Former US President Donald Trump has had dinner with rapper Kanye West, known for his anti-Semitic speeches, and a right-wing extremist. Now he justifies himself – and both argue about how the evening went. Far-right nationalist Nick Fuentes is said to have attended the dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
He didn’t know Fuentes, Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform he co-founded. West, who now calls himself Ye, was reported to have brought 24-year-old Fuentes to last Tuesday’s meeting. Both have a history of spreading anti-Semitic hate speech.
West posted a video after the dinner Twitter, in which he claimed Trump was “impressed” by Fuentes. Fuentes spreads anti-Semitic conspiracy stories and regularly makes racist statements. The anti-racism organization Anti-Defamation League calls him a “white supremacist”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/.”White Supremacy” describes the ideology of white supremacy. The online event organizer also opposes women’s rights and discriminates against the LGBTQI community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex people).
West is said to have offered Trump to become vice president under him
Trump did not deny Fuentes’ participation in the meal – but did not explicitly confirm it either. West called him about dinner, he wrote on Truth Social. “Shortly after, he showed up unexpectedly with three of his friends I didn’t know about.” Other people were also present at the meal, Trump wrote. The Republican himself is known for spreading conspiracy theories. He also repeatedly expresses himself hostile to trans and agitates against minorities.
The news portal “Axios”, citing an unnamed source, wrote that Trump seemed “very impressed” at Fuentes’ dinner. The two talked about the presidential election, among other things. “To be honest, I don’t think the President knew who the hell (Fuentes) was,” Axios quoted the source as saying.
CNN, also citing a source familiar with the dinner, reported that Fuentes was a guest of West and not invited by Trump. Referring to West, Trump wrote: “Anyway, we got along well, he expressed no anti-Semitism.” Trump added, “Why wouldn’t I agree to meet him?”
The topic of the meal was therefore West’s plans with a view of the White House. In 2020 he had already applied for the office of US President – but due to missed registration deadlines he did not make it onto the ballot in most states. He advised him not to run for president under any circumstances, Trump continued.
West, on the other hand, said in the video posted to Twitter that he had suggested to Trump that the ex-president could run as his running mate in the 2024 election. Trump yelled at him at the table and made him understand that he thought West was going to lose, West said. The ex-president, on the other hand, described the dinner as “uneventful”.
The 76-year-old Trump recently declared that he wanted to run again as a Republican presidential candidate in 2024. Two years ago, West indicated that he wanted to run again in the 2024 vote. Most recently, he posted videos on Twitter with the words “Ye 24”. The 45-year-old was once one of the few stars who publicly spoke out for Trump. Because of anti-Semitic statements, the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas terminated its cooperation with him.