Trump praises Kanye West as furor mounts over rapper’s blatant antisemitism

Family of George Floyd joins legal fray against embattled rapper.

By David Hellerman, World Israel News

Former President Donald Trump praised Kanye West as the rapper remains embattled in an antisemitic controversy.

In an interview with right-wing news host Larry O’Connor on Tuesday, Trump said of West, “He was really nice to me. Beyond anybody, he was. He was great to me.”

Trump added, “He was great, really, to MAGA, to the MAGA movement, which was very impressive. I’ve always gotten along with him. He was really high on a guy named Donald Trump.”

Trump and West reportedly spoke on the telephone after the rapper announced plans to buy Parler, a social network platform billed as an alternative to Facebook and Twitter for conservatives.

West is under fire for antisemitic comments he made in an interview with Fox News personality Tucker Carlson and afterwards on social media and podcasts.

The rapper, who formally changed his name to Ye, told Carlson that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, brokered the Abraham accords “to make money.”

He also implied that that Blacks are the real Jews when he said “When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are. This is who our people are.”

In the aftermath of the interview, West claimed in an Instagram post that rapper and producer Sean “Puffy” Combs was controlled by Jews and blamed “Jewish Zionists” for unfavorable media coverage of his breakup with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.

West’s comments came to a head when he vowed to his 31.4 million Twitter followers that he would “go death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.” Twitter suspended the rapper’s account. Instagram has not suspended West’s account, but removed a number of posts

In a follow up interview on the Drink Champs podcast, West said Los Angeles Jewish businessman Dov Charney suggested West defuse tensions by visiting the Holocaust museum. West said, “I want you to visit Planned Parenthood, that’s our Holocaust Museum.”

West also told Drink Champs that George Floyd was not killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin but rather due to a fentanyl overdose. Floyd’s family announced on Tuesday they would file a $250 million suit against West for “harassment, misappropriation, defamation and infliction of emotional distress seeking $250 million dollars in damages,” according to a statement issued by the family’s lawyer.

Trump is also taking flak for complaining about his lack of support among American Jews. After touting his support for Israel, Trump warned American Jews need to “get their act together” before “it is too late!”

Critics accused Trump of playing up an antisemitic trope that American Jews have dual loyalties between Israel and the U.S.