Mamdani recognized Trump’s history of building homes; Trump said Mamdani had the potential to be a “great mayor”
President Donald Trump met with the Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani in a closed meeting September 21, at Gracie Mansion, the 3rd between the 2 leaders who belong to opposite sides of the political divide. The divergence and name calling so present in usual references to Democratic Socialists and the MAGA right was absent during the meeting and in the press conference held after. The two discussed affordability, immigration, housing, etc., on the sidelines of the United National General Assembly meetings.
It was the first time in more than 30 years that a President sought to visit the Mayor at the latter’s home, and President Trump, it was apparent, relished visiting Gracie, which he said felt like visiting a home.
Their meeting point was around affordable housing and affordable living for New Yorkers, the Mayor’s mantra, and President Trump, the builder of houses and big buildings, who held some of the purse strings while at the White House.
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“We both are so fortunate to serve New York City. Each time the President and I speak, it is about the same topics – how to improve the lives of New Yorkers and how to use the government to take on the cost-of-living crisis and build a better, stronger New York,” Mamdani began. “I have said time and again that I will work with anyone , no matter what party they belong to, no matter how much we may disagree, whoever has the power and the will to lift that weight off New Yorkers’ backs …” he said, adding, “I appreciate the conversation with the president about how we can make it easier to afford life in this great city we call our home.”
President Trump praised Gracie Mansion saying he had been there many times and had in fact suggested Mamdani live there when he was just elected and the two met in November 2025 at the White House. Calling it a “very special” place, a “beautiful place” the President said, “So, I just want to thank the Mayor for the invitation.” Noting that he had a lot of commitments at the UN and with leaders from around the world, Trump said, “But this is like a little bit of old home week for me because so many things we have done, so many things from the beautiful home … standing right behind me.” Trump tweeted it was one of his favorite places in the world before the meeting.
Asked what he loved so much about Gracie Mansion, Trump said, “Most important, I love New York, and this is representative of New York. This is where the Mayor lived and continues to live.”
He recounted how in his first meeting with Mamdani, “You were maybe having some doubts about moving in because it was a little bit of a site. I said when you are the Mayor, you have to live there. And he has done that. It was very nice inside, beautifully capped. … It is a very, very, very representative place. A very important place.”
Asked if any tangible results were achieved from the meeting, Mamdani said, “One of the focuses of the conversation with the President I’ve been having, is about the possibility of building more housing in New York City.” He mentioned building 12,000 homes, and creating 30,000 jobs, adding, “I appreciate the President, his interest in this. We also know the President not just as a leader of the country, but also as someone who has built quite a lot of housing in our city.”
Asked about the possibility of resurrecting the Sunnyside Yard development project in Queens, the site of efforts to build a housing complex, no definitive conclusion was reached though Trump appeared amenable.
A 2020 master plan at Sunnyside Yard, envisions 12,000 affordable housing units with 60 acres of parks and public service, a plan that was shelved when COVID hit. Mamdani revived the plan early this year and asked for federal funding to the tune of $21 billion to implement the masterplan.
“I can tell you that Sunnyside is a big job,” Trump said at the press conference. “I’ve been watching that for 35 years.” He referred to his earlier meetings with Mamdani where the Mayor broached the subject. “It is a very, I would say, a very federal-oriented job. You will need a lot of federal approvals and probably some federal money to do it. But it is always a very great location,” Trump said, without making a specific promise.
Asked if he would do anything for affordability for New Yorkers, Trump said, “Well, I know a lot about affordability because I did that housing. I did many low-income and moderate-income buildings over the years. I had great success with it. I would think Sunnyside would have to have a component, a substantial component of exactly that. So we discussed that.”
Mamdani was asked what he thought about President Trump banning several outlets from the White House grounds, Mamdani said, “I told the President we would have all the members of the press here on the lawn and that is something that I believe in …”
Trump defended his ban saying, “The press also has an obligation. I won the election in a landslide, I have done great things, I have done a lot of great things.” He reiterated his case about stopping 8 wars, a booming economy, and claimed Iran would never have a nuclear weapon, and complained that the “Democrat” outlets had nothing positive to say about him. He labeled the reporting as “fake news.”
When the two leaders were asked what they thought about Mamdani being “a great mayor,” Mamdani said, “I leave it to New Yorkers to make their judgments,” and that he had discussed his “very strong opinions” with the President, about how to keep New Yorkers safe and how important immigrant New Yorkers, Haitian New Yorkers, “are to the fabric of our city but also to our city’s economy and so many industries that build our city and the stability that is in the President’s hands.”
“I certainly hope you will be a great mayor,” the President said. “You have to understand, I want what is good for New York and the country, so if I had a choice of having him be a bad mayor or horrible mayor, I don’t want that. I want him to be a great mayor. He certainly has potential. Great potential.”