Donald Trump reportedly believes the rapper formerly known as Kanye West tried to sabotage him by bringing fellow antisemite Nick Fuentes to the former president’s Florida estate for dinner last week, then making that visit public.
“He tried to f--- me,” Trump fumed afterward, according to NBC News. “He’s crazy. He can’t beat me.”
Both Trump and West, who now goes by Ye, have announced their hopes to be elected president in 2024. According to Ye, the former president became upset during their dinner meeting when the “Dark Fantasy” rapper asked him to run as vice president on a shared ticket.
Trump publicly denied knowing Fuentes prior to last week’s meeting. Still, he has ducked several opportunities to denounce Fuentes' far-right political positions, which include skepticism about the toll of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were systematically murdered.
The former president’s ongoing connection to white supremacists was condemned by fellow Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former Vice President Mike Pence in recent days.
Ye said in a video posted online after the dinner meeting that Trump was “really impressed” by the 24-year-old Fuentes.
Fuentes attended the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalists protested to keep statues of Confederate leaders in place. A counterprotester was killed by a neo-Nazi, and Trump was criticized for saying there were “very fine people” on both sides.
While Fuentes has called Trump “my hero,” the former president was not thrilled to have been caught dining with him, NBC reported. That outlet’s source said both men were pawns being moved around the board by Ye.
“The master troll got trolled,” that Trump adviser said. “Kanye punked Trump.”
Ye pledged on social media in October to go “Death con 3 (sic) on Jewish People,” whom he blames for conspiring to control the entertainment industry. On Nov. 20, Ye announced his intentions to run for president in the next election.
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