Donald Trump called Kanye West “a man with serious problems” after their recent dinner together at the estate of the former US president in Florida.
Trump turned to Truth Social, an alt-tech, “anti-censorship” social media platform he helped launch after he was banned from using Twitter in 2021, to share his version of events during a meeting with West. Both men are running for the White House in 2024, and West confirmed his candidacy earlier this week. He originally ran for president in 2020, but relinquished his candidacy after gaining 50,000 votes, promising to make a second chance in the race in 2024.
“So I’m helping a seriously troubled man who just happened to be black, E (Kanye West), who was destroyed in his business and pretty much everything else, and who has always been kind to me by resolving his request for a meeting. at Mar-a-Lago, alone, so I could give him much needed advice,” Trump wrote. “He appears with three people, two of whom I did not know, and the other is a politician whom I have not seen for many years. I told him not to run for office, a waste of time, I can’t win. Fake news has gone crazy!”
One of those Trump has in mind is right—wing political commentator Nick Fuentes, who has documented the propensity of white supremacists. West was seen with Fuentes at Miami Airport and later described him as a “Trump loyalist” in what appeared to be a presidential campaign video released on Friday (November 25). He also said that Trump was “really impressed” with Fuentes, despite not knowing him.
On his way to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago yesterday, Kanye West was filmed walking through Miami's airport with misogynistic antisemitic white nationalist Christian fascist incel Nick Fuentes. https://t.co/903Sa56Jb5 pic.twitter.com/Jn3bKtt9JE
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 23, 2022
West confirmed on his newly restored Twitter account that at this meeting he asked Trump to become his running mate. “First time at Mar-a-Lago,” he tweeted. “Rain and traffic jams. I can’t believe I made President Trump wait. And I was wearing jeans. Great.
He later posted a fan poll in which he asked, “Guys, what do you think he said when I asked him to be my partner in 2024?”
First time at Mar-a-Lago
Rain and traffic
Can’t believe I kept President Trump waiting
And I had on jeans Yikes
What you guys think his response was when I asked him to be my running mate in 2024?
— ye (@kanyewest) November 23, 2022
In the aforementioned video, he said his proposal was “lower on the list of things that caught [Trump] by surprise,” instead stating that the politician was “most concerned” “by the fact that I came with intelligence.”
The moment during dinner when Trump tried to dissuade West from running for president also seems to have been confirmed in West’s video. “Trump started literally yelling at me at the table, saying I was going to lose,” he said. “I mean, has it ever worked in history? I’m like, wait, wait, you’re talking about Ye.”
#YE24 pic.twitter.com/LuZ2YfncSg
— ye (@kanyewest) November 25, 2022
Trump and West’s relationship dates back to 2015, when West first announced his intention to run for president in 2020. Trump later told Rolling Stone that he “hopes [d] to run against [the West] someday.” The following year, West told the crowd during his St. Pablo tour that “if I voted, I would vote for Trump,” before meeting with Trump at Trump Towers in New York.
In 2018, West wore a “Make America Great Again” hat during his appearance as a musical guest on the Saturday Night Live show. The rapper’s attitude toward Trump during the broadcast was turned off to the general public, and Trump later tweeted that West’s appearance “was great.”
