OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
1:03 PM – Saturday, November 22, 2025
Both sides of the political aisle are baffled after President Donald Trump’s unexpectedly friendly face-to-face meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
On Friday, Mamdani arrived at the White House for his highly anticipated first in-person meeting with the president. The two had been at odds for the entirety of Mamdani’s mayoral campaign.
They emerged from the meeting seemingly in good spirits, highlighting their shared interests and love for the city and almost shrugging off past spats.
“I mean, it did seem like a little bit of a bromance,” said GOP Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.). “Based on the election results, we knew Mamdani was charming, but who thought he’d be able to charm the president?”
MAGA social media users thought that Trump’s politeness with the future mayor reflected well on him.
“Donald Trump has Zohran Mamdani shaking his head yes the whole time. I LOVE IT,” wrote MAGA Voice, who has 1.3 million followers on X, “I do NOT care what anyone says. This was such a power move by President Trump”
“Trump is in complete control and relaxed. Mamdani is out of his league and nervous,” said DogRightGirl, with about 348,900 followers on X.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) did not hold such a favorable view of Trump after the meeting.
“Is it any surprise that Trump wants to stand next to Zohran Mamdani and say, ‘Oh, yeah, we think about things the same way, particularly when it comes to affordability?’” Warren said, appearing on CNN on Friday. “He’s just trying to take a little of the shine that Zohran Mamdani has and see if he can, you know, rub a little on Donald Trump.”
Warren argued that the president’s geniality with Mamdani is due to a “terrible problem with affordability” on his part, which has been the center of Mamdani’s campaign platform.
“He promised he was going to reduce prices on day one. Prices are up across the board,” Warren said of Trump. “He is in trouble. His poll numbers are dropping. People’s confidence in his ability to handle the economy is dropping. His tariffs are imposing more costs on more people. His energy policy is raising the cost of utilities across the country.”
“He has a problem,” the congresswoman added. “And Zohran Mamdani is the person who is now associated with fixing that problem.”
Meanwhile, Curtis Sliwa, Mamdani’s Republican opponent and founder of the Guardian Angels, found fault with both men.
“We just all got played for eight months,” Curtis said in a CNN appearance on Friday. “Everyone in the world, everyone in the country, everyone in New York City got played by these two thespians, these actors.”
Sliwa characterized Trump and Mamdani as “Godzilla versus King Kong” throughout Mamdani’s run.
He recalled, “There was Zohran Mamdani calling Donald Trump a fascist — he’s not. And then Donald Trump calling Zohran Mamdani a communist — he’s not.”
Sliwa reminded viewers of instances of Trump and Mamdani’s feuding.
“So, they’re like antagonizing their followers. And then all of a sudden today we’re expected to believe kumbaya?” Sliwa remarked, continuing to say, “I feel that I, like the American people, were turned into suckers.”
Sliwa maintained his position throughout his run for mayor that the leader of New York City needs to have a respectful relationship with Trump, but contended that the president and mayor-elect owe the American people an apology for months of “engaging their followers to ferment anger towards one another” because “clearly they didn’t mean it.”
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