A long-awaited meeting between New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump is about to unfold.
The in-person meeting between the political polar opposites will be watched closely – the two have antagonised each other from afar.
Mamdani and Trump will meet in the Oval Office today, and could possibly de-escalate the tensions between the Republican president and Democratic rising star.
After Mamdani’s historic win in the New York mayoral race, Trump has seemed to move towards accepting the New Yorker’s central, winning campaign issue of affordability.
But could Mamdani’s political reach as Mayor of New York stretch beyond the five boroughs?
Native New Yorker Trump has been outspoken against Mamdani, threatening to deport him (although Mamdani holds a green card) and even boasted he was ‘better looking’ than the millennial.
‘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 terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power,’ Mamdani said in his victory speech.
After the win, he said his team reached out for a meeting with Trump because of his commitment he made to New Yorkers.
‘I said I would be willing to meet with anyone and everyone, so long as it was to the benefit of the 8.5 million people who call the city home and their struggle to afford the most expensive city in the United States of America,’ he explained.
Jason Pack, host of the Disorder Podcast, told Metro that the meeting between Mamdani and Trump will showcase the state of the world’s disorder.
‘Rather than a real conversation about tax policy or the role of the U.S. in the world, where you could have left and right and a real discussion and compromise, we have a reality TV show,’ he said.
‘We have a reality TV show where no one has any solutions, and the opposing ‘sides’ are represented by these absurd, extreme caricatures.
‘I’ve previously said that Mamdani is Trump, and Trump is Mamdani. Both of them realise that they’re the same person on opposite sides of the spectrum. They will benefit from growing each other’s personalities and engaging in the reality television show of the Oval Office drama because they benefit from the reality TV show of politics.’
What will Trump and Mamdani talk about?
‘It speaks volumes that tomorrow, we have a communist coming to the White House because that’s who the Democrat Party elected as the mayor of the largest city in the country,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
‘But I also think it speaks to the fact that President Trump is willing to meet with anyone and talk to anyone and to try to do what’s right on behalf of the American people.’
It’s worth noting that, contrary to what Republicans believe, Mamadani is not a communist. He is a democratic socialist.
Trump and Mamdani, though on opposite sides of the political spectrum, will likely discuss some of the things they both have in common – wanting affordability, their love of New York and public safety.
‘In terms of the nuts and bolts, much of Mamdani’s actual programs require federal funding,’ Jason says, pointing out that the relationship between the pair will be a public matter for the rest of Trump’s presidency.
‘Mamdani may be able to just do rent control freezes, that’s within the power of the city, but much of the rest of his agenda requires a relationship with Washington,’ he added.
‘They both, in theory, care about low inflation and making life go back to the way that it once was for the working class. They both actually are populists. They agree on many of the challenges, but not that they’re going to agree on how to get there,’ Jason said.
Trump doesn’t have ‘any solutions’ for manufacturing issues in the US, or on how to help the middle class, Jason argues – the President just cut taxes on billionaires.
Mamdani, on the other hand, doesn’t have solutions on how to make New York more affordable.
‘The rent freeze not only won’t work, but it also mostly benefits upper-middle-class people who have rent-controlled apartments. It doesn’t make life more affordable for people,’ Jason explained.
Immigration will also be an issue. ICE units moving through the Big Apple have seen locals fight back to protect their own, with Mamdani saying he will ‘Trump-proof’ the city to protect New Yorkers.
Mamdani was clear in his hopes for the meeting: ‘I have many disagreements with the President, and I believe that we should be relentless and pursue all avenues and all meetings that can make our city affordable for every single New Yorker.
‘I intend to make it clear to President Trump that I will work with him on any agenda that benefits New Yorkers. If an agenda hurts New Yorkers, I will also be the first to say so.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.