“Why not?”: Trump justifies meeting with Kanye West and far-right snake attack in Australia: Python pulls five-year-old into swimming pool

Former US President Donald Trump has accounted for a dinner with rapper Kanye West – which reportedly included far-right nationalist Nick Fuentes. He did not know Fuentes, Trump wrote Friday (local time) on the platform ‘Truth Social’ that he co-founded.

Background is a dinner last Tuesday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in the US state of Florida. According to reports, West, now calling himself Ye, has taken 24-year-old Fuentes with him. Both have a history of spreading anti-Semitic hate speech.

Trump, 76, declared a week ago that he wanted to run again in 2024 as a Republican presidential candidate. West (45) had already indicated in 2020 that he wanted to participate again in the 2024 vote.

He recently posted videos on Twitter with the words “Ye 24”. The rapper was once one of the few stars to publicly speak out for Trump. Due to anti-Semitic statements, sporting goods manufacturer Adidas ended its cooperation with him.

West posted a video to Twitter after dinner claiming that Trump was “impressed” with Fuentes. Fuentes spreads anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and regularly makes racist statements. The anti-racism organization Anti-Defamation League calls him a “white supremacist”.

“White supremacy” describes the ideology of white supremacy. The organizer of the online event also opposes women’s rights and discriminates against the LGBTQI community. The English abbreviation stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans people, queer and intersex people.

Trump did not deny Fuente’s participation in the meal, but did not explicitly confirm it either. West called him about dinner, he wrote on Truth Social. “Shortly after, he showed up unexpectedly with three of his friends that I didn’t know.” Other people were also present at the meal, Trump wrote. The Republican himself is known for spreading conspiracy theories. He also repeatedly expresses anti-trans and campaigns against minorities.

The “Axios” news portal, citing an unnamed source, wrote that Trump seemed “very impressed” at Fuentes’ dinner. The two spoke, among other things, about the presidential election. “Frankly, I don’t think the president knew who Fuentes was,” Axios quoted the source as saying. CNN, also citing a source familiar with the dinner, reported that Fuentes was a guest of West’s and was not invited by Trump.

Looking at West, Trump wrote: “Anyway, we got along very well. He didn’t express anti-Semitism.” Trump added: “Why shouldn’t I agree to meet him?” The subject of the meal was therefore West’s plans with a view of the White House. In 2020, he had already applied for the office of president of the US, but due to missed registration deadlines, he did not get on the ballot in most states.

He advised him not to run for president under any circumstances, Trump continued. West, on the other hand, said in the video posted to Twitter that he suggested to Trump that the ex-president run as his running mate in the 2024 election. Trump yelled at him at the table and made him understand that he thought West was going to lose, West said. The ex-president, on the other hand, described the dinner as “quiet”. (aeg/sda/dpa)