President Donald Trump (right) meets with New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 21, 2025. (Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images)
"I think you're going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor and the better he does, the happier I am," Trump said. "I will say there's no difference in party, there's no difference in anything. And we're going to be helping him, to make everybody's dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York."
Ahead of the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Mamdani a "communist" while remarking that Trump's doors are open to any U.S. leader no matter their political party.
TRUMP PREDICTS 'CIVIL' MEETING WITH MAMDANI DESPITE PAST COMMENTS ABOUT EACH OTHER
Trump remained seated during his press event, while Mamdani stood by his side and fielded a handful of questions. The pair shared a hopeful outlook for the future, with Trump arguing that despite their political differences, they will work together and also share a handful of priorities, namely affordability and lowering the cost of living for Americans.
"He's got views that (are) a little out there, but who knows? And then we'll get to see what works or he's going to change also, we all change," Trump said. "I changed a lot. Change a lot from when I first came to office, it's now quite a while ago, quite a while. My first term was great. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We're doing even better now. We're doing much better now than we did even in the first term. And I can tell you, some of my views have changed."
The president predicted that Mamdani "is going to surprise some conservative people, actually, and some very liberal people."
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (L) in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressed Mamdani on his past remarks describing Trump as a "fascist," with the president jumping in to tell him it's easier to "just say yes."
"Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?" Heinrich asked.
" I've spoken about …" Mamdani began to answer before Trump said, "That's okay. You can just say yes."
"Okay, all right," Mamdani continued, as Trump added, "It's easier. It's it's easier than explaining it. I don't mind."
Trump went on to praise Mamdani as a "rational person" who has the trajectory of making New York City safe and bringing down costs.
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"I met with a man who wants to really wants to see New York be great again," Trump said. "And I can say again, because New York was great, you know, when I came down to Washington initially, the city was so hot and was doing great. We were having some telltale signs of problems. We had a mayor that was not doing a great job, but still it was moving along. And, it went bad. It really went, you know, pretty bad. And he can I think it's been at lower points, but it went pretty bad."
Mamdani, who has been accused of holding antisemitic views, wrapped up the press event by pledging he would work to secure a safe New York City for its large Jewish population.
"I care very deeply about Jewish safety and I look forward to rooting out antisemitism across the five boroughs and protecting Jewish New Yorkers," he said.
Mamdani won his election Nov. 4 while squaring off against Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent after losing Demcorat primary election to Mamdani over the summer.
Mamdani will be sworn in as the Big Apple's mayor Jan. 1.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-reveals-one-thing-common-he-has-mamdani-after-oval-office-love-fest