NEW YORK — New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted President Donald Trump on Monday at Gracie Mansion, one of the president’s “favorite places in the World” and the mayor’s official residence, as the two leaders continued a cordial relationship despite their sharp political differences.
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It was their third meeting and the first on the mayor’s turf since he won election in November. Although Trump has derided Mamdani as a “communist” and warned that he would tear New York apart, the president has also appeared charmed by the 34-year-old mayor.
The meeting was especially unusual for taking place just weeks ahead of midterm elections in which Trump has tried to rally his base by warning it about left-wing candidates. Mamdani may be the most prominent example of a recent wave of democratic socialist energy that the president and his allies have derided as communism.
Mamdani invited Trump to visit him in New York at their last meeting at the White House, and the president took him up on the invitation as he kicked off two days of meetings around the U.N. General Assembly, the annual gathering of world leaders. Though Trump made his name as a New York developer and entertainer, as president he rarely returns to his hometown, where he is now deeply unpopular.
Trump didn’t visit Gracie Mansion during his first term, when Bill de Blasio was mayor.
As he made his way to the mayor’s residence Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had “spent lots of hours there over the years, with some great Mayors, some average Mayors, and some bad Mayors.”
“It will be interesting to see how it looks now, invited by Mayor Mamdani. Look forward to it. MAKE NEW YORK CITY GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote.
Mamdani met Trump in the Oval Office in November as mayor-elect and again in February after he took office. Trump said during his State of the Union address this year that he frequently speaks to Mamdani, who has said they trade text messages.
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It wasn’t clear what the two leaders planned to discuss Monday. Mamdani has blasted Trump’s immigration agenda. But he has also seen value in preserving a line of communication to the president as he seeks to maintain and grow federal funding for the city and defend its residents against the sharpest elements of the national immigration crackdown.
Mamdani intervened with Trump directly in February after a Columbia University undergraduate was arrested by federal immigration agents. After the two men spoke, the student was freed.
Although Trump allies have targeted New York’s first Muslim mayor, Trump has been relatively gentle in comparison — though he targeted Mamdani as a “100% Communist Lunatic” during the mayoral race. Mamdani, in turn, has called Trump a fascist.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), asked earlier Monday why she wasn’t also meeting Trump, told reporters that the encounter “is an evolution of the conversation had in the White House, where the mayor and he said that when he’s back in town again, he would go to Gracie Mansion. I don’t have a Gracie Mansion to invite him to.”
Hochul, who has clashed with Trump without forging the warm relationship Mamdani has created, said that “I never feel bad when I’m left out of a meeting like that.”
Hochul and Mamdani earlier this month complained that the Department of Homeland Security and White House have not disbursed $87 million promised to New York for counterterrorism and emergency response operations, and they have sought for the funds to be unblocked.
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