US President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as they meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on November 21, 2025. JIM WATSON / AFP
Months of sniping melted away Friday, November 21, as New York City's incoming leftist mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump were all smiles at a White House meeting – promising to set aside their feud and cooperate on the city's future.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old political insurgent who rocketed from obscurity to win City Hall earlier this month, had taken on Trump in a bruising war of words, likening the Republican to "bad landlords... taking advantage of their tenants."
Washington watchers were bracing for sparks to fly when the self-described Democratic socialist met the Republican leader who has. in turn, branded the mayor-elect a "communist" and suggested the Ugandan-born New Yorker should be deported.
But the Oval Office summit was instead the embodiment of civility as a beaming Trump, 79, praised Mamdani's historic election win, said he could do a "great job," and called him a "man who really wants to see New York be great again."
