Trump dines with white nationalist, rapper Ye
Former US President Donald Trump is renewing attention to his long history of turning a blind eye to bigotry after dining with a Holocaustdenying white nationalist and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West just days into his third campaign for the White House.
Trump had dinner last week at his Mar-a-lago club with West, who is now known as Ye, as well as Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who has used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric.
Ye, who says he, too, is running for president in 2024, has made his own series of anti-semitic comments in recent weeks, leading to his suspension from social media platforms, his talent agency dropping him and companies like Adidas cutting ties with him. The sportswear manufacturer has also launched an investigation into his conduct.
In a statement from the White House, spokesman Andrew Bates said: “Bigotry, hate, and anti-semitism have absolutely no place in America — including at Mar-a-lago.
“Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned.”
Trump, in a series of statements said he had “never met and knew nothing about” Fuentes before he
arrived with Ye at his club.
But Trump also did not acknowledge Fuentes’ long history of racist and anti-semitic remarks, nor did he denounce either man’s defamatory statements.
Trump wrote of Ye on his social media platform that “we got along great, he expressed no anti-semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson’.” He added, “Why wouldn’t I agree to meet?”
The former president has a long history of failing to unequivocally condemn hate speech. During his 2016 campaign, Trump waffled when asked to denounce the KKK after he was endorsed by the group’s former leader, saying in a televised interview that he didn’t “know anything about David Duke”.
In 2017, in the aftermath of the deadly white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump was widely criticised for saying there was “blame on both sides” for the violence.
—AP