Former US President Trump faulted for dinner with white nationalist, rapper Ye

By Associated Press: Former President Donald Trump is renewing consideration to his lengthy historical past of turning a blind eye to bigotry after eating with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and the rapper previously often called Kanye West simply days into his third marketing campaign for the White House.

Trump had dinner Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago membership with West, who’s now often called Ye, in addition to Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who has used his on-line platform to spew antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric.

Ye, who says he, too, is operating for president in 2024, has made his personal sequence of antisemitic feedback in current weeks, resulting in his suspension from social media platforms, his expertise company dropping him and firms like Adidas chopping ties with him. The sportswear producer has additionally launched an investigation into his conduct.

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In a press release from the White House, spokesman Andrew Bates mentioned: “Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism 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 sequence of statements Friday, mentioned he had “never met and knew nothing about” Fuentes earlier than he arrived with Ye at his membership. But Trump additionally didn’t acknowledge Fuentes’ lengthy historical past of racist and antisemitic remarks, nor did he denounce both 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 an extended historical past of failing to unequivocally condemn hate speech. During his 2016 marketing campaign, Trump waffled when requested to denounce the KKK after he was endorsed by the group’s former chief, saying in a televised interview that he didn’t “know anything about David Duke.” In 2017, within the aftermath of the lethal white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump was extensively criticized for saying there was “blame on both sides” for the violence. And his rallies incessantly characteristic inflammatory rhetoric from figures like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who spoke earlier this 12 months at a far-right convention organized by Fuentes.

The newest episode, coming only one week after Trump launched his third run for the Republican nomination, additionally underscored how loosely managed entry to the previous president remained, notably with no conventional marketing campaign operation in place.

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Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership got here underneath intense scrutiny amid revelations that Trump was storing a whole bunch of paperwork with categorized markings there — sparking a federal investigation. But the membership — and the individuals it gave entry to Trump — had lengthy been a supply of consternation amongst former White House aides.

Mar-a-Lago will not be solely Trump’s residence, but in addition a non-public membership and occasion house. Paid members and their company dine alongside him and infrequently mingle with him; members of the general public can guide weddings, fundraisers and different occasions, and Trump usually drops by.

Ye first shared particulars of the dinner in a video he posted to his Twitter account Thursday. Ye mentioned he had traveled to Florida to ask Trump to be his 2024 operating mate, and that the assembly had grown heated, with Trump “perturbed” by his request and Ye angered by Trump’s criticism of his estranged spouse, Kim Kardashian.

“When Trump started basically screaming at me at the table telling me I was gonna lose. I mean, has that ever worked for anyone in history, telling Ye that I’m going to lose?” Ye requested within the video. “You’re talking to Ye!”

Ye additionally mentioned Trump was “really impressed with Nick Fuentes,” whom he described as “actually a loyalist” and mentioned he’d requested Trump, “Why when you had the chance did you not free the January 6th-ers?” referring to the defendants who have been alleged to have participated within the lethal rebellion on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump launched a sequence of statements Friday making an attempt to clarify the circumstances of the assembly.

“Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about,” Trump mentioned in his first assertion launched by his marketing campaign.

Not lengthy after, Trump took to his social media community to say that Ye and “three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about” had “unexpectedly showed up” at his membership.

“We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport,” he wrote.

Hours later he once more posted, saying he had informed Ye that he “should definitely not run for President,” and that “any voters you may have should vote for TRUMP.”

“Anyway, 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? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes.”

Fuentes, in the meantime, mentioned after the journey that, whereas he couldn’t rule out that Trump had heard of him, “I don’t think he knew that I was me at the dinner.”

“I didn’t mean for my statements and my whole background to sort of become a public relations problem for the president,” he added on his present.

The assembly drew fast criticism from Trump critics in addition to some supporters, together with David Friedman, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Israel.

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“To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable,” Friedman wrote in a tweet. “I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”

On Saturday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a possible 2024 rival, additionally denounced antisemitism, with out straight referencing the dinner or the president underneath whom he served.

“Anti-Semitism is a cancer,” Pompeo wrote, including: “We stand with the Jewish people in the fight against the world’s oldest bigotry.”

Biden, requested concerning the Trump dinner assembly whereas vacationing in Nantucket, Massachusetts, replied, “You don’t want to hear what I think.”

Published On:

Nov 27, 2022