Jay-Z thinks Trump is ‘in pain’; president responds by bragging about helping black people

DISAPPOINTING. Hurtful. Misinformed.

That’s how rap superstar Jay-Z characterised President Donald Trump’s reported comments at a Jan. 11 White House meeting, in which he told lawmakers that immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African nations were from “shithole countries,” according to senators who were with the president.

It’s been less than a month since those comments were made, but Trump’s words - and what they say about the broader issue of racism in America - have stayed with him, Jay-Z said in a CNN interview with Van Jones that aired Saturday.

“It really is hurtful, more so. Like everyone feels anger, but after the anger it’s really hurtful, because he’s looking down on a whole population of people, and he’s so misinformed because these places have beautiful people and have beautiful everything,” he said. “Like, this is the leader of the free world speaking like this.”

In Jay-Z’s (above) view, the president’s derogatory remarks merely pulled back the curtain on racist attitudes and conversations that already existed in the United States.

“This has been going on,” JayZ told Jones. “This is how people talk. This is how they talk behind closed doors.”

Jay-Z ended that segment of the interview on a relatively sympathetic note.

“Donald Trump is a human being, too,” he told Jones. “Somewhere along his lineage, something happened to him. Something happened to him and he’s in pain and he’s expressing it in this sort of way.”

Trump struck back at Jay-Z’s interview Sunday morning, tweeting that his policies were responsible for black unemployment being at “the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!” - and would someone please inform Jay-Z?

However, Jay-Z had already addressed this point in the interview the day before, when Jones, citing the lower black employment figures, asked whether Trump could be excused for making insulting comments about African-Americans.

“Does he have a point, that maybe the Democrats have been giving us good lip service but no jobs?” Jones asked. “Maybe he’s going to say terrible things but put money in our pockets. Does that make him a good leader?”

Jay-Z shook his head.