Months after threatening to deport him and labelling him a communist, President Donald Trump is now reportedly willing to meet newly-minted New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Trump had indicated over the weekend that “The Mayor of New York, I will say, would like to meet with us. We will work something out. We want to see everything work out well for New York.”
A Mamdani spokesperson indicated that the mayor had intended to contact the White House “because this is a relationship that will be critical to the success of the city.”
The New York Post had quoted him as saying that “if President Trump wants to speak about lowering the cost of living or delivering cheaper groceries … I’m there to have that conversation. I am here to work for the benefit of all that call this city their home and wherever there is a possibility of working together to that end, I’m ready.”
Trump had been critical of Mamdani’s victory speech, describing it as “very angry. Certainly very angry towards me and I think he should be very nice to me. You know I am sort of the one who has to approve a lot of things coming to him. So he’s off to a bad start.”
“He has to be a little bit respectful of Washington, because if he’s not he doesn’t have a chance of succeeding. I want to make that city succeed.”
Mamdani hasn’t held back either. “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.”
“This is not only how we stop Trump, it’s how we stop the next one. So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn up the volume.”
Thirty eight years in journalism, widely travelled, history buff with a preference for Old Monk Rum. Current interest/focus spans China, Technology and Trade. Recent reads: Steven Colls Directorate S and Alexander Frater's Chasing the Monsoon. Netflix/Prime video junkie. Loves animal videos on Facebook. Reluctant tweeter.
