Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday revealed the secret to his chummy relationship with President Trump in a special Big Apple broadcast of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”.
The social media savvy mayor joined host Jimmy Kimmel Monday night for the ABC late-night talk show’s eighth-annual weeklong broadcast stint at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House.
When Kimmel asked how the unlikely political pairing has hit it off — including during the president’s trip to Gracie Mansion earlier this month — Mamdani insisted the answer was simple.
“The president and I have many disagreements, but one thing we do agree on is this city and how much we love this city,” Mamdani told Kimmel, who is a staunch critic of Trump.
“And so from that first meeting in November of last year, I was just thinking of how can we make this meeting not about us, but about New Yorkers. How can we spend that time talking about the things that could make life in this city a little bit easier. That’s what it’s been, whether we met at the White House or at Gracie Mansion,” the mayor said.
Hizzoner added that he and Trump, who was born and raised in Queens, have bonded over the Sunnyside Yards redevelopment proposal to build a platform over a rail yard to construct 12,000 homes on top of — and said that a clip of him slowly blinking while Trump spoke to reporters during his visit to Gracie was just him thinking about the Queens project.
Mamdani said he texts the president “from time to time” about Sunnyside Yards and how to “deliver for the city” — but declined Kimmel’s request to send Trump a selfie of the pair on stage.
Hizzoner also revealed the texts he receives from Trump have normal punctuation and capitalization, unlike many of the president’s Truth Social posts.
When asked by Kimmel if he could come be the mayor of LA once he finishes leading the Big Apple, Mamdani politely declined, saying his heart is in New York City.
Comedian Pete Davidson and musician guest TV On The Radio also appeared on the special taping of the late-night talk show that is typically recorded in California.
Other guests lined up for the five-day stretch of shows at BAM include Paul McCartney, Billy Crystal, Howard Stern and Mahershala Ali.
Kimmel returned to air for his 4000th episode earlier this month — taking aim at Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr after a return from a summer hiatus.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was briefly suspended by Disney after the namesake host made controversial remarks about the assassination of Charlie Kirk that sparked outrage — and ABC said the show would be preempted indefinitely.
He returned to the air days later and insisted he never intended to make light of Kirk’s death.
Kimmel, 58, also recently claimed that ABC opted not to air a recent interview with Democrat Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico over threats from Trump’s FCC.
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