt before him when meeting face-to-face.
Related | Zohran Mamdani prepares to tackle Trump
