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Donald Trump has fueled hatred by meeting with rapper Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, and then failing to condemn either figure, Jewish groups have told Newsweek.
On Thursday, West, 45, who legally changed his name to Ye, posted a video online in which he described meeting with the former president at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
West, who has made a string of antisemitic statements in recent weeks, attended the meeting with Fuentes, a known far-right extremist and Holocaust denier. During the clip, the singer says that Trump was "really impressed" with Fuentes while making no mention of his antisemitism.
In a series of Truth Social posts defending the meeting, Trump wrote that he "didn't know" who Fuentes was but stopped short of condemning the man whom the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a "white nationalist live streamer."
Trump also posted that he agreed to meet with West amid the fallout of the rapper's antisemitic remarks as he wanted to help a "seriously troubled man, who just happens to be Black."
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, told Newsweek in a statement that it is "appalling" that Trump, who announced his intentions on November 15 to run for president again in 2024, would agree to sit down with West and Fuentes.
"Nick Fuentes is among the most prominent and unapologetic antisemites in the country. He's a vicious bigot and Holocaust denier who has been condemned by leading figures from both political parties, including the Republican Jewish Coalition," Greenblatt said.
"He's literally told his followers that he supports an authoritarian government and 'Catholics to run this country, not Jews.' Kanye West is likewise an unrepentant antisemite who continues to use his outsized celebrity platform to spread noxious hate about Jews.
"The notion that former President Trump or any serious contender for higher office would meet with either of them, or validate these two figures by sharing a meal and spending time with them, is appalling," Greenblatt said.
He added that Trump cannot say he opposes hatred while at the same time "break bread with haters. It's that simple."
Canary Mission, a group that documents those accused of promoting hatred against Jewish people and Israel, told Newsweek that Trump's meeting with Fuentes and West shows we are "living in a time where antisemitism is being normalized, justified and accepted."
"If we are to combat this hatred, it mustn't be given space. It must be condemned. Trump had the chance to condemn both West and Fuentes but instead preferred tea and flattery," a Canary Mission spokesperson said.
As referenced by Greenblatt, the Republican Jewish Coalition had "strongly" condemned the "virulent antisemitism" of West and Fuentes following their meeting with Trump and called on "all political leaders to reject their messages of hate and refuse to meet with them."
Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, told Newsweek that Trump must now strongly condemn the white nationalist Fuentes, who attended the "stop the steal" protests in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, and was subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot.
Fuentes also attended the neo-Nazi "unite the right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. It was there that white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. deliberately rammed his car into counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer and injuring 35 other people.
"Whether Mr. Trump knew who Nick Fuentes was at Mar-a-Lago when they met this past week or not, he knows now, and the former president needs to make a statement to clarify his relationship with Fuentes, a man who received a January 6th subpoena," Rez said.
"Kanye West, on the other hand, is grasping for straws trying to stay relevant. Seeing him traipse around with a white nationalist Holocaust denier is a pathetic publicity stunt."
In his Truth Social posts, Trump defended meeting with West, who has also announced he is running in 2024, while the former president denied he knew who Fuentes was.
"Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was asking me for advice concerning some of his difficulties, in particular having to do with his business," Trump wrote.
"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."
Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, is among the GOP figures to condemn Trump for meeting with West and Fuentes at his Florida home.
"As I had repeatedly said, white supremacy, neo-Nazism, hate speech and bigotry are disgusting and do not have a home in the Republican Party," McDaniel said.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told The New York Times that the incident was another example of "awful lack of judgment" from Trump, which makes him an "untenable" candidate for the GOP in 2024.
Newsweek has contacted Trump for comment.
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more