Donald Trump seems to have taken a U-turn from his original stance on Zohran Mamdani, and a drastic one at that. Over the last few months, the US President and the NYC Mayor-elect have been involved in a very public war of words, but that seems to have changed and how after their meeting at the Oval Office on Friday.
Donald Trump went on to praise Zohran Mamdani during the press briefing and summed it up as a “great meeting.” Donald Trump said, “We’ve just had a great meeting—a really good, very productive meeting.”
.@POTUS meets with NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office: “We’ve just had a great meeting—a really good, very productive meeting. We have one thing in common: we want this city of ours that we love to do very well.” pic.twitter.com/nMVOcYU1RS
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 21, 2025
The President listed that the two have one thing in common, their drastic political ideologies notwithstanding. “We have one thing in common: we want this city of ours that we love to do very well,” Donald Trump said.
“We had a meeting today that actually surprised me. He wants to see no crime. He wants to see housing being built. He wants to see rents coming down. All things that I agree with,” Donald Trump said on Friday.
The President repeatedly emphasized that he will be cheering for Mamdani. “I expect to be helping him, not hurting him — a big help, because I want New York City to be great. I think he wants to make it greater than ever before and if he can, we’ll be out there cheering. I’ll be cheering for him,” Donald Trump said.
As for Zohran Mamdani, thanking Donald Trump post the meeting, he said, “I appreciated the time with the president. I appreciated your conversation. We are very clear about our positions and our views and what I really appreciate about the president is the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement, of which there are many, [but instead] focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers.”
Before heading to the meeting with Donald Trump, Zohran Mamdani shared an in-flight selfie of himself, in which he was seen flashing an ear-to-ear grin. He simply added a plane emoji. No caption needed.
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) November 21, 2025
Earlier this month, Mamdani challenged Donald Trump in his NYC speech, saying, “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up.” The President had cryptically responded in a Truth Social post, writing, “And so it begins.”
Slamming Donald Trump in his winning speech, Zohran Mamdani said earlier, “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to defeat a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. I will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks.”
Before the NYC mayoral elections, Donald Trump claimed that he’s “much better-looking” than the democratic socialist. To which Mamdani had replied, “My focus is on the cost-of-living crisis, bro.”
Zohran Mamdani’s mother is veteran Indian filmmaker Mira Nair, and his father is Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani. He is the first Indian-American Muslim and the youngest mayor-elect of New York City. Mamdani ran against independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
