Trump Sings Mamdani's Praises After White House Chat | THE CITY — NYC News
Category: News & Politics
Via: hal-a-lujah • last year • 16 commentsBy: Katie Honan (THE CITY - NYC News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump had a "productive" meeting Friday at the White House, as the pair found common ground on affordability concerns — and surprising camaraderie.
"We agree on a lot more than we would have thought," Trump said following the meeting. "I feel very confident that he can do a good job."
Mayor Mamdani might even encourage the former New Yorker, who in 2019 moved his legal residency to Florida, to return to the city where he was born.
"I would feel very very comfortable being in New York and much more so after the meeting," Trump said.
"I appreciated the meeting with the president, and as he said, it was a productive meeting focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City," Mamdani said.
Trump, who at times looked admiringly at the next mayor and gave him playful slaps on the arm, said he'd look to be a help to Mamdani and the city.
"The better he does, the happier I am," Trump said.
"I will say there's no difference in party, there's no difference in anything," he added. "And we're going to be helping him to make everybody's dream come true: having a strong and very safe New York. And congratulations, Mr. Mayor."
The meeting was the first between Mamdani and the president, and was requested earlier this week by the incoming mayor — who told reporters Thursday he'd meet with anyone if it could help New Yorkers.
"It's about a relationship between New York City and the White House, the president, the federal administration — it's for the people that I look to represent." Mamdani said.
During the meeting, which lasted around 30 minutes, the pair discussed the rising cost of groceries, rent and utilities, which have contributed to people being pushed out of the city, Mamdani said. Trump also said they talked about ways to build more housing.
Trump has disparagingly called Mamdani, a democratic socialist, "my little communist," endorsed his rival Andrew Cuomo in the general election and threatened to withhold federal funding to the city if Mamdani won the election. But in a Fox News radio interview Friday morning, hours before the meeting, the president struck a tone of civility.
"He's got a different philosophy, he's a little bit different, I give him a lot of credit for the run, he did a successful run and we all know that runs are not easy," he said on the "Brian Kilmeade Show."
"We're looking for the same thing, we want to make New York strong and there's such a different philosophy."
Mamdani, 34, will be sworn in as the city's 111th mayor on Jan. 1 and plans to immediately address rising costs throughout the city, he said.
But he can't do that without state and federal help.
New York City receives billions in federal tax dollars, paying for everything from homeland security to food assistance to housing programs.
Mamdani has also been critical of Trump, calling him a fascist and a despot.
"If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him," he said in his election-night speech.
Trump brushed off Mamdani's comments on Friday, saying he was fine with him calling him a fascist.
"I've been called much worse than a despot," he said with a laugh.
Trump closed the post-meeting briefing with words of aspiration for New York City and its new mayor.
"I think he wants to make it greater than ever before, and if he can, we'll be out there cheering," the president remarked. "I'll be cheering for him."
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Uhhhh … ok. Trump’s demonic shell cracked and a human crawled out. Poor maga must be devastated at losing their cult leader. Can’t wait to see Bill Maher’s take on this.
Uhhhh … ok. Trump’s demonic shell cracked and a human crawled out. Poor maga must be devastated at losing their cult leader. Can’t wait to see Bill Maher’s take on this.
Re: Trump's popularity, the polls have mainly seemed to go back & forth. But recently his favorbility rating has gone down considerably. I thinks he's started to worry.
One of the things people are unhappy about is "affordabiliy". Especially food prices.
And lo and behold Trump has suddenly taken off or lowered tariffs on-- several foods..
(Starting a conflict with Mamdami...and then starting ICE raids in NYC would be bad for his favourability. So apparently he's decided to make nice on the mayor elect of our largest city!
Trump wants to get his mojo back. Once he thinks he has done that he'll be back to attacking every Democrat and certainly Mamdani. .
There's an olde saying:
Prediction is difficult, especially about the future.
I agree that he will regress to his default, but I think it’s a stretch for maga to hang on to this whipsaw. He literally just claimed several democrats should be hanged, but the “commie” gets praise? Maher talked about how bizarre Trump is, that nothing said in the past or present seemed to bother him in person, now we’re seeing it on tape.
Trump lives in the moment, and the moment now is that he is under fire. He is off balance and he wants Mamdani's good luck to rub off on him. He doesnt believe a word he said about Mamdani yesterday, and in fairness, Mamdani doesnt believe anything nice he said about Trump either.
The two male 'combatants' are 'circling' each other in rhetoric—looking for an opening or a swerve. Stay 'flexible'!
How aboot that, Trump was right again ... /s! ... but then, so was MTG. A 2-fer Friday!
Very similar personalities.
The Charmer met the Charmed. Ahh! They canceled each other out! Now, that they are split apart. . . .
I watched their press conference. It was pretty unbelievable. Trump acted like he was in love with the guy, showering him with praise. Mamdami was fairly business-like. Quite a spectacle.
Some analyst (I do not recall who - sorry) stated this evening that, "Game recognizes game."
I think each clearly had in mind what they wanted to accomplish.
And how to go about it.
And I could be wrong, but I think felt the meeting was a success.
The Republicans planned to make "the Commie Jihadi Mamdani" the face of the Democratic Party. Trump just pulled the rug out from under them.
Could it be that 'change' is coming to the heart of Trump? Could it be that Trump is ready to 'swerve' MAGA supporters?! Maybe Donald is still on a 'sugar' high from making deals with the Saudi Prince? Watch this space.
Maga is so confused about where to send their bomb threats now.