Just over a week after he hosted disgraced rapper turned antisemite Kanye West and a pair of racist, internet trolls for dinner at his Palm Beach, Florida country club, former president Donald Trump remained largely silent in the hours after the rapper told conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that he is a fan of the late genocidal Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Mr West made the shocking disclosure during an appearance on Jones’ Infowars program alongside Nick Fuentes, the avowed white nationalist who was one of a trio of guests who accompanied him to dinner with Mr Trump last week.
After the conspiracy theorist said the onetime Grammy winner was “not a Nazi” and did not deserve to be “demonized,” Mr West interjected. He told Mr Jones that he sees “good things about Hitler,” the dictator who kicked off the Second World War by invading Poland and masterminded the murder of 10,000,000 people — including 6,000,000 Jews from Germany and across Europe — in the mass genocide now known as the Holocaust.
Mr West suggested that Hitler, who killed himself as American and Russian troops approached Berlin in April 1945, was responsible for inventing highways and the microphones used by recording artists such as himself. He also claimed that the reason “you can’t say out loud” that the deceased war criminal “ever did anything good” is because “Jewish people” have told him not to.
“I am done with the classifications. Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler,” he said, later telling Mr Jones “I like Hitler” after the conspiracy theorist told him that he was not a fan of the German dictator or his Nazi party.
Mr West went on to say that the Nazis “did good things too” and that “we’ve got to stop dissing the Nazis all the time,” adding that it was only “Jewish media” who “has made us feel like the Nazis and Hitler have never offered anything of value to the world.”
Mr Trump, who said last week that he “got along great” with West during their dinner meeting and claimed that the avowed antisemite “expressed no antisemitism” in his presence,” has seemingly avoided commenting on his erstwhile ally’s remarks on his Truth Social platform. The former president routinely uses the platform to share his public comments rather than on his recently-restored Twitter account.
Around the time Mr West was ranting about Hitler with Mr Jones, Mr Trump was attacking an Associated Press reporter on Truth Social for revealing that his aides are pushing to reinstate practices meant to keep him from meeting with embarrassing guests at his club or elsewhere.
He suggested that the story was “fake news” because of the “very strong security” at his club, but said he was “not going to have [his] guests stripped searched,” especially when he knows someone as he did Mr West. He has not made any further public statements since then.
The Independent has contacted Mr West’s spokesperson and did not immediately receive a response.
