Charlamagne Tha God Blasts Democrats for ‘Playing Footsie’ With Trump, Says Hakeem Jeffries’ Jab Was ‘So Corny’

On this week’s Press Club, Charlamagne tha God accused Democratic party leaders of “playing footsie” with President Donald Trump while publicly warning of authoritarian danger, also calling a recent jab by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) “so corny.”

The Breakfast Club co-host told Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall that Democrats have weakened their own message by treating Trump as both an existential threat and a political partner.

Former President Joe Biden, he explained, said repeatedly during the 2024 election cycle that Trump was “a threat to democracy.” Yet when he won the presidency, Biden was “standing outside the White House saying, ‘Welcome home.’”

He argued the same contradiction applied to former President Barack Obama at the January memorial for former President Jimmy Carter, adding pointedly: “You wouldn’t be playing footsie with a fascist at a funeral, right, President Obama?”

To Charlamagne, this type of behavior contradicts attempts by Democrats to label the president a “fascist,” a word he feels should be reserved for pundits, rather than politicians themselves.

“If these are just regular political disagreements and we’ve gotten to the point where the rhetoric can be so intense for them, but those words don’t actually matter, man, how much stock should we really put into it?” he asked.

He went on to connect that hypocrisy to the party’s treatment of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

“Out of that field, Mamdani would probably be the best person for mayor of New York,” he said, pointing out that Democratic leaders dug themselves further into a hole by keeping their distance from the Democratic socialist, even as his message resonated deeply with voters.

He pointed to the moment Mamdani broke from the field during the first mayoral debate, as his competitors all shared they would take their first overseas trip as mayor to Israel. Instead, the mayor-elect said he was strictly “thinking about New York.”

In Charlamagne’s eyes, that line reflected a sharp “America-first, New York-first” instinct that national Democrats often lack, suggesting that type of rhetoric may have been behind the recent friendlier-than-expected meeting between Trump and Mamdani.

He then turned to Rep. Jeffries, who earlier this fall dubbed him “Charlatan the Fraud.” Charlamagne brushed off the attack, calling it “so corny,” before sharing his own nicknames for the congressman: “Chuck E. Cheese Obama” and “AIPAC Shakur.”

Despite the above exchanges and Charlamagne’s continued assertions that Jeffries and other establishment Democrats “need to go,” he insisted there is no actual feud.

“I don’t even know him,” he said. “It’s impossible for me to have a real beef with a politician… I pay a lot of money in taxes. So, I reserve the right to criticize any of our elected officials. That’s literally what America is all about.”

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