Trump Minimizes Kanye West’s Public Anti-Semitism: ‘Why Wouldn’t I Agree to Meet?’

Oliver Contreras – Pool/Getty Images

Donald Trump offered kind words to Kanye West on Friday as the former president is under fire for hosting West and Neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes, both avowed anti-Semites, for dinner at Mar-a-Lago ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Trump’s comments minimized West’s recent slew of anti-Semitic remarks as he both asked why he should not have met with West and declared West “expressed no anti-Semitism” after their meeting.

“Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was asking me for advice concerning some of his difficulties, in particular having to do with his business,” wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform.

“We also discussed, to a lesser extent, politics, where I told him he should definitely not run for President, “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.’ Why wouldn’t I agree to meet? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes,” Trump concluded.

West, who made various anti-Semitic statements in recent weeks, apparently has befriended Fuentes and took him to meet Trump.

In mid-October Trump was asked to address West’s anti-Semitic statements and responded by praising  the rapper for being “great to me.”

“He’s been saying some really offensive things lately about your own son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and about Jewish people. Jewish Americans writ large. Could you react to that? Because is this the guy that you knew?” asked Salem News’s Larry O’Connor.

“Well, I haven’t really seen the statements he’s made. I did watch the Tucker Carlson interview and he was really nice to me. Beyond anybody, he was. He was great to me,” Trump responded, highlighting Carlson’s two-hour sit down with West on Fox News.

During that interview West claimed Kushner helped negotiate peace deals between Israel and Gulf Arab nations, known as the Abraham Accords, in order to make money.

“When I think about all of these things that Jared somehow doesn’t get enough credit for with his work — what is it his work? In Israel, what is this, in Palestine, you know where he made his peace treaties? do you know the facts on this right here?” West said at one point during the rambling interview.

Carlson interjected it was to create peace between Israel and Arab nations.

“I just think it was to make money,” West replied, adding, “Is that too heavy-handed to put on this platform?”

After the interview aired West took to Twitter and posted a threatening tweet aimed at Jewish people and it was revealed that Carlson edited out parts of the interview, which critics argued omitted key context to West’s statements that made him appear less anti-Semitic.

The Anti-Defamation League has been documenting West’s ongoing anti-Semitism and noted that in recent weeks West has repeatedly claimed Jews control the media and other industries and are working in concert to bring him down:

Ye continues to amplify antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories. During an interview on Revolt TV’s “Drink Champs” series that was posted and then removed on October 16, Ye repeatedly blamed “Jewish media” and “Jewish Zionists” for numerous alleged misdeeds, stating that “Jewish people have owned the Black voice” and that “the Jewish community, especially in the music industry…they’ll take us and milk us till we die.” Referencing Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, he also commented that he was “#MeToo-ing the Jewish culture. I’m saying y’all gotta stand up and admit to what you been doing.”

Ye doubled down on his antisemitism during an October 17 interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation, criticizing the so-called “Jewish underground media mafia” and alleging that “every celebrity has Jewish people in their contract.” He also claimed that his life was threatened by his Jewish managers, lawyer and accountant due to his political beliefs. On both “Drink Champs” and “Cuomo,” Ye repeated his previous defense that Black people cannot be antisemitic, stating that “we are Semite, we Jew, so I can’t be antisemite.”

“Ye’s comments have been embraced by antisemitic extremist groups,” The ADL noted.