Trump predicts ‘civil’ meeting with Mamdani despite past comments about each other

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.

NYC MAYOR-ELECT MAMDANI SAYS HE’LL WORK WITH TRUMP ‘TO MAKE LIFE MORE AFFORDABLE’ DESPITE POLICY CLASHES

Both President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani have publicly addressed their high-stakes meeting. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images; Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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.

Zohran Mamdani delivers a victory speech at a mayoral election night watch party, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in New York City.  (Yuki Iwamura/AP)

LEAVITT DOESN’T MINCE WORDS AHEAD OF MAMDANI-TRUMP MEETING: ‘COMMUNIST 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.”

Zohran Mamdani, mayor-elect of New York, center, joined by members of his transition team as he speaks to members of the media at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the Queens borough of New York on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Trump and Mamdani have a history of taking swipes at each other. During his campaign, Mamdani vowed to “Trump-proof” the city, while Trump endorsed Mamdani’s main opponent, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, giving this meeting more weight. Though both Trump and Mamdani have seemed to cool their language when speaking about one another.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s team for comment.