Trump meets Mamdani, says he is ‘confident’ mayor-elect can do ‘good job’

Washington: US President Donald Trump met with New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House, saying that he felt “confident” that Mamdani can do a “good job.”

Speaking to the media after the talks, Trump said it was a “great meeting” and “the better he does, the happier I am,” adding that his administration would be “helping him to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York.”

Mamdani also thanked Trump for the “productive meeting,” and said it focused “not

on places of disagreement, which there are many, but focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers.”

Trump added that he believed Mamdani is “going to surprise some conservative people.”

“I expect to be helping him, not hurting him — a big help…I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.”

On immigration crackdown, Trump said he discussed the issue with Mamdani and the administration would focus on murderers, drug dealers and “some very bad people.”

“I think we’re going to work them out. And I think that if we have known murderers and known drug dealers and some very bad people…we want to get him out, and the mayor wants to have peace. We discussed this at great length. Actually, maybe more than anything else, he wants to have a safe New York…So we’re going to work together. I think he wants to get them out, maybe more than I do,” he added.

Hours before his planned meeting, US President Donald Trump softened his stance, saying he believed he and Mamdani “will get along fine”

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump noted that though Mamdani has a “different philosophy,” both of them want to “make New York strong.”

Trump also reacted to Mamdani’s victory speech, which referenced the president directly, telling him to “turn the volume up” on the television.

“So, hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us,” Mamdani had said.

Trump acknowledged that he was also targeting Mamdani “a little too hard.”

“It was…hard to be totally friendly toward the opponent…he had some interesting opponents, but he ran a good race. I don’t know exactly what he means by turn the volume up…He has to be careful what he says that to me…he was very nice in calling…and we’re gonna have a meeting…I think it’s going to be quite civil,” he added.

On Thursday, the White House targeted Mamdani, saying a “communist” was coming to meet the President.

The meeting comes after months of confrontations during the New York mayoral election campaign. Trump repeatedly labelled Mamdani a “communist,” predicted economic and social decline under his leadership, and threatened to cut federal funding to New York City if Mamdani won.

In an unusual step, Trump endorsed Mamdani’s rival, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent. Mamdani defeated Cuomo by nearly nine percentage points in the November 4 election, becoming the first Democratic socialist elected mayor of the country’s largest city.

IANS