Mr. Socialist goes to Washington.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani wants to “speak plainly” to President Trump about making New York City more affordable during their high-stakes White House meeting Friday — as the political world waits to see if it’ll implode bigly or end up surprisingly cordial.
Trump and Mamdani have traded swipes for month, with the president threatening to cut the city’s federal funding if “my little Communist” was elected, and the democratic socialist condemning his attempts to meddle in the mayoral race.
“I have many disagreements with the president, and I believe that we should be relentless and pursue all avenues and all meetings that could make our city affordable for every single New Yorker,” Mamdani said during a City Hall Park news conference Thursday.
“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.”
The Queens-born commander-in-chief and the Astoria assemblymember are political polar opposites, but also charismatic outsiders whose messages galvanized voters disaffected by politics-as-usual leaving them — and their pocketbooks — behind.
The lefty mayor-elect, in an MS NOW interview Wednesday night, noted that his affordability message isn’t so much different from Trump’s.
“I want to just speak plainly to the president about what it means to actually stand up for New Yorkers, and the way in which New Yorkers are struggling to afford the city,” he said on “All in with Chris Hayes.”
“And frankly, cost of living is something that I heard time and time again from New Yorkers about why they voted for Donald Trump.”
It wasn’t yet known late Thursday what time the highly anticipated Oval Office face-to-face would take place, or how long it would last.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stayed coy about what to expect during the meeting as she repeated Trump’s inaccurate claim that Mamdani is a communist.
“Tomorrow we have a communist coming to the White House because that is who the Democrat Party elected as the mayor of the largest city in the country,” she said.
“I won’t get into the president’s thinking on it. I think you all will hear from him directly.”
Trump is no stranger to using his White House perch to try to humiliate foes, such as his tense clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February.
But Leavitt argued the fact that Trump will welcome Mamdani reflects his open mind.
“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, whether they live in blue states or red states, or blue cities,” Leavitt said.
The Republican president has maintained a productive, if fraught, working relationship with Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul — despite their differences and semi-regular condemnations of each other.
Trump pollster John McLaughin, who has known the president for decades, said those expecting a West Wing war of words could be disappointed.
“Trump will be gracious and polite. He will be fair, though they have policy differences,” he predicted.
“President Trump is a New Yorker. His head and heart is in New York. He loves the people of New York.”
But Mamdani should also avoid antagonizing the president, McLaughlin said.
“Picking a fight with the president would be a mistake. He needs the president’s help,” he said.
“We’ll see if there is agreement.”
Mamdani, for his part, said he’ll leave no stone unturned to fulfill his promise to make the city more affordable.
“I’m not concerned about this meeting,” he told reporters Thursday. “I view this meeting as an opportunity for me to make my case, and I’ll make that case to anyone.”
— Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
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