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Agence France-Presse

New York’s incoming leftist mayor Zohran Mamdani will meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, after an exchange of barbs that has seized national attention.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old political insurgent who came from nowhere to win leadership of America’s biggest city, said Thursday he was “ready for whatever happens”.
Sparks could fly when the self-declared Democratic Socialist comes face-to-face with the 79-year-old Republican.
Trump brands Mamdani a “communist” and has suggested the Ugandan-born New Yorker should be deported.

“It speaks volumes that (Friday) we have a communist coming to the White House,” Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.
Both men are from the Queens area of New York City and both have a talent for political messaging, but with vastly different styles.
Trump has threatened to make life difficult for the young political upstart.
The Republican, whose presidency revolves around harsh anti-immigrant policies, has derided Mamdani’s South Asian name.
More seriously for New York, Trump is threatening cuts to the city’s federal funding alongside national guard deployments like those to other Democratic cities once Mamdani, set to be the first Muslim mayor, takes office.
Mamdani was elected after a campaign focused on the often crippling expenses facing New Yorkers and promising innovative - if untested - measures like rent freezes, free buses and experimental city-run grocery stores.


Virtually unknown at the start of the campaign, he became the first mayoral candidate to surpass the one-million-vote mark in New York since 1969.
But he has also been careful to placate centrists.
He named incumbent police commissioner Jessica Tisch - seen as a safe pair of hands and reportedly popular with rank-and-file officers - as his pick to run the police department.
He also named veteran bureaucrat Dean Fuleihan, 74, as his first deputy mayor.
While campaigning, the leftist leader positioned himself as part of the anti-Trump resistance.
Since then, Mamdani has struck a more conciliatory tone, stressing his desire to work with Trump on the cost of living.
“It’s more critical than ever, given the national crisis of affordability, one that New Yorkers know very well … and the specific challenge many cities are facing in balancing public safety and steps taken by this administration,” Mamdani said in front of City Hall on Thursday.

While noting that he and Trump had “many disagreements,” Mamdani said that he would “pursue all avenues and meetings that can make our city affordable”.
He added that it was customary for a newly elected New York mayor to meet the US president.
“Look for the outcome of that meeting to be something to the effect of, ‘I think I can work with (him) - but we will see how it goes and I’m hopeful - we both want the city to succeed’,” said Syracuse University politics professor Grant Reeher.
Oval Office meetings with Trump can be perilous affairs, with the president using the impressive setting to ambush both US and foreign visitors, notably including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Columbia University political analyst Lincoln Mitchell warned that Mamdani could walk into a Zelensky-like situation, where Trump watched his vice-president, J.D. Vance, censure the wartime Ukrainian leader in front of the world’s media.
“It certainly could - you could see Vance just picking at him,” he said.
During his acceptance speech on winning the mayor’s chair, Mamdani looked down the camera and said: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you - turn the volume up!”
The White House confirmed that Trump had been watching.


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Donald Trump

Trump and New York mayor-elect Mamdani set for high-stakes White House meeting

US President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani are set to meet at the White House on Friday. Photo: AFP

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Photo: Reuters

New York’s incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani greeting supporters on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump during a tense Oval Office meeting in February. Photo: AFP

Mayor-elect Mamdani unveils all-woman team as he prepares to ‘Trump-proof’ New York

New York Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani and (from left) Transition Executive Director, Elana Leopold, Transition Co-chairs, Melanie Hartzog, Maria Torres-Springer, and Grace Bonilla arrive for a press conference in Queens on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

New York Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition co-chair Lina Khan speaks during a press conference at the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Former New York governor and independent candidate for New York City mayor Andrew Cuomo reacts at his election night rally after losing to Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani. Photo: Reuters

Trump doubles down on US immigration raids, says ‘they haven’t gone far enough’

ICE agents and federal officers detain a migrant as he walks out from a hearing during targeted detainment at a US immigration court in New York City. Photo: Reuters

ICE agents detain a protester as other protesters try to stop them in Chicago. Photo: Chicago Sun-Times via AP

US Congress approves release of Epstein files, sending bill to Trump

National Director of World Without Exploitation Lauren Hersh embraces Jeffrey Epstein survivor Liz Stein as they react to the Senate’s passing of the bill to force the release of the files. Photo: Reuters

The House of Representatives passing a measure to force the release of Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein. Photo: House Television via AP

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Congressman Thomas Massie outside the US Capitol in Washington. Photo: AP

Zohran Mamdani’s New York win stirs hope and uncertainty in China over future of US ties

Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York mayoral election has become a talking point in China. Photo: TNS

In Malaysia, Madani-Mamdani mix-up goes viral after New York mayor’s win

New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani meets  reporters during a conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Thursday. Photo: AP

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaks during a Madani Unity Tour lecture in 2023. Photo: Bernama/dpa

A group of Malay, Chinese and Indian Malaysians. The country has a multiracial make-up. Photo: Shutterstock

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Zohran Mamdani is ‘ready for whatever happens’ after the US president branded him a ‘communist’ and suggested he be deported


Zohran Mamdani is ‘ready for whatever happens’ after the US president branded him a ‘communist’ and suggested he be deported.


Trump and New York mayor-elect Mamdani set for high-stakes White House meeting

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Zohran Mamdani is ‘ready for whatever happens’ after the US president branded him a ‘communist’ and suggested he be deported

Zohran Mamdani is ‘ready for whatever happens’ after the US president branded him a ‘communist’ and suggested he be deported