If he wants to come and compete with us, we surrender."After months of verbal barbs calling each other names such as "fascist" and "communist", the president and the mayor have developed a surprisingly chummy relationship.Mamdani has appealed to Trump's real estate background.The pair have discussed the city's bloated regulatory system, as Mamdani faces hurdles to achieve his promise of 200,000 new affordable homes over the next decade."This is a man that right now I think is focused on New York City "See, with Donald Trump, it's all about the money."Sliwa believes the president's praise is not "sincere love" but rather a recognition that he can work with the new mayor to advance his business interests in the city.The Republican wants Mamdani to succeed but believe he's "naive" and won't achieve everything he sets out to do."I run across people all the time who want him to fail and I have to chastise them; I have to educate them and say that would be the worst possible thing that could happen to us," he said."That means New York City fails, it hurts our state of New York, and it hurts the country."Political analysts are watching the new mayor closely to see if there is an appetite for more drastic measures to tackle the cost-of-living crisis — particularly ahead of the mid-term elections in November.Voters like Ron Barba believe Mamdani faces an uphill battle in implementing his ambitious agenda but if he succeeds it could shape the future of American politics."It's going to be tricky what he's doing … so we'll see