Posted on 11/21/25
| News Source: FOX News
President Donald Trump told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade that he believes his high-stakes meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will be "quite civil."
"I think we'll get along fine," Trump said. The president said he believes that he and Mamdani want "the same thing," despite their vastly different political stances. "We want to make New York strong," Trump added.
When asked about Mamdani's victory speech, in which he took a swipe at Trump, the president admitted that he was "hitting him a little hard" during the election cycle. The president added that he was unsure of what Mamdani meant when he said to "turn the volume up."
"I don't know exactly what he means by ‘turn the volume up’ … he has to be careful when he says that to me," the president said.
On Thursday, Mamdani addressed the upcoming meeting, saying that it would be an "opportunity to make the case for New Yorkers."
"I intend to make it clear to President Trump that I will work with him on any agenda that benefits New Yorkers. If an agenda hurts New Yorkers, I will also be the first to say something," Mamdani said.
Trump's announcement of the meeting was more fiery than his comments just hours ahead of it. He posted on Truth Social that the "communist mayor of New York City" would be coming to the White House.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed that sentiment on Thursday when she addressed the meeting during a briefing with reporters.
"It speaks volumes that tomorrow we have a communist coming to the White House, because that's who the Democrat Party elected as the mayor of the largest city in the country," Leavitt told reporters.
She added that the highly-anticipated meeting also shows that Trump "is willing to meet with anyone, and talk to anyone, and to try to do what's right on behalf of the American people, whether they live in blue states or red states — or blue cities."