After spending months warning that Zohran Mamdani posed an existential threat to New York City, President Trump ended his first face to face meeting with the mayor elect by stressing common goals and exchanging warm words.

“I feel very confident that he can do a good job,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Friday. “I think he is going to surprise some conservative people actually.” The shift in tone was striking given the campaign season, when Trump and Mamdani hurled labels like communist and despot at each other. This time they listened attentively, nodded when the other spoke, and even shared a few smiles, though both avoided questions that would draw attention to their most divisive positions.

Mamdani called the meeting productive and said he looked forward to improving life in New York in cooperation with the president. The relationship between the two could carry major consequences for the country’s largest city. Trump echoed that sentiment, saying they agreed on far more than he expected and calling Mamdani a rational person.

Their political differences remain stark. Mamdani, a Democrat and democratic socialist, ran for mayor on the claim that he was the only candidate willing to stand up to Trump, whom he has called a threat to democracy. Yet he also noted that many New Yorkers cast votes for both of them. Trump, for his part, brushed aside claims from Representative Elise Stefanik who described Mamdani as a jihadist terrorist sympathizer.

With Trump having previously threatened to send the National Guard into New York City and to pull billions in federal funding, Mamdani has every reason to keep tensions under control as he approaches his inauguration on January 1.