On Friday, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani visited the Oval Office for a meeting with President Donald Trump.
In a video released of the meeting, it was surprising to watch Trump’s reaction to Mamdani, while many wondered how the Mayor-elect kept a straight face during the joint press conference. Later, Mamdani opened up about how he kept that straight face throughout the meeting.
While Trump regularly brands Mamdani, 34, a communist, he is a democratic socialist, heading to be the 111th New York City Mayor. Following his historic win in the November election, Mamdani was invited to the White House for a meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
Meanwhile, the much-anticipated meeting came together after the two men have publicly disagreed with each other. This is so much so that the Mayor-elect had branded himself “Trump’s worse enemy.”
Watching the footage reveals that while there were personal and political disagreements between the two men, they did appear to be cordial in their live-streamed conference. Partly this was due to their shared New York roots, while they unexpectedly praised each other, while softening previous remarks about each other.
In the joint press conference, Trump expressed hope that Mamdani would be a “really great mayor” while assuring that he is “confident that he can do a very good job.” After the run-up to the meeting, this cordiality has sent shockwaves through the public.
Meanwhile, Adam Friedland, a comedian based in New York City, invited Mamdani on to his podcast, where he asked him how he managed to keep a straight face through the bizarre meeting.
During the episode, which was released Monday, Zohran Mamdani explained that he focuses on delivering on affordability, which has always been at the heart of his mayoral campaign. “Honestly, I was just thinking about New York City,” Mamdani said.
“The whole time I was trying to think about the difference between if you have a White House that is working toward an affordability agenda or one that is making it harder to live in the city,” the Mayor-elect said, adding, “That’s, kinda, what kept me,” while gesturing a forward motion with his hand.
Moreover, despite Trump’s administration making Islamophobic attacks against Mamdani, the president told reporters that he disagreed with Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is planning to run for the governor of New York, and who called Mamdani a “jihadist.”
In the meeting with Adam Friedland, both he and Mamdani revealed interesting connections with South Africa. Friedland was brought up in Cape Town and thrilled Mamdani with that statement, as according to IOL, Mamdani was also brought up in Cape Town, where he credits his childhood for shaping his politics and worldview.
Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda and moved to Cape Town around 1996, after his father, Professor Mahmood Mamdani, accepted a post at the University of Cape Town. South Africa is deemed a “Rainbow Nation,” and Cape Town is famous for its colorful and historic Cape Malay suburb of Bo-Kaap. This has led to a major achievement for Mamdani as the new Mayor-elect of one of the greatest cities in the USA, New York City.
