Former U.S. president Donald Trump is dealing with renewed consideration and criticism for his prolonged historic previous of turning a blind eye to bigotry after eating with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and the rapper previously referred to as Kanye West simply days into his third advertising and marketing campaign for the White residence.
Trump had dinner on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida with West, who’s now referred to as Ye, as properly as to Nick Fuentes, a far-proper activist who has used his on-line platform to spew antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric.
The meeting drew immediate criticism from Trump critics, as properly as to from some supporters, collectively with David Friedman, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Israel.
“To my good friend Donald Trump, you may be elevated than this. Even a social go to from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable,” Friedman wrote on Twitter. “I urge you to throw these bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of historic previous the place they belong.”
On Saturday, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, a doable 2024 presidential rival, additionally denounced antisemitism, with out instantly referring to the dinner or the president underneath whom he served.
Anti-Semitism is a most cancers. As Secretary, I fought to ban funding for anti-Semitic teams that pushed BDS.
We stand with the Jewish of us inside the battle in opposition to the world’s oldest bigotry.
“Anti-Semitism is a most cancers,” Pompeo wrote, including: “We stand with the Jewish of us inside the battle in opposition to the world’s oldest bigotry.”
U.S. President Joe Biden, requested regarding the Trump dinner meeting whereas vacationing in Nantucket, Mass., replied, “You needn’t hear what i really feel.”
Ye, who says he, too, is working for president in 2024, has made his personal collection of antisemitic suggestions in latest weeks, ensuing in his suspension from social media platforms, his expertise agency dropping him and firms like Adidas chopping ties with him. The sportswear producer has additionally launched an investigation into his conduct.
In an announcement from the White residence, spokesperson Andrew Bates mentioned: “Bigotry, hate and antisemitism have fully no place in America — collectively with at Mar-A-Lago. Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it should be forcefully condemned.”
Trump, in a collection of statements on Friday, mentioned he had “by no means met and knew nothing about” Fuentes earlier than he arrived with Ye at his membership. however Trump additionally did not acknowledge Fuentes’s prolonged historic previous 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 obtained alongside good, he expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated your full good issues he mentioned about me on ‘Tucker Carlson.”‘ He added, “Why wouldn’t I conform to meet? additionally, I did not know Nick Fuentes.”
2024 advertising and marketing campaign
the earlier president has an prolonged historic previous of failing to unequivocally condemn hate speech.
all through his 2016 advertising and marketing campaign for president, Trump waffled when requested to denounce the Ku Klux Klan after he was endorsed by the group’s former chief, saying in a televised interview that he did not “know something about David Duke.”
In 2017, inside the aftermath of the lethal white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Va., Trump was broadly criticized for saying there was “blame on every side” for the violence.
And his rallies steadily attribute inflammatory rhetoric from figures like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who spoke earlier this 12 months at a far-proper convention organized by Fuentes.
Donald Trump formally launched his 2024 U.S. presidential advertising and marketing campaign, setting the stage for a doable rematch with President Joe Biden. nonetheless it comes at a time when Trump’s affect all through the Republican social gathering is break up.
the latest episode, coming simply one week after Trump launched his third run for the Republican presidential nomination, additionally underscored how loosely managed entry to the earlier president remained, significantly with out a regular advertising and marketing campaign operation in place.
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership obtained here underneath intense scrutiny amid revelations that he was storing tons of of paperwork with categorized markings there — sparking a federal investigation.
nonetheless the membership — and the of us it gave entry to Trump — had prolonged been a supply of consternation amongst former White residence aides.
Mar-a-Lago mustn’t be solely Trump’s residence however additionally a private membership and event residence. Paid members and their visitors dine alongside him and typically mingle with him; members of the general public can guide weddings, fundraisers and fully different occasions, and Trump usually drops by.
‘Trump started primarily screaming at me’
Ye first shared particulars of the dinner in a video he posted to his Twitter account on Thursday. Ye mentioned he had travelled to Florida to ask Trump to be his 2024 working mate and that the meeting 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 primarily screaming at me on the desk telling me i used to be gonna lose. I imply, has that ever labored for anyone in historic previous, telling Ye that i am going to lose?” Ye requested inside the video. “you are talking to Ye!”
Ye additionally mentioned Trump was “actually impressed with Nick Fuentes,” whom he described as “truly a loyalist” and mentioned he’d requested Trump, “Why everytime you had the prospect did you not free the January sixth-ers?” referring to the defendants who had been alleged to have participated inside the lethal revolt on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump launched a collection of statements on Friday attempting to clarify the circumstances of the meeting.
“Kanye West very a lot wished to go to Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was presupposed to be Kanye and me solely, however he arrived with a visitor whom I had by no means met and knew nothing about,” Trump mentioned in his first assertion launched by his advertising and marketing campaign.
Not prolonged after, Trump took to his social media community to say that Ye and “three of his mates, whom I knew nothing about” had “unexpectedly confirmed up” at his membership.
“We had dinner on Tuesday night with many members current on the again patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport,” he wrote.
Hours later he as quickly as extra posted, saying he had advised Ye that he “ought to undoubtedly not run for President,” and that “any voters you will have ought to vote for TRUMP.”
Fuentes, in the meantime, mentioned after the journey that, whereas he might not rule out that Trump had heard of him, “i do not suppose he knew that i used to be me on the dinner.”
“I did not imply for my statements and my complete background to form of discover your self to be a public relations draw again for the president,” he added on his current.
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