'Wow': When Trump told Mamdani 'You are even better looking in person than you are on TV'

As Zohran Mamdani is all set to take the oath as the New York City mayor at midnight on January 1, New York Mag writer David Freedlander recounted Mamdani's unforgettable meeting with President Donald Trump where the duo went along extremely well despite their campaign-time bitterness. Freedlander revealed that Trump's first reaction after seeing Zohran Mamdani was 'wow'. "You are even better looking in person than you are on TV," Trump apparently told Mamdani even before their meeting started.

Freedlander sad the cordial tone never changed from there and Trump was legitimately impressed by Mamdani. "After the cameras arrived, he saved Mamdani from a potentially awkward moment and insisted, in response to a reporter’s question, that it was fine to call him a fascist. At least for now, one of the biggest threats to Mamdani’s success appeared to be contained by the mayor-elect’s pure star power," Freedlander noted in his long profile on Mamdani titled 'The Making of Mayor Mamdani'.




Freedland said the social media frenzy that followed Trump-Mamdani bromance was actually just another "beat in a blitz that Mamdani kicked off the day after the election".

The meeting took place on November 21 but that was not the first time Donald Trump spoke about Mamdani's looks. Earlier, Trump claimed he was better looking than Mamdani.

Mamdani's midnight swearing-in at subway station

Mamdani will take the oath as the mayor the moment the countdown to 2026 ends at midnight on January 1. He will take the oath at the abandoned Old City Hall subway station. New York Attorney General Letitia James will administer the oath of office to Mamdani. Mamdani will then be publicly sworn in by Senator Bernie Sanders and address the city during an Inauguration Day ceremony on the steps of City Hall at 1 pm.