Zohran Mamdani stands by calling Trump 'fascist', says he will work with him anyway

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said this weekend that he’s not walking back anything he said about President Donald Trump during the campaign, including calling him a “fascist,” even as the two found themselves having a surprisingly calm first meeting at the White House on Friday.

Mamdani told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Saturday that his view of the president hasn’t changed. “After President Trump said that, I said, ‘Yes,’” he recalled, adding that “everything that I’ve said in the past, I continue to believe.” But he also said he went into the meeting focused on what New Yorkers are dealing with right now, especially the rising cost of living.

The president and mayor-elect exchanged friendly remarks after their meeting, a contrast from the tone of the election. Trump told reporters he’d be “cheering” for Mamdani, while Mamdani described the meeting as “productive.” During the campaign, Trump repeatedly attacked Mamdani online, calling him a “communist lunatic,” while Mamdani at one point labeled Trump a “despot.”

Mamdani said he wanted to reset the tone after months of heated rhetoric. He said he spoke directly with voters in the Bronx and Queens who chose Trump in 2024 and kept hearing the same issue come up: “cost of living, cost of living, cost of living.” He said that the message shaped the discussion with Trump. “We were speaking about what is preventing from delivering on that affordability agenda,” he said.

The mayor-elect also said the two discussed Trump’s repeated threats to deploy National Guard troops to New York City. Mamdani didn’t say whether Trump ruled that out, but he told the president he trusted the NYPD to maintain public safety without federal intervention. Trump later told reporters he would send troops “if they need it.”

Their meeting came after the president endorsed Mamdani’s opponent, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, on the eve of the election. Despite that, Mamdani won the race and used his victory speech to criticize the Trump administration and promise that “New York will be the light.”

Mamdani also touched on his plans to raise taxes on the city’s top earners, saying he believes Gov. Kathy Hochul will work with him on affordability. He said he’s open to alternatives as long as they “raise the same amount of money.”

He added that he supports Rep. Hakeem Jeffries becoming speaker if Democrats regain the House in 2026, and said he recently spoke with former President Barack Obama about sustaining hope and following through on campaign promises.