Two years ago the line between Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani was “100% Communist Lunatic.” On Monday the president is due at the mayor’s front door. Trump will meet Mamdani at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence, while he is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
Anna Bahr, Mamdani’s communications director, said the talks will focus on issues affecting the city and its residents. The White House confirmed the meeting, as the AP reported, but gave no further details.
An odd pairing
Mamdani is a democratic socialist who beat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary and then won the mayoral election in November. Republicans have often made him a target. Trump’s own tone, though, has been warmer since the election. After their first meeting, Trump described it as cordial and said the then-mayor-elect would “surprise some conservative people.” The “100% Communist Lunatic” line dates from the 2025 campaign.
The two have used earlier meetings to talk about federal support for New York. In February, Mamdani handed Trump a mock New York Daily News front page reading “Trump to City: Let’s Build.” It echoed the paper’s famous 1975 headline, “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD,” which referred to President Gerald Ford’s pledge to veto federal financial aid to the city. Mamdani’s aides said the mock page was meant to show how the public might react to new federal investment in housing, and the support such money could draw in the city.
The meeting lands in a crowded week. New York is hosting nearly 130 world leaders for this year’s General Assembly, with wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and worries about artificial intelligence among the main items on the agenda.
