Donald Trump has signalled he may soon meet New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, telling reporters Mamdani “would like to meet with us”, adding “we’ll work something out” – despite trading sharp words for each other previously.
“He would like to come to Washington and meet, and we’ll work something out,” the US president said earlier this week, referring to Mr Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist and former state assembly member who won the New York City mayoral election earlier this month.
“We want to see everything work out well for New York.”
Mr Mamdani has since confirmed his team had reached out to the White House “to fulfil a commitment I made to New Yorkers over the course of this campaign, a commitment that showed a willingness to meet with anyone and everyone, so long as it was to the benefit of the eight-and-a-half million people that call the city their home, and so long as it would help to address the affordability crisis that is pushing so many of them out of the city”.
RM Block
He said, “We are seeing his actions and that of his administration in Washington leading to the exact opposite effect for New Yorkers and I will go to make the case to the president and to anyone, frankly, that these are the kinds of things we need to change if we want to make it easier for New Yorkers and for Americans to afford the day to day necessities of their life.”
In an interview last week with NBC, Mr Mamdani had said he planned to contact the White House as he prepares to take office “because this is a relationship that will be critical to the success of the city”.
“I will be proactive in the work that I do,” Mr Mamdani said. “And I think that is because of the responsibility that I hold to eight-and-a-half million people of being their mayor, it is important that you are open to working with anyone, no matter what disagreements you may have.”
Asked what he would tell Mr Trump, Mr Mamdani said he would say: “I’m here to work for the benefit of everyone that calls this city home, and wherever there is a possibility for working together towards that end, I’m ready, and if it’s to the expense of those New Yorkers, I will fight it.”
The potential meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Mamdani comes as Mr Trump frequently criticised and attacked Mr Mamdani during his campaign, calling him a “communist lunatic”, threatening to pull federal funding from the city if he won, and even suggesting the possibility of stripping Mr Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and later naturalised as a US citizen, of his citizenship – a threat that Mamdani condemned as not just “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”.
Mr Trump also endorsed Mr Mamdani’s opponent, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran an independent campaign for mayor after losing the Democratic primary to Mr Mamdani.
Throughout the race, Mr Mamdani forcefully criticised Mr Trump and his policies, including his administration’s immigration crackdown. But Mr Mamdani has repeatedly said that if elected, he would work with the president if it meant “delivering on lowering the cost of living for New Yorkers”.
In his victory speech, Mr Mamdani said that “if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him”, adding “if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power”.
“This is not only how we stop Trump; it’s how we stop the next one,” he said. “So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.”
Later in the speech, he said: “So hear me, president Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”
Mr Mamdani will be sworn in as New York City’s 111th mayor on January 1st. – The Guardian
