The surprisingly friendly meeting between President Trump and Zohran Mamdani
USA TODAY’s Joey Garrison analyzes a surprisingly friendly meeting between President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said he has not changed his stance on President Donald Trump after their cordial meeting at the White House, reaffirming his previous criticism of the Republican Party leader.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” host Kristen Welker asked Mamdani if he still thinks the president is a fascist and a threat to democracy.
The new mayor and democratic socialist said he stood by his comments, which included allegations, as recently as his Nov. 4 victory speech, that the president had engaged in attacks on American democracy and was a “fascist” and a “despot.”
Welker in the interview also mentioned an exchange during Trump and Mamdani’s Oval Office meeting when a reporter asked the New York City mayor-elect if he considered Trump a fascist, as he has previously said.
When Mamdani began to respond, standing next to the president as he sat at the Resolute Desk, Trump quickly made a joke.
“It doesn’t matter, you can just say ‘yes,'” Trump told Mamdani. “It’s easier. It’s easier than explaining. I don’t mind.”
Mamdani noted in the interview broadcast Sunday that — after Trump made the jab — he answered “yes” to the reporter’s question.
“It’s something I’ve said in the past (and) I’m saying it today,” Mamdani said.
Although different definitions abound, many experts agree that fascism is an extreme combination of nationalism and militarism, often accompanied by a cult of personality surrounding a leader.
The “Meet the Press” appearance was Mamdani’s first national interview since the White House meeting, which drew public attention for the two men’s friendly and positive attitudes after months of trading blows. Trump blasted the new mayor in several social media posts, calling him a communist and a “nutjob” in the run-up to his landslide victory on Election Day.
Although Mamdani said he has not changed his mind on the president’s positions, he nevertheless added that he hopes they can work together to solve the affordability problem. The costs of housing, child care and groceries were central to Mamdani’s campaign success.
“What I appreciated about the conversation I had with the president was that we didn’t shy away from talking about the areas of disagreement, about the politics that brought us to this moment,” Mamdani said of Trump. “And we also wanted to focus on what that might look like to provide a shared analysis of an affordability crisis for New Yorkers,” he said.
Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.
Contributor: Cybèle Mayes-Osterman
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