Mamdani maintains Trump a ‘fascist’ despite cordial White House meeting

Despite a surprisingly friendly meeting between the two politically divided men at the White House this week, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani says he still believes that US President Donald Trump is a fascist.

In an interview that was broadcast on NBC News on Sunday, Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, said, “That’s something I’ve said in the past, I say it today.”

Two days after meeting with Trump, Mamdani made the remarks, promising to work together on the city’s future and putting aside months of mutual animosities.

Following the incoming mayor’s victory on the upcoming election, Trump, a native of New York, described Mamdani as a “100% Communist Lunatic,” and Mamdani has claimed that Trump is attacking democracy.

Trump even intervened during their meeting to help the New Yorker, who was born in Uganda, as the two addressed reporters at the White House.

The president intervened when a journalist inquired whether Mamdani still believed in Trump as a fascist.

You can simply say, “That’s fine. Trump explained to Mamdani that that is simpler. It’s simpler than explaining it, he said. I don’t mind”.

In the NBC interview, Mamdani further elaborated on his position.

He said, “The thing I liked most about the conversation I had with the president was that we weren’t shy about the issues that had caused us to reach this point,” he said.

The president and I had a productive conversation that repeatedly brought up the main themes of the campaign that we ran: the cost of housing, childcare, groceries, and utilities.

Trump praised Mamdani’s historic victory at their meeting, saying he could do a “great job” after threatening to cut federal funding for the US’s largest city and to send in the US National Guard.

“We just had a fantastic, extremely productive meeting,” he said. We all share the desire to do very well in this particular city,” he said later. We will assist him in achieving everyone’s goal of having a strong, secure New York.

On the CNN news program State of the Union, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett stated that Trump wants to collaborate with everyone who cares about the country’s future.