Despite their friendlier exchange in recent weeks, Trump and Mamdani have rarely seen eye to eye, and they have traded plenty of insults.
Trump has previously mocked Mamdani as “My little communist,” a jab at the mayor’s socialist politics.
He has also referred to him as the “Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani,” per The New York Times.
After Mamdani won the Democratic primary in June 2025, Trump was even more blunt.
“He looks TERRIBLE, his voice is grating, he’s not very smart,” Trump said at the time.
Mamdani has fired back at Trump, too.
During his 2025 victory speech, he described the president as a “despot” and called him a walking avatar of New York City’s “corrupt landlords” and “culture of corruption.”