Mamdani makes unannounced trip to meet Trump in Washington

New York mayor Zohran Mamdani is meeting Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, during an unannounced trip to the nation’s capital, an official in the mayor’s office confirmed to The Guardian.Neither the mayor nor the president’s public schedules listed the meeting. However, Trump does have a “private meeting” listed for 3pm ET. The White House has yet to reply to The Guardian’s request for comment.The New York Post was first to report the news of the meeting, and the New York Times noted that the mayor and president were set to speak at 1pm ET, according to unnamed sources familiar with the plans. It’s unclear what the scope of the meeting will include, but it comes just days after Trump said he speaks with Mamdani regularly, during his record-breaking State of the Union address on Tuesday.“The new communist mayor of New York City, I think he’s a nice guy, actually,” Trump said of the democratic socialist.“I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy.”This would be the second in-person meeting for the two New Yorkers, following an unexpectedly cordial summit in November, after Mamdani won the mayoral election in a landslide victory. Throughout the mayor’s campaign, Trump denigrated Mamdani’s platform and character, referring to him as a “communist lunatic” and “total nut job” on social media. He even pushed New Yorkers to vote for the former Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, who ran for mayor as an independent.Since taking office, Mamandi – who once promised to be “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare” – has done little to antagonize the president. He has also commented sparingly on administration policies that could affect New York, particularly Trump’s routine threats to withhold federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities.On Wednesday, when asked about how frequently he communicates with the president, Mamdani said they “have conversations that are always focused on how to keep the city moving forward”.Trump was surprisingly effusive while speaking to reporters after his sit-down with the mayor late last year, and complimented his sweeping election victory. The president extolled how the Mamdani “came out of nowhere” and praised his campaign and staff.“We agree on a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump said at the time. “I want him to do a great job, and we’ll help them do a great job.”