Washington — President Trump has called Zohran Mamdani “my little communist mayor.” Mamdani has vowed to “Trump-proof” New York City. Today, after months of heated rhetoric on both sides, the president and the mayor-elect of the nation’s biggest city will meet for the first time at the White House.
Mamadani, a democratic socialist, doesn’t have much in common politically with the Republican president. But he called the meeting “an opportunity to make the case for New Yorkers” and said he plans to discuss economic security and public safety.
“I’ll be ready for whatever happens,” Mamdani said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday, “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.”
Mamdani used similar language, saying his team reached out to set up the meeting “because I will work with anyone to make life more affordable for the more than 8.5 million people who call this city home.”
But often, their words for each other have been more combative.
Mr. Trump, who grew up in Queens and built his business career in New York City, has decried the incoming mayor as “a communist lunatic.” Mamdani has blasted the president’s immigration raids and economic policies.
Here’s a sampling of what the two men have said about each other:
Trump has leaned into calling Mamdani a “communist”
The president has repeatedly referred to Mamdani, a self-identifying democratic socialist, as a communist. He’s called him “my little communist mayor” and a “communist lunatic.”
“Zohran Mamdani, a 100% Communist Lunatic, has just won the Dem Primary, and is on his way to becoming Mayor. We’ve had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous,” Mr. Trump posted in June.
“I don’t know what it is, but we have to win the midterms otherwise all of the things that we’ve done, so many of them are going to be taken away by the radical left lunatics,” the president said ahead of Election Day. “I mean, we’re going to end up with a communist mayor in New York, can you believe it, a communist? Remember, I would always say we will not have a socialist elected in our country.”
Trump has suggested Mamdani, a naturalized citizen, may be in the country illegally
President Trump — who spent years promoting “birther” conspiracies about President Obama — has suggested that Mamdani isn’t in the country legally, despite Mamdani being a naturalized U.S. citizen. Mamdani was born in Uganda and moved to New York City with his family at age 7. He gained citizenship in 2018.
“A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,” he said of Mamdani this summer. “We’re going to look at everything.”
The president has also floated the possibility of arresting Mamdani if he tries to keep U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting and deporting people. If that happens, the president said, “Well then, we’ll have to arrest him.”
Trump has threatened to pull federal funding from New York City
Before Mamdani’s election, Mr. Trump urged New Yorkers to vote for his rival, former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and threatened to pull federal funding from New York City if Mamdani were mayor.
“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home,” said Mr. Trump, who spent most of his life in New York before changing his primary residency to Florida in 2019.
The Trump administration’s efforts to pull federal funding for projects in blue cities and states during the government shutdown has been met with resistance in court.
But after Mamdani won, the president sounded like he might take a different approach.
“We’ll help them,” Mr. Trump said. “We want New York to be successful. We’ll help them a little bit, maybe.”
Trump said Jews who vote for Mamdani are “stupid”
The president said during the campaign that any Jews who vote for Mamdani are “stupid” because of Mamdani’s positions on Israel and support for Palestinian statehood.
“Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!” the president wrote.
Mamdani has said his views were often misrepresented. “And frankly, I think much of it has to do with that I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election,” he said during the last debate.
Trump said “Mamdani, or whatever the hell his name is”
Speaking at the America Business Forum in Miami on Nov. 5, Mr. Trump brought up Mamdani while talking about the subject of transgender athletes.
“How about the weightlifting? 218 pounds by a woman, that’s a lot to lift over your head. 218 pounds, or whatever, was the record. A man beat the record by 100 pounds. It stood for, like, 17 years or something. A man beat the record by 100 pounds. He was a failed male weightlifter, but as a female, he did very well,” Trump said, mimicking a weightlifter. “People are crazy.”
“And Mamdani, whatever the hell his name is, in New York. He thinks it’s wonderful to have men playing in women’s sports,” Mr. Trump said.
Mamdani has said he’s ready to challenge Trump
On the campaign trail, Mamdani was highly critical of the president’s immigration crackdown. He’s also suggested the president and his administration are looking out for the rich.
During his victory speech, Mamdani spoke directly to the president: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up!” he said to a cheering crowd.
“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani said he won’t be intimidated by the president.
“His threats are inevitable,” Mamdani said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” the morning after his victory. “This has nothing to do with safety, it has to do with intimidation.”
Mamdani has also made the argument that Mr. Trump’s policies have made life more expensive for New Yorkers.
“The Trump administration continues to find new ways to raise costs on all of us,” he said.
Mamdani criticized “transphobic bigotry” from Trump administration
After current New York Mayor Eric Adams suggested revising school bathroom policies, Mamdani tweeted, “Awful and dangerous to hear the Mayor echo the transphobic bigotry coming from the Trump administration.”
“It’s completely at odds with the values of our city,” he added.
Mamdani said Trump wants to have him “arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported”
In a social media post in July, Mamdani said Mr. Trump “just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported” over Mamdani’s objections to Mr. Trump’s deportation policies.
“His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you,” Mamdani wrote. “We will not accept this intimidation.”
Mamdani said he’ll work with Trump on any agenda item that benefits New Yorkers
Mamdani says he’ll work with the president on any agenda item that benefits New York City residents.
“I intend to make it clear to President Trump that I will work on any agenda that benefits New Yorkers,” he said in a press availability. “If an agenda hurts New Yorkers, I will also be the first to say so.”
