Without mincing any words, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt once again reiterated the “communist” tag when speaking about New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. She also heaped praises on US President Donald Trump for agreeing to meet with the Indian-origin US assemblyman in the Oval Office this week despite their clashing political stances.
Revealing the bare minimum, the MAGA leader announced in a Thursday (US time) social media post that he would be sitting down with Mamdani on Friday. “Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting. We have agreed that this meeting will take place at the Oval Office on Friday, November 21st. Further details to follow!,” he wrote.
White House reacts to Trump-Mamdani meet announcement
On Thursday evening, Leavitt reacted to Trump’s decision ahead of the meeting, taking a swipe at Mamdani’s recent election victory in NYC.
“It speaks volumes that tomorrow we have a communist coming to the White House because that’s who the Democrat Party elected as the mayor of the largest city in the country,” she told reporters, eliciting a few chuckles as she said the word ‘communist.’
Then lauding Trump for still agreeing to meet with Mamdani, she went on, “Think it’s very telling… President Trump is willing to meet with anyone and talk to anyone and try to do what is right on behalf of the American people whether they live in blue states or red states or blue cities.”
Leavitt then snickered at how NYC had become “much more left” than the Republican US president had “ever anticipated in his many years of living in New York.”
When asked if mentions of unfreezing the funds to the Big Apple would be brought up during the meeting, Leavitt simply said, “we’ll see how the meeting goes.”
Mamdani spokesperson speaks out
In a statement to Axios, a spokesperson for the NYC mayor-elect countered claims of Trump “agreeing” to meet Mamdani. Instead of spotlighting his decision, the official previously said, the Oval Office meeting was inevitable as it is “customary for an incoming mayoral administration.”
The spokesperson also shared that the leaders are expected to bring up issues like “public safety, economic security and the affordability agenda that over one million New Yorkers voted for just two weeks ago” during their White House meet.
Trump’s New York connection – feud with Mamdani
Born in Queens, New York, Trump was initially brought up in a five-bedroom, Tudor-style home in the Jamaica Estates section on NYC, according to USA Today. He even went on to attend the New York Military Academy in Cornwall at 13 years of age, as per the Washington Post.
Over the years, the native New Yorker has spent decades living in Trump Towers in midtown Manhattan until his “declaration of domicile in October 2019. Thereafter, he move to Florida and listed his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach as his main abode.
Ahead of Mamdani’s NYC win, Trump threatened to hold back federal funding for the city in case he emerged victorious. However, he ultimately backtracked from his critical stance just days later.
“The communist, Marxist socialists and globalists had their chance, and they delivered nothing but disaster. And now let’s see how a communist does in New York,” he said at America Business Forum in Miami. “We’re going to see how that works out. And we’ll help them. We’ll help them. We want New York to be successful. We’ll help them a little bit, maybe.”
Mamdani, on his part, once promised to “Trump-proof” the city. Given his repeated clashes with the soon-to-be NYC mayor, the president ultimately endorsed his rival Andrew Cuomo, who lost his Democratic seat in the mayoral elections after the primary loss earlier this year.
Consequently, the POTUS asserted in a CBS News interview that he preferred a “bad Democrat” (Cuomo) over “communist” Mamdani any day.
He has long continued to call Mamdani a “communist” despite the the Uganda-born politician rejecting the label. Zohran describes himself as a democratic socialist.
