Takeaways from Trump and Mamdani’s surprisingly cordial meeting

US President Donald Trump met with newly elected New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani at the White House in what was billed as the political showdown of the year – but instead became a praise fest.

In his election victory speech, the self-described democratic socialist mayor called Trump a “despot.”

And before Friday’s meeting, the president’s spokeswoman called Mamdani’s visit a “communist coming to the White House.”

But standing side by side in the Oval Office, the two men struck a surprisingly conciliatory tone.

Time and again, the two men emphasized their shared interest in solving New York’s affordability crisis. They smiled often, and Trump even seemed amused when reporters asked him about the political attacks Mamdani had leveled at him.

The tone of the meeting seemed to surprise political observers, but it showed that both men understand that tackling the affordability crisis is essential to their political success.

It remains to be seen whether the truce will last once Mamdani takes office on January 1.

Until then, “I’m going to encourage him,” Trump said.

The connection was evident from the moment they began speaking to the press.

Facing the media after a private meeting, Mamdani stood to Trump’s right with his hands clasped as the president sat behind the Resolute desk. Their body language was relaxed – especially Trump’s.

Not only did Trump refrain from attacking Mamdani, he praised him repeatedly.

The president expressed hope that Mamdani would be a “truly great mayor.”

Later, the president added that he was “confident that he could do a very good job.”

Mamdani and Trump traded political barbs throughout the mayoral election. A reporter in the room reminded the two men Friday that Trump had called Mamdani a “communist” and that Mamdani had called the president a “despot.”

Both men deflected several questions about their previous statements and returned to praise.

Trump even let Mamdani answer a question about whether the mayor-elect thought the president was a “fascist.”

“It’s okay, you can just say yes,” Trump interjected, lightly patting Mamdani on the arm and smiling. “It’s easier than explaining.”

Trump was the most critical of Mamdani’s policies, telling reporters, “He has views that are not widely held.”

Perhaps most striking is that Trump rejected a question echoing an attack on Mamdani by one of his top political allies in New York.

“Do you think you are standing next to a ‘jihadist’ in the Oval Office right now?” asked a reporter, quoting Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who is running for governor of New York State.

“No, I don’t,” Trump quickly responded.

“There are times when you say things during a campaign,” Trump said of Stefanik. “He is a very competent person.”

Mamdani and Trump have something in common: They are both New Yorkers and both call the borough of Queens home.

Trump’s childhood home is in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood, while Mamdani currently resides in Astoria.

The two men had a “shared admiration and love” for the city, Mamdani said.

Although Trump rarely spends time in his namesake Manhattan skyscraper these days, he spoke fondly of his hometown throughout the press conference.

“This city could be incredible. If it could be spectacularly successful, I would be very happy,” Trump said.

At one point, the president suggested that, in a different political life, he would have liked to be mayor of New York himself.

Part of the reason the two men appeared at the same pace Friday may have been their shared focus on cost-of-living issues.

Trump won re-election last year after relentlessly pressing the issue of high inflation that frustrated voters in 2024. As consumers worry about the cost of groceries, housing and other essentials, Trump has tried to convey a message of economic stability.

During his campaign in New York, Mamdani focused on the lack of affordable housing and proposed, among other initiatives, freezing rent increases for certain rent-stable apartments.

Mamdani said he and Trump discussed how to “make prices affordable to New Yorkers.”

Each time he was asked a question about their differences of opinion, the elected mayor brought the conversation back to this subject.

Facing a question about their different views on achieving peace in the Middle East, Mamdani responded that Trump voters had expressed to him a desire to “end the forever wars” and for leaders to address “the cost of living crisis.”

On law enforcement and immigration, they also seem to find common ground. Mamdani said he and Trump discussed federal immigration enforcement operations in New York and that he raised residents’ concerns about how they were being conducted.

But Trump said they discussed crime more than immigration.

“He doesn’t want to see crime and I don’t want to see crime,” the president said. He had “very little doubt” that the two would not agree on this issue.

Trump even said he would feel safe in a New York run by Mamdani.

The cordial relations on display Friday could complicate Republican efforts to use the self-described democratic socialist as a scarecrow in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, when control of the U.S. Congress will be at stake.

In elections earlier this month, Republicans struggled and Democrats won key elections. It is unclear whether this trend will continue.

The Republicans had planned to make Mamdani the face of the Democratic Party, according to the American news site Axios. They notably presented him as anti-police, anti-capitalism and anti-Israel in an effort to give Republicans an advantage in key elections.

But the friendly side of the Oval Office could undermine this strategy.

While praising Mamdani, the president said he believed the new mayor would “surprise some conservatives.”