Trump and Mamdani meet Friday in the Oval Office. They’ve cast each other as adversaries for months

By MICHELLE L PRICE Associated Press WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump has called New York City s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a Communist Lunatic and a total nut job Mamdani has called Trump s administration authoritarian and described himself as Donald Trump s worst nightmare Related Articles Supreme Court meets to weigh Trump s birthright citizenship restrictions blocked by lower courts Leaders arrive for a first African G summit overshadowed by a rift between the host and the US Federal judge orders release of expatriates detained in Idaho raid citing due process violations Federal judges uphold several North Carolina US House districts drawn by Republicans Leadership ordered to resume deportation protection campaign for vulnerable immigrant youth So their first-ever meeting scheduled for Friday at p m EST at the White House could be a curious and combustible affair Despite months of casting each other as prime adversaries the Republican president and new Democratic star have also indicated an openness to finding areas of agreement that help the city they ve both called home Mamdani a democratic socialist who takes office in January stated he sought the meeting with Trump to talk about methods to make New York City more affordable Trump has stated he may want to help him out although he has also falsely labeled Mamdani as a communist and threatened to yank federal funds from his hometown But for both men the meeting offers opportunities beyond any areas of feasible bipartisan agreement The two men are convenient political foils for each other and taking the other one on can galvanize their supporters Trump loomed large over the mayoral race this year and on the eve of the polling endorsed independent candidate and former Democratic Gov Andrew Cuomo predicting the city has ZERO chance of success or even survival if Mamdani won He also questioned the citizenship of Mamdani who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen after graduating from college and reported he d have him arrested if he followed through on threats not to cooperate with immigration agents in the city Mamdani beat back a challenge from Cuomo painting him as a puppet for the president and noted he would be a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and authentically deliver He declared during one primary debate I am Donald Trump s worst nightmare as a progressive Muslim immigrant who indeed fights for the things that I believe in The president who has long used political opponents to fire up his backers predicted Mamdani will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party As Mamdani upended the Democratic establishment by defeating Cuomo and his far-left progressive policies provoked infighting Trump repeatedly has cast Mamdani as the face of Democratic Party For Mamdani a sit-down with the president of the United States offers the state lawmaker who until in recent weeks was relatively unknown the chance to go head-to-head with the greater part powerful person in the world The meeting gives Trump a high-profile chance to talk about affordability at a time when he s under increasing political pressure to show he s addressing voter concerns about the cost of living But that s if the meeting doesn t turn rocky A chance for selected Oval Office drama It was not forthwith clear whether cameras will be allowed into the meeting Trump s daily schedule declared it will be private but the president often invites in a small pool of reporters at the last minute The president has had specific dramatic society Oval Office faceoffs this year including an infamously heated exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in March In May Trump dimmed the lights while meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and played a four-minute video making widely rejected states that South Africa is violently persecuting the country s white Afrikaner minority farmers A senior Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions mentioned Trump had not put a lot of thought into planning the meeting with the incoming mayor but reported Trump s threats to block federal dollars from flowing to New York remained on the table Mamdani announced Thursday that he was not concerned about the president potentially trying to use the meeting to publicly embarrass him and mentioned he saw it as a chance to make his episode even while acknowledging countless disagreements with the president If the president does use the meeting as a society confrontation Mamdani may be uniquely ready for it He like Trump was a relative political outsider who rose to mastery with a populist message that promised a break from the establishment known for his savvy navigation of the spotlight and a distinctive use of social media Mamdani who lives in Queens where Trump was raised also has shown a cutthroat streak During his campaign he appeared to borrow from Trump s playbook when he noted during a televised debate with Cuomo that one of the women who had accused the former governor of sexual harassment was in the audience Cuomo has denied wrongdoing The moment evoked Trump s tactics before a debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton in when he appeared with accusers of her husband former President Bill Clinton who denied the accusations against him Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington and Anthony Izaguirre in New York contributed to this assessment