In a triumphant election-night speech earlier this month, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani addressed president Donald Trump directly, telling the president to “turn the volume up.” Trump has repeatedly called Mamdani a “Communist” and questioned his citizenship status.

But when the two met in the Oval office on Friday, it was all strikingly cordial – almost affectionate.”Hopefully, you’ll have a really great mayor,” Trump told reporters. “The better he does, the happier I am.”

To break down what happened in their meeting, why it wasn’t entirely surprising, and what it could mean for New York City and the GOP, I turned to my colleague Astead Herndon, who has covered Trump and recently wrote a definitive profile of Mamdani.Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.

So Donald trump and Zohran Mamdani had this strikingly friendly appearance in the Oval. What happened? Is this a big deal?

I certainly think it’s a big deal. It reflects the intention that Mamdani approached his entire campaign wiht, and especially the general election – his consistent ability to turn skeptics into supporters. That was consistently happening in such a way that it was built into his strategy, and I think we saw that on the biggest stage yesterday.

In some ways,it reflects a lot of the meetings that he’s had already,but in some ways,it’s so much more unusual considering what Trump has said,and considering the way Trump was really coming to him. Trump’s the one throwing up the thumbs-up in the photos not Mamdani. and I think that is reflective of an approach where Mamdani and h

Trump and Mamdani: A Queens Outsider Connection

donald Trump felt rejected by certain classes of New York, by the ways elite New York Democratic liberalism shut him out.But those same structures have shut out Zohran Mamdani, too. There’s an element of Queens outsider in both of them that creates a bond.

Trump, in his early days in New York city, was flexible about working with and donating to Democrats and Republicans. He was practical, coming up as a builder in the new York political scene.

I think that kind of flexibility is required, and that practicality is reflected in Mamdani. When people saw him as ideologically rigid because of his association with the DSA and his political history, it became clear during his campaign that he didn’t view the mayoral role the same way he approached his job as a member of the New York State Assembly.

He understood that the role would require compromise, distancing himself from the DSA, and energizing his base. He recognized the need for flexibility. These are all the same qualities that allowed Donald Trump to succeed, that “be who you need to be” mindset.

Why did this meeting happen in the first place,after the contentious exchange between Trump and Mamdani during the campaign?

Mamdani’s team reached out,and there was a real sense that it was…