6 months ago
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President Donald Trump said connected Friday (November 21, 2025) that helium would “absolutely” consciousness comfy surviving successful New York City nether Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, pointing to unexpected areas of statement aft their Oval Office gathering and praising the incoming mayor’s views connected crime, lodging and affordability.
Mr. Trump delivered 1 of the astir astonishing lines of his Oval Office quality league connected Friday (November 21, 2025), telling reporters that helium would “absolutely” consciousness comfy surviving successful New York City erstwhile Zohran Mamdani takes office. The remark capped a strikingly lukewarm speech betwixt 2 politicians who clashed bitterly during the mayoral campaign, yet present accidental they person communal crushed connected the city’s astir urgent challenges.
Asked straight whether helium would consciousness astatine easiness successful Mr. Mamdani’s New York, Trump did not hesitate. “Yeah, I would. I truly would, particularly aft the meeting, absolutely,” helium said. Moments later, helium elaborated: “We hold connected a batch much than I would person thought. I deliberation he’s — I privation him to bash a large occupation and we’ll assistance him bash a large job.”
Mr. Trump’s comments came aft astir an hr of associated remarks and questions with Mr. Mamdani, during which some men emphasized alignment connected affordability, rent, lodging operation and transgression — areas that dominated the mayor-elect’s run and person agelong animated Trump’s governmental messaging.
Mr. Mamdani, a antiauthoritarian socialist and 1 of New York’s astir progressive incoming mayors, often invoked the “cost of living, outgo of living, outgo of living” refrain during the campaign. On Friday (November 21, 2025), helium repeated that voters from each governmental backgrounds, including Mr. Trump supporters, cited groceries, rent, utilities and childcare arsenic their top concerns.
Mr. Trump seized connected that overlap. “The caller connection is affordability… they’re coming down,” helium said, referring to ostentation and market prices, and insisting that falling substance prices should construe into little Con Edison bills. “If we’re sending them substance astatine a overmuch little price… we person to get Con Edison to commencement lowering their rates.”
On transgression and nationalist safety, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Mamdani’s stated committedness to maintaining the NYPD’s 35,000-officer headcount, calling the mayor-elect’s presumption “a bully sign.” Mamdani reiterated that his medication would guarantee constabulary “focus connected superior crime” alternatively than respond to “200,000 intelligence wellness calls a year.”
Mr. Trump added, “He wants to person a harmless New York… Ultimately, a harmless New York is going to beryllium a large New York.”
Housing, however, emerged arsenic the astir astonishing argumentation bridge. Mr. Trump said Mr. Mamdani “wants to spot houses spell up… a batch of apartments built,” and emphasised that “people would beryllium shocked, but I privation to spot the aforesaid thing.” Mamdani aboriginal tied that precedence to reforms successful New York’s analyzable property-tax system, which helium described arsenic “so inequitable that it can’t adjacent basal up successful court.”
For Mr. Trump, Friday’s (November 21, 2025) code besides reflected a recalibration. When asked astir his earlier descriptions of Mr. Mamdani arsenic a communist, helium replied, “He’s got views that are a small retired there, but… immoderate of my views person changed… I consciousness precise assured that helium tin bash a precise bully job.”
Pressed connected whether helium inactive believed Mr. Trump had a fascist agenda, Mr. Mamdani did not retract past statements but said helium and the President were “very wide astir our positions” and that the gathering focused connected “shared purpose… successful serving New Yorkers.” Mr. Trump brushed it off: “I’ve been called overmuch worse than a despot.”
As the speech wrapped up, Mr. Trump returned to his earlier point, praising Mamdani’s emergence from an underdog campaigner who “came retired of nowhere” to winning a superior “nobody expected helium was going to win.” He said helium hopes Mr. Mamdani volition “bring [New York] backmost … greater than ever before,” adding, “If helium can, we’ll beryllium retired determination cheering.”
But it was that earlier remark — a erstwhile New York billionaire President saying helium would “feel very, precise comfortable” surviving nether the absorption of a politician helium erstwhile derided — that underscored however dramatically the governmental publication flipped connected Friday.
This nonfiction is published successful an statement with 5WH.
