Trump caves to socialist Mamdani and says ‘you can call me fascist’ in extraordinary concession

Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (political rivals from two generations) met in the Oval Office on Friday.

Speaking to the press after the Oval Office meeting, the president appeared to have the Friday vibes as he slapped questions that created a divide between the two, including a reporter who asked Mamdani about referring to the president as a “fascist.”

Trump made an extraordinary concession: “You can call me that,” perhaps showing how much the young democratic socialist had impressed him in the debate.

Trump, one of the giants of the New York real estate industry, said he hoped Mamdani would be a “really great mayor.”

‘The better he is, the happier I will be,’ he added.

The president went so far as to say that conservatives would be surprised by Mamdani, a democratic socialist who came to power with the support of young voters disappointed by high property prices.

“I actually think it’s going to surprise some conservative people,” Trump said after the meeting. ‘And it won’t surprise some very liberal people because they already like it.’

Mamdani, 34, was elected in a landslide earlier this month. He is widely seen as the next generation leader of the Democratic party.

‘It’s okay, you can just say it.’ Trump said when asked about Mamdani calling the president a ‘fascist’ in the past.

‘I can tell you that I am a democratic socialist,’ Mamdani said. ‘I’ve been very open about this, and I know there may be differences in ideology, but the place for agreement is on the work that needs to be done to make New York City Affordable.’

Trump focused primarily on the common ground the two sides share.

“I congratulated him and we talked about some things like housing, getting housing built, food, prices and oil prices,” Trump added. ‘We agree on much more than I thought.’

“Some of her ideas are the same as mine,” the president said of Mamdani’s focus on affordability.

Mamdani at times seemed annoyed by the president’s flattery. While the press bombarded the two leaders with questions, Mamdani repeatedly focused on the issue of affordability.

This warm welcome was surprising, considering the duo’s attacks on each other in the past.

Trump has repeatedly urged voters not to support young progressives and backed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the eve of Election Day.

Despite calling Mamdani a “communist” and “crazy,” the president said Friday morning he believed the meeting would be cordial.

Mamdani at times seemed annoyed by the president’s flattery

Mamdani said he spoke with the president about affordability and ICE operations in New York

The president even threatened to withhold some federal funds from the city if Zohran was elected, saying: ‘If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the New York City Mayoral Election, I am unlikely to contribute Federal Funds beyond the minimum required to my beloved first home.’

But when the two met on Friday, the president’s tone completely changed.

The president said he would ‘absolutely’ live in New York City under Mamdani and had ‘little doubt’ that the unlikely duo agreed on crime policy.

“He hired a great police commissioner,” Trump said of Mamdani’s choice of Jessica Tisch, a friend of the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump.

Mamdani said he spoke with the president about affordability and cutting costs for ICE operations in New York as inflation eats away at the earnings of the middle class.

On Thursday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted the gravity of the meeting between the two rivals.

“It speaks to the fact that President Trump is willing to meet with everyone, talk to everyone, and do the right thing on behalf of the American people, whether they live in blue states, red states, blue cities — in a city that has become much more left than this president expected in his many years of living in New York,” he told reporters.

The President described how Mamdani took a photo in front of a painting of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Even though he goes after the young democratic socialist, the two have things in common.

Both have ties to New York City’s Queens neighborhood and have devoted followings.

The president even reportedly talked about Mamdani’s political power in the private meeting, noting how charismatic the progressive is.

“I know for tens of thousands of New Yorkers, this meeting is between two different candidates that they voted for for the same reason,” Mamdani said of the meeting.

‘They wanted a leader who would take on the cost of living crisis that was making it impossible for working people to live in the city.’

The mayor-elect also reportedly sought council from senior Democrats who interacted with Trump ahead of the meeting.