New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani brushed off Jimmy Kimmel’s repeated invitations to trash President Trump, stressing housing talks and a shared love of the city instead of late-night partisan theater.
Fox News reported that the mayor appeared Monday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and faced a string of questions about how he built an unexpected working relationship with the president.
Kimmel pressed hard on the personal angle. He wanted the origin story, the charm strategy, and any hint of friction he could turn into comedy.
Mamdani would not take the bait. He described disagreements with Trump while insisting their meetings stay fixed on New Yorkers, not personalities.
From the first sit-down in November of last year through later sessions at the White House and Gracie Mansion, the mayor said the focus never shifted to ego.
"And so, from that first meeting in November of last year, I was just thinking of, ‘How can we make this meeting not about us, but about New Yorkers? How can we spend that time talking about the things that could make life in the city that little bit easier?’ And that's what it's been whether we've met at the White House or at Gracie Mansion," Mamdani said.
The host framed the relationship as something Mamdani might have calculated for political gain. He asked whether the two hit it off right away or whether the mayor walked in determined to charm the president of the United States.
"Did you guys hit it off immediately or is it something that you really went into thinking, like, ‘OK, I need to have a relationship with the president of the United States and I think the best way to do it is to charm him?' How did you do that and can you help me?" Kimmel asked.
Mamdani’s reply was short: "Sorry, brother."
That exchange set the pattern. Kimmel kept circling the personal bond. Mamdani kept steering back to policy and results for the city.
The same dynamic has drawn national notice before, including when Trump visited Gracie Mansion for another high-profile meeting with the mayor.
Photo captions place a White House meeting on Feb. 26, 2026, and the Gracie Mansion session on Sept. 21, 2026, ahead of the Kimmel taping captioned Sept. 28, 2026.
Mamdani said the top subject in recent conversations has been Sunnyside Yard, a decades-old concept to build a platform over a rail yard and put housing on top of it.
"The number one thing that we've been speaking about recently has been Sunnyside Yard, which is this idea for decades of building a platform over a rail yard and then building 12,000 homes. And so, in that moment, you know, that you zoomed in on, I'm just thinking about 12,000 homes, 30,000 jobs, largest housing development since the early 1970s," he said.
Kimmel turned even that detail into a gag, asking whether Trump might confuse “Sunnyside” texts with a breakfast order.
"When you text him about Sunnyside, are you sure he doesn't think you're texting him about eggs?" Kimmel said.
Mamdani answered that he was "pretty sure" the messages stayed normal and did not resemble the president’s Truth Social posts.
Kimmel still marveled at the access. "Wow. You really have broken through with him," he said, then floated a larger joke: maybe New York should spare the mayor so he could hang around the Oval Office full-time.
The host even asked Mamdani to text Trump a selfie of the two of them right then. The mayor shut it down cleanly.
"I love you, but I love housing more," Mamdani said.
City priorities keep drawing fire on other fronts as well, from free Met tickets drawing online fury to questions about street conditions in Queens.
The president has not hidden his mixed assessment. He has criticized Mamdani’s policy direction while praising the personal dealings.
In his February State of the Union address, Trump called him "the new communist mayor of New York City" and added, "I think he’s a nice guy, actually." He continued, "I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy."
Trump has also said Mamdani could "surprise some conservative people" and declared, "The better he does, the happier I am."
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment from Fox News Digital on the Kimmel appearance.
Mamdani’s left-wing brand still attracts national Democrats; Kamala Harris has courted the socialist mayor as 2028 maneuvering begins.
Foreign leaders have taken notice too. Netanyahu used a UN address to confront Mamdani over antisemitism and related ties.
Back home, enforcement trends under the mayor remain a flashpoint, including reports that prostitution arrests plunged nearly 60% while street activity multiplied on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens.
On Kimmel’s stage, none of that baggage produced the anti-Trump monologue the host kept inviting. Mamdani stayed on housing numbers, job counts, and the claim that every meeting serves New Yorkers first.
Late-night television still runs on division. Even a self-described socialist mayor showed he can sit down with a Republican president, talk 12,000 homes and 30,000 jobs, and refuse the cheap applause line.
