Trump Shocks With Earnest Praise of Zohran Mamdani: He’s Going to ‘Surprise’ Conservatives

During a Friday presser from the White House’s Oval Office, President Donald Trump offered some rare kind words to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani after their meeting, saying, “I think he is gonna surprise some conservative people, actually.”

Responding to the first question of the presser, from the New York Post’s Steven Nelson, Trump said, “He’s got views that are, uhh, out there, but who knows? I mean, we’re gonna see what works. He’s gonna change, also. We all change. I changed a lot from when I first came to office.”

“We had discussions on some things,” continued Trump. “I feel very confident that he can do a very good job. I think he is gonna surprise some conservative people, actually. And some very liberal people he won’t surprise, because they already like him,” the president concluded, with a glance and smile to Mamdani.

At the very start of the presser, when offering a summary of their “great” meeting, Trump offered his congratulations to Mamdani, saying he ran “an incredible race.”

He continued, “I think, hopefully, you’re gonna have a really great mayor, and the better he does, the happier I am, I will say. There’s no difference in party, there’s no difference in anything, and we’re gonna be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true — having a strong and very safe New York.”

Notably, Trump has repeatedly slandered democratic socialist Mamdani in the past, calling him a “Communist Lunatic,” “my little communist mayor,” and even suggesting he may not be in the country legally.

During Mamdani’s speech after winning the election on November 4, he called out the president, saying, “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up!”

Watch the clip above via Fox News.