Rapper to dine with Trump at the White House
Kanye West is coming to the White House.
The rap star is scheduled to meet President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then have lunch with Trump, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed yesterday.
The visit is the latest development in a budding relationship between Trump and West, who met at Trump Tower in New York during the 2016 presidential transition and have exchanged flattering tweets over the past year.
The meeting with Kushner is expected to focus on criminal justice issues, which fall under his purview as a senior adviser to the president.
In a statement, Sanders said topics of discussion with Trump ‘‘will include manufacturing resurgence in America, prison reform, how to prevent gang violence, and what can be done to reduce violence in Chicago.’’
Trump told reporters that West would also be bringing Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown to the White House.
‘‘He’s been a terrific guy,’’ Trump said of West. ‘‘He loves what we’re doing for African American jobs, for so many different things. Median income, as you see, is at an all-time high; poverty level at the best rate, meaning the lowest rate. And Kanye is a smart guy, and he sees that.’’
voters, which is her fan demographic. The 18-24 number almost doubled overnight,’’ Guthrie said. ‘‘Taylor Swift’s visibility on this issue is driving a lot of coverage of voter registration and it’s reaching many of her fans who would not otherwise be following news like this.’’
Vote.org also saw a definite jump in traffic in the wake of her Instagram post. The site typically has 14,078 average daily visitors, Guthrie said. In the 24 hours after Swift’s post – which specifically mentioned Vote.org – the site had 155,940 visitors.
In Tennessee, where Swift is registered to vote, Vote.org tracked 2144 new voter registrations in the 36
In a speech to a gathering of law enforcement officers on Tuesday, Trump urged that police in Chicago implement the policy of ‘‘stop and frisk’’ to curb the gun violence that is plaguing the nation’s thirdlargest city.
Trump has on several occasions cited his friendly relationship with West in appeals to black Americans, who sided overwhelmingly in the 2016 election with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Earlier this year, West took to Twitter to defend his views about Trump – which have prompted a backlash from some fans. In many tweets, he called Trump ‘‘my brother’’ and said the two share ‘‘dragon energy.’’ – Washington Post
hours since the singer’s post, bringing October’s to-date total to 7554 – a sharp increase from 2811 registrations in September and 951 in August.
‘‘Overall, we were thrilled, especially to see millennials get involved,’’ Guthrie said. ‘‘Taylor’s post has helped bring out young voters. We’re especially happy to see that because we know voting is habitforming; statistically, a young person who votes in 2018 is 55 per cent more likely to vote again in 2020.’’
In her post, Swift vowed to vote for two Democratic candidates: former governor Phil Bredesen for the US Senate and Rep. Jim Cooper for reelection.
She also acknowledged her past reluctance to address political issues but said that had changed in the past two years:
‘‘I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country,’’ she wrote.
‘‘I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG.
‘‘I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of colour is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.’’
– Washington Post