A surprise meeting between New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump led to an image of both men, taken in the Oval Office. The Internet quickly came alive to comment on the post.
Why did Mamdani and Trump have a surprise visit in the Oval Office? On Thursday morning, a Colombia University student, Elaina Aghayeva, was detained by federal immigration officers, who misrepresented themselves in order to enter a residential building.
Mayor Mamdani has previously said that he didn’t want ICE or other federal immigration officers causing havoc in New York City, as they have in Minneapolis. However, he arranged to meet with the president to resolve the issue and called his surprise meeting with Trump “productive,” while sharing an image of the two men together in the Oval Office.
“In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” Mamdani said.
While Trump admitted that he liked Mamdani during the first meeting in the Oval Office, his feelings about the New York mayor may have changed, as he recently called him “the new communist mayor of New York City” when discussing a voter identification bill.
“I think he’s a nice guy. I actually speak to him a lot — bad policy, but nice guy,” Trump said of Mamdani.
As noted by the Independent, President Trump is a native New Yorker, who previously hosted Mamdani in November shortly after his election. It was at that stage that Trump unexpectedly praised the then-mayor-elect, while pledging support for the city.
I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon.
I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City. pic.twitter.com/XnPbt0KXYU
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) February 26, 2026
Mayor Mamdani shared the image of himself and Trump in the Oval Office, where the president is grinning, while the mayor has dropped his normal sunny smile for a serious expression. The mayor captioned the post, writing, “I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon. I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City.”
Once the image of Mamdani and Trump hit Instagram, comments started flooding in. One social media user commented with what most people were thinking, writing, “Only time I’ve ever seen this man not smiling mind you.” Another follower wrote in a similar vein, “Only time when zohran isn’t smiling ear to ear is when he’s with this guy.”
Sharing a laughing and crying emoji, another Instagram user noted the unusually glum mayor writing, “I thought this was AI.” Many agreed with that statement with one commenting, “i thought this was on a meme page.”
Many others agreed, with one noting, “Me too. Thought Trump’s social media team hacked into Mamdani’s account. This picture feels weird.” Another social media user sympathized with the mayor having to acquiesce to Trump, but wrote, “Gotta do what you gotta do homie.” Yet another agreed on that point, writing, “Sometimes you gotta play the game to win the game.”
On that note, another Mamdani follower joked, “I can see by your face that you are super excited.” Another follower wrote, “Haven’t seen trump smile that hard since the Epstein files.” Yet another agreed, writing, “Bro will literally do anything to distract from the files.”
Directly addressing New York’s mayor, another concerned follower wrote, “Blink twice if you’re ok.”
As Zohran Mamdani surely knows, you have to take the rough side of politics, while doing your best for your city and its residents.
