US President Donald Trump and elected mayor of New YorkZohran Mamdani, held a meeting this Friday at the White House that both described as “very productive,” despite having starred one of the most tense local campaigns in recent years.
The private meeting, held in the Oval Office, marked a radical change in the tone of their relationshipaccording to the agency EFE.
Trump, who for months accused Mamdani of being a “communist” and warned about the implementation of a supposed “regime” in New York if he won the elections, he was conciliatory and assured that he had “a lot of confidence” that the Democrat “can do a good job.” He even stated that New Yorkers “will hopefully have a really great mayor,” and promised to help him “make everyone’s dream come true.”
Standing beside him, Mamdani, who will officially take office on January 1 and will be the city’s first Muslim mayor, agreed that the meeting was “positive.”
He argued that the exchange focused on the policies needed to serve New Yorkers, beyond the stark public differences between the two.
Previous tensions
During the campaign, The young 34-year-old politician had described Trump as a “despot”while the Republican warned that many residents would flee to Florida if he were elected.
At the joint press conference, Mamdani confirmed that they discussed the presence of the Border Patrol in the city, an issue that Trump returned to assuring that both seek a “crime-free” New York.
The Mamdani’s victory in the municipal elections on November 4 was historic: He got about 50.6% of the vote compared to 41.2% for Andrew Cuomo and 7.4% for Curtis Sliwa.
His election not only makes him one of the city’s youngest mayors in decades, but also a figure with an unconventional political profile in the American context.
According to several media outlets, the challenge will be to see if this unexpected cordiality translates into a stable working relationship between a Republican president and a progressive mayor.
USA: progressive Zohran Mamdani wins in New York and the Democrats reactivate the vote
