Trump to meet Mamdani at White House Friday, setting up clash of political opposites

US President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that the long-awaited meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani would happen in Washington later this week, setting up an in-person clash between the political polar opposites who for months have antagonized each other from afar.

The sit-down, which Trump said on social media would take place Friday in the Oval Office, could possibly represent a detente of sorts between the Republican president and Democratic rising star, as Trump has since Mamdani’s win moved toward acceptance of Mamdani’s central, winning campaign issue of affordability.

Calling Mamdani by his full name — and putting the mayor-elect’s middle name of Kwame in quotation marks — Trump posted Wednesday night that Mamdani had asked for the meeting, promising “Further details to follow!”

Saying it was “customary” for an incoming New York City mayor to meet with the president, spokesperson Dora Pekec said Mamdani planned to discuss with Trump “public safety, economic security and the affordability agenda that over one million New Yorkers voted for just two weeks ago.”

Trump for months has slammed Mamdani, labeling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown if the democratic socialist was elected. He also threatened to deport Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen in 2018, and to pull federal money from the city.

But following the November election — in which Republicans lost badly in Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia — Trump has spoken more about affordability, which had been a focal point across Democrats’ campaigns, including Mamdani’s, even declaring Friday in a social media post that the GOP is the “Party of Affordability!” This comes as the president and his fellow Republicans insist the economy has never been stronger.

Trump told reporters Sunday night that he planned to meet with Mamdani, saying “we’ll work something out.”

Mamdani, for his part, has been critical of the Trump administration’s policies, including its crackdown on immigration and US support for Israel during the war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza, which the mayor-elect has repeatedly labeled a “genocide.”

Jewish New Yorkers have expressed concern over how Mamdani will respond to anti-Israel protests at synagogues and in Jewish neighborhoods. Mamdani last year defended the protest slogan “Globalize the intifada” — which was also used at a protest outside a synagogue on Wednesday — but later said he would “discourage” its use after coming under massive pressure.

Trump has derided Mamdani’s South Asian name and threatened to cut federal funding for New York upon the Muslim’s election to run America’s largest city.

“Mandami, whatever the hell his name is,” Trump said recently — apparently deliberately mispronouncing the Uganda-born politician’s surname.

The US federal government is providing $7.4 billion to New York City in fiscal year 2026, or about 6.4 percent of the city’s total spending, according to a New York State Comptroller report.

Mamdani has not backed down from Trump, calling out the 79-year-old Republican during his victory rally earlier this month.

The 34-year-old who, in just a few short months, rose from obscure state lawmaker representing Queens to mayor-elect of the nation’s biggest city, said he wanted New York to show the country how to defeat the president.

He’s also talked about “Trump-proofing” New York once he takes office in January, while promising to work with anyone, including the president, if it benefits New Yorkers.

“Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you — turn the volume up!” he said to his cheering supporters.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later confirmed the president had indeed watched Mamdani speak.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.