Trump and Mamdani form an unlikely alliance at White House meeting

The surprisingly cordial Oval Office meeting between Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist mayor-elect of New York City, and Donald Trump, the Queens native who tried and failed to keep him from being elected, just concluded.

Despite the best efforts of a slate of correspondents from pro-Trump outlets selected by the White House to ask the pair questions, Trump and Mamdani refused repeated attempts to goad the two men into conflict.

Here are some of the key moments:

Mamdani said that his meeting with the president was “productive” and “focused on the place of shared admiration and love – which is New York City and the need to deliver affordability to New Yorkers”.

Trump repeatedly stepped in to defend Mamdani from hostile questioning from outlets like the New York Post and Fox News, When Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressed Mamdani about whether he considers Trump to be a “fascist”, the president offered the mayor-elect an unusual life raft. “That’s OK,” Trump said while tapping Mamdani’s arm. “You can just say it, it’s easier than explaining it.”

When the same Fox correspondent tried to frame Mamdani as a hypocrite for flying to the meeting from New York instead of taking a train, which is better for the environment, Trump said “I’ll stick up for you” and pointed out that it is much faster to fly and the mayor-elect is busy.

When asked by a reporter whether he would live in New York under Mamdani’s leadership, Trump said “absolutely”. “We agree on a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump said. “I want him to do a great job, and we’ll help them do a great job.”

For his part, Mamdani was relentlessly focused on the issue of making New York a more fair and affordable place to live, refusing to be knocked off course even by questions from the Pizzagate conspiracist Jack Posobiec who falsely accused Mamdani of planning to tax white New Yorkers more than New Yorkers of color.

Trump wished Mamdani success in running the city he called home: “I think he wants to make it greater than ever before, and if he can, we’ll be out there cheering.”

Trump stressed that he admired Mamdani’s political campaign and distanced himself from how own previously vitriolic denunciations of the democratic socialist as a communist. “I think he’s different, and that can be in a very positive way”, Trump said. “He has a chance to do something really great for New York ... we’re going to be helping him”.

Asked by a reporter if he agrees with his Republican ally Elise Stefanik’s characterization of Mamdani as a “jihadist”, Trump dismisses that as campaign rhetoric and says: “I met with a man who’s a very rational person”.

Trump tried hard to attach himself to Mamdani’s focus on affordability. “I congratulated him, and we talked about some things in very strong common like housing and getting housing built, and food and prices,” Trump said. While the president has insisted for months that prices have gone down during his administration, a false claim that is contradicted by government data, his sagging poll numbers make it plain that the public is not buying this big lie. Having previously said that he didn’t want to hear the word “affordability” again, casting is as “a Democratic hoax”, Trump spent much of the appearance with Mamdani stressing that this is one of their shared concerns.