US President Donald Trump and the new mayor of New York City, Democrat Zohran Mamdani, both described their meeting at the White House as “productive,” following the president’s attacks on the now-mayor of the most populous city in the United States. Trump believes Mamdani will be an “excellent mayor.”
“We just had a great, very productive meeting. I think, hopefully, we’ll have an excellent mayor. (…) The better he does, the happier I’ll be. There’s no party difference. There’s no difference about anything, and we’ll help him make everyone’s dream a reality: for New York to be strong and very safe,” he declared.
In this regard, the New York businessman emphasized in a joint press conference after their meeting that he has “a lot of confidence that he will do an excellent job” and that he “will surprise some conservatives, and even some liberals.” He also acknowledged that he would feel “very, very comfortable” in a New York City controlled by Mamdani.
For his part, the mayor confirmed that it was “a productive meeting focused” on “the need to ensure affordability for New Yorkers, the eight and a half million people who call the city home” and who “struggle to afford life in the most expensive city in the United States.”
“We talked about rent, food, utilities, and the different ways people are being forced to leave. And I appreciate the time I spent with the mayor, I appreciate the conversation. I look forward to working together to achieve that affordability,” he said.
He also noted that the meeting “didn’t focus on the points of disagreement, which are many, but on the common purpose” they share “of serving New Yorkers.” “We addressed time and again the idea of how to lift them out of poverty and begin providing them with a city where they not only struggle to afford it, but where they can actually live,” he explained.
When asked about their differences regarding the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in some cities across the country—which, in fact, does not include New York—Trump said they would “work them out.”
“We’re going to work together. We’ll make sure that if there are horrible people there, we want to get them out. I think he wants to get them out even more than I do, so we’ll work together.” “We’ve talked about it a lot,” the US president replied, addressing Mamdani.
He also downplayed his threats to cut federal funding to the city: “I hope to help you, not hurt you,” he said. He insisted that he would “help you do a great job,” even though “we may have different views on many things.”
