“Some of his ideas are the same as my ideas,” Trump said after what may ultimately go down as one of the more unexpected political encounters of the decade.

“He wants to see housing go up, see a lot of housing created, apartments built … People would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing,” he added, saying “I expect to be helping him, not hurting him”.

Mamdani is scheduled to succeed Democratic incumbent Eric Adams on January 1, 2026.

In the tense lead-up to the meeting, Trump spent weeks criticising Mamdani as a “Marxist” and “communist”, accusing him of wanting to remake New York in the image of “Caracas with better bagels”. Mamdani, responding on election night, told the president, “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching … turn the volume up.”