NEW YORK — Two Queens men who frequently fight publicly — one the nation’s president and the other soon-to-be mayor of its largest city — are set to meet for the first time.

The stakes couldn’t be higher for the Nov. 21 White House meeting between President Donald Trump and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Trump, a 79-year-old Republican, and Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, are diametrically opposed in style and substance. But both have ardent supporters and campaigned on addressing affordability. Mamdani's campaign first went viral for speaking to Trump's supporters in the Bronx and Queens.

Earlier this month, Mamdani, a state assemblyman who takes office on New Year’s Day, devoted part of his victory speech to speak to Trump directly. As mayor, he said he would stand up to the president if Trump tries to send military or immigration agents into the 37% foreign-born city of 8.5 million people.

If Mamdani doesn’t help with Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, Trump previously said he would arrest Mamdani and suggested stripping him of his citizenship. Trump has repeatedly and inaccurately called Mamdani a “communist," including in his Nov. 19 Truth Social announcement of the scheduled meeting.

The next morning, Mamdani told reporters he was focused on delivering on his promise to address cost of living.

"That's why everything comes back to making the case for an affordability agenda," he said in City Hall Park on Nov. 20. "I will meet with anyone, I will speak to everyone, so long as it can stand to benefit an economic agenda for New Yorkers."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t provide details on what would be discussed, telling reporters she didn’t want to get ahead of the president.

"President 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," she said. "Or blue cities, in a city that's becoming much more left than I think this president ever anticipated in his many years of living in New York himself."

An Oval Office trap, or space for common ground?

Trump, fond of spectacle, has brought leaders to the Oval Office to publicly embarrass them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was chastised for not wearing a suit and for being insufficiently grateful for U.S. assistance.

Mamdani runs the risk that Trump has laid a such trap for him. But the reliably on-message and affable young politician may be able to avoid taking any bait the president puts out. South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, facing Trump’s false claims about a genocide of White farmers in his country, seemed to avert diplomatic disaster by appealing to Trump with images and personal stories.

And perhaps the meeting will go well. As much as Mamdani and Trump disagree, they share some things in common, according to Ester Fuchs, a professor at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a former adviser to then-New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

Both are charismatic and brought new voters out to the polls. Both campaigned on lowering the cost of everything from housing to groceries.

Of course, both Trump and Mamdani are from Queens, though of different eras and parts. Trump grew up in the tony, suburban Jamaica Estates neighborhood when it was overwhemingly white. Mamdani, a millennial, represents the diverse, gentrifying, left-leaning bastion of Astoria.

They may nonetheless use the common ground to build a relationship.

“The most important thing for the mayor-elect at this point is to actually establish a relationship that deescalates the collision course that the two of them are on right now,” Fuchs said.

The two leaders also need to feel each other out, said Mitchell Moss, a professor at New York University’s Wagner School for Public Service and an adviser to Bloomberg.

“Just the idea that they can interact with their opponents will be a positive,” he said.

Resetting the relationship between New York and Washington

The meeting may give the mayor-elect the opportunity to adjust embattled stance cities face with the Trump administration. In the second Trump era, heavily Democratic major cities have faced cuts to federal funds, along with immigration raids and National Guard deployed to their streets.

Prior New York mayors, including Eric Adams and Bill de Blasio, didn’t have the same chance to meet with an American president one-on-one in the White House, Fuchs said. (Neither Adams nor de Blasio immediately responded to email requests for comment.)

Bloomberg, the mayor during the global financial crisis, met presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama in the Oval Office. But Fuchs said the stakes for New York and other cities are even higher with federal funding cuts and militarized immigration raids in urban areas where populations and jobs are concentrated.

“Obviously, (Mamdani is) going to make the case for New York, but it’s really important for the president to recognize that cities are engines of the nation’s economy,” Fuchs said.

'There is no America without New York City'

The main way the federal government interacts with local governments is by funding certain programs.

Trump has said he'd cut off funds to New York City. If he does, Mamdani has promised to fight the administration in court. But in their talks, Mamdani may ask for Trump to reinstate federal funds Trump already has withheld, such as for the $16 billion Gateway tunnel, the nation's largest infrastructure project that's key for the Northeast rail corridor, and the Second Avenue Subway construction in Manhattan.

State Sen. John Liu, the former New York City comptroller and a Queens Democrat who endorsed Mamdani, said the main goal of the meeting is to set the tone on a working relationship.

New York is largely fiscally independent, Liu said. Less than 7% of the city's nearly $120 billion budget comes from the federal government, according to a recent state report. New York City's gross domestic product is around $1.286 trillion as of 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

New York state has also historically sent more money in revenue than it received from the federal government, making it a donor state.

However, Liu added, a more direct pain point is the “paramilitary incursion” of military and federal agents into the city.

“Neither can coexist without the other,” Liu said. “New York City does not exist without the United States. And there is no America without New York City.”

Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump to meet Zohran Mamdani. What's at stake in White House showdown?

Reporting by Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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