President Trump and Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, put on a remarkable display of bonhomie in the Oval Office on Friday, with Mr. Trump showering praise on the democratic socialist and promising to help him succeed.
The meeting represented a stunning turnabout for Mr. Trump, who had warned New York voters that electing Mr. Mamdani would amount to an existential threat to the nation’s largest city.
“I expect to be helping him, not hurting him — a big help,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.”
For his part, Mr. Mamdani, who had vowed on the campaign trail to stand up to the president, called their meeting “productive” and said that he looked forward to working with Mr. Trump to improve life in New York.
The scene was extraordinary as Mr. Trump and Mr. Mamdani, who had lobbed labels like “communist” and “despot” at each other during a mayoral campaign filled with vitriol, nodded approvingly as each spoke and struck an optimistic tone with reporters. But they also sidestepped questions that might have highlighted their most polarizing positions.
For Mr. Trump, the public rapprochement was an opportunity to align himself with a charismatic young politician who has tapped into many of the same economic concerns that have animated the president’s base. It also comes after Democrats seized on the issue of affordability, which powered them to electoral victories this month. Since then, Mr. Trump and his allies have sought to frame the G.O.P. as the party addressing high costs.
For Mr. Mamdani, the high-stakes trip to the White House, which has bedeviled multiple foreign leaders, could be hugely consequential for the nation’s largest city, as could his relationship with the president in the coming months. Many New Yorkers have worried that Mr. Trump would send the National Guard into the city shortly after Mr. Mamdani takes office on Jan. 1 or that the president would try to punish the city in other ways. Mr. Mamdani seemed to have defused that threat — for now.
“The better he does, the happier I am,” Mr. Trump said on Friday.
Kathryn S. Wylde, the leader of a prominent business group in New York, who has warmed to Mr. Mamdani despite his calls to tax the rich, called the meeting a success.
“Nothing could be more promising for our city’s next few years than the leadership skills and discipline that our young mayor-elect demonstrated by coming out of this meeting with what appears to have been a positive exchange with the president,” she said.
Mr. Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and moved to New York City as a boy, has been a forceful critic of Mr. Trump’s immigration policies. In March, Mr. Mamdani confronted Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s border czar, in a video that went viral, shouting at him while being held back by state troopers.
Mr. Mamdani told reporters on Friday that he had expressed concerns to Mr. Trump about immigration raids, including a recent one involving a mother and her children.
Elle Bisgaard-Church, Mr. Mamdani’s closest adviser, said on NY1 as she left the White House that “we were very heartened” by the meeting and having an opportunity to discuss the city’s affordability crisis. At the same time, she said they were “clear about our disagreements in the room,” including expressing concerns about immigration raids.
Though his public posture was quite a change for the president, Mr. Trump has privately complimented Mr. Mamdani in recent weeks. Still, the president’s genial tone was an especially stark contrast with Mr. Trump’s comments on Thursday, when he attacked a group of Democratic lawmakers and said their behavior was “punishable by death.”
“We agree on a lot more than I would have thought,” Mr. Trump said about Mr. Mamdani.
Mr. Trump also praised Mr. Mamdani’s campaign — after endorsing his opponent — and marveled at the immense media interest in their meeting.
Mr. Trump’s warmth toward Mr. Mamdani, however, could be short-lived — especially if attacking Mr. Mamdani proves to be politically useful for the president and his party. He notably disagreed with comments by one of his allies, Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, who is running for governor, when asked about her description of Mr. Mamdani as a “jihadist.” The president said he did not agree with Ms. Stefanik’s assessment.
“I met with a man who’s a very rational person,” he said. “I met with a man who really wants to see New York be great again.”
Mr. Trump’s posture toward Mr. Mamdani also reflects his continued obsession with New York City, where he was born and raised and has multiple real estate holdings.
“I always said, you know, one of the things I would have loved to be someday is the mayor of New York City,” Mr. Trump said.
At multiple points during the meeting, Mr. Trump jumped in to defend Mr. Mamdani from pointed questions from reporters. The president patted Mr. Mamdani on the arm when he was asked by a reporter if Mr. Trump was a fascist. Mr. Mamdani smiled awkwardly, and the president advised him to just say yes.
“That’s OK,” Mr. Trump said. “You can just say yes. That’s easier. It’s easier than explaining.”
When a reporter pointed out that Mr. Mamdani called the president a “despot,” Mr. Trump interrupted: “I’ve been called much worse than a despot. So it’s not that insulting.”
And when a reporter pressed Mr. Mamdani on why he flew to Washington instead of taking Amtrak, a more environmentally friendly option, Mr. Trump said, “But if he flew, that’s a lot quicker too.”
He added: “That’s a very long drive. I’ll stick up for you.”
Reid J. Epstein contributed reporting.
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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