Trump dines at Mar-a-Lago with rapper Ye and white nationalist
Aides admit dinner after Trump launched his reelection bid a significant concern
Former president Donald Trump dined with farright activist Nick Fuentes and hip-hop artist Ye at his Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this week, drawing intense criticism for associating with two figures who have promoted anti-Semitism and hate.
Advisers to Trump privately acknowledged that the decision to host the Tuesday dinner, just one week after Trump launched his reelection bid, was a significant concern.
One adviser described it as “horrible” and another as “totally awful.” David M. Friedman, who served as his ambassador to Israel, publicly took Trump to task for consorting with the troublesome pair, tweeting that the former president was “better than this”.
The private dinner is the latest example of how the former president has courted individuals with extreme or racist views. Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who recently lost billions of dollars of net worth after businesses cut ties with him for repeatedly making antisemitic remarks.
Fuentes, a political commentator on YouTube, has a history of touting white nationalist ideas.
Ye posted a video Thursday to Twitter featuring far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos listening to the rapper recap his Tuesday meeting with Trump. The rapper, who has said he plans to run for president in 2024, said he asked Trump to be his running mate. Trump was uninterested, Ye said, but he was “really with Fuentes.
“Nick Fuentes unlike so many of the lawyers and so many people that he was left with on his 2020 campaign, he’s actually a loyalist,” Ye, who returned to Twitter this week after a recent ban, said. impressed” Trump said he only planned to have dinner with Ye, who has repeatedly expressed his support for the former president. The rapper brought Fuentes along uninvited, Trump said.
‘Unexpectedly showed up’
“This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago,” the former president said Friday on Truth Social. “Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about.”
“We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio,” Trump added. “The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport.”
Trump has insisted to aides since Tuesday that he did not know Fuentes, a Trump supporter active on Truth Social, the former president’s social media network, though some in his circle said they were sceptical.