Trump says he and Mamdani will meet Friday in Washington, setting up clash of political opposites

President Donald Trump noted 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 announced 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 demanded 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 announced Mamdani planned to discuss with Trump citizens safety economic protection and the affordability agenda that over one million New Yorkers voted for just two weeks ago Trump for months has slammed Mamdani falsely 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 and to pull federal money from the city But following the November polling 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 business activity has never been stronger Trump communicated reporters Sunday night that he planned to meet with Mamdani saying we ll work something out On Monday Mamdani who officially takes office in January commented that he hoped to meet Trump confirming that his company had reached out to the White House to set up a practicable sit-down During his supremacy speech earlier this month Mamdani a -year-old who in just a inadequate short months rose from obscure state lawmaker representing Queens to mayor-elect of the nation s biggest city reported he needed 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 also promising to work with anyone including the president if it benefited New Yorkers