President Donald Trump is under fire by several former allies and GOP officials following his dinner with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, white supremacist Nick Fuentes, and far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos at Mar-a-Lago last week.
According to Ye, the meeting was to speak about his 2024 presidential aspirations, which included asking Trump to be his running mate. Ye alleges the conversation went south after Trump insulted Ye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian. Trump was said to have screamed at Ye, saying he would be defeated if he ran for the presidency.
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. I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong. 1/
— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) November 25, 2022
“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 tweeted. “I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”
Trump’s former White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt also weighed in.
In a CNN op-ed published Monday, Greenblatt said the meeting “should not have happened. Period,” adding “I hope President Trump condemns Fuentes, West and their ilk for what they are — haters of Jews and haters of the foundations of the United States of America.”
Greenblatt further added that “people like Fuentes are dangerous to the United States,” and that the President Trump he knows “would recognize that and issue this condemnation.”
Since the events at Mar-a-Lago, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that he was supposed to meet with Ye alone and only wanted to offer him some “very needed advice.” He also said he was not aware of who Fuentes was.
Greenblatt, however, said, “regardless of how or why the dinner happened, haters such as Fuentes and West should not be given a platform or seat at the table by anyone.”
Elan Carr, President Trump’s former antisemitism envoy for the State Department, criticized Trump’s meeting on Twitter.
“No responsible American, and certainly no former President, should be cavorting with the likes of Nick Fuentes and Kanye West,” he tweeted. “To placate antisemitism is to promote antisemitism. President Trump must condemn these dangerous men and their disgusting and un-American views.”
No responsible American, and certainly no former President, should be cavorting with the likes of Nick Fuentes and Kanye West. To placate antisemitism is to promote antisemitism. President Trump must condemn these dangerous men and their disgusting and un-American views.
— Elan Carr (@ElanSCarr) November 28, 2022
Former Vice President Mike Pence said President Trump “was wrong to give a white nationalist, an antisemite and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table.”
He added that he thinks Trump should “apologize for it” and “denounce those individuals and their hateful rhetoric without qualification.”
Other GOP leaders also didn’t shy away in expressing their outrage at Trump’s decision. “There is no room in the Republican party for antisemitism or white supremacy,” said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Zeroing in on Trump, McConnell added that “anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) disapprovingly stated, “I don’t think anybody should have a meeting with Nick Fuentes, and his views are nowhere within the Republican Party or within this country itself.”
Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu–who enjoyed a close relationship with Trump during his presidency– likewise came out today with a statement regarding the events at Mar-a-Lago. “I condemned Kanye West’s antisemitic statements. Straight away, I thought that was just wrong and misplaced. And I think that that’s what I would say about President Trump’s decision to dine with this person. I think it’s wrong and misplaced. I think it’s a mistake. He shouldn’t do that,” Netanyahu said.
On Thursday, Ye appeared with Fuentes in an interview with Fuentes and Alex Jones on Infowars. During the three-hour-long interview, he repeatedly praised Hitler claiming that he “has a lot of redeeming qualities,” and said he loves Nazis.
Kanye West on #InfoWars:
“𝗜 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗛𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗿, I’m not trying to be shocking, I like Hitler. The Holocaust is not what happened, let’s look at the facts of that and Hitler has a lot of redeeming qualities."
Alex Jones: "I don't like Hitler."pic.twitter.com/kbFfh4kkaa
— Jewish News Syndicate (@JNS_org) December 1, 2022