Mamdani gifts Trump fake front page to cajole him into supercharging NYC housing development

The latest confab comes after POLITICO reported the mayor and president found unlikely common ground about housing development in their first meeting.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump pictured in the Oval Office on Feb. 26, 2026. | Zohran Mamdani/X

NEW YORK — For the second time since being elected New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday — and they emerged with a vow to focus on an issue that hits close to home for both men.

“I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City,” Mamdani wrote on X after the meeting.

In a photo accompanying that post, Mamdani posed in the Oval Office with a grinning Trump, who held up a mock version of the New York Daily News’ iconic “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD” front page, a reference to President Gerald Ford’s refusal to bail out the city during the 1975 financial crisis. In his other hand, Trump brandished a similar, but altered front page that featured a photo of his face and the headline: “TRUMP TO CITY: LET’S BUILD.”

© Politico