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Trump’s Mideast envoy: Dinner with West, Fuentes ‘should never have happened. Period’

Long-time Trump advisor and former White House Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt urges Trump to condemn Kanye West and Nick Fuentes after Mar-a-Lago meeting.

By World Israel News Staff

Former White House envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt urged President Donald Trump to condemn rapper-turned-fashion designer Kanye West and far-right Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, after the three dined together at Mar-a-Lago last week.

In an opinion piece published by CNN Monday, Greenblatt, a long-time confidant of Trump who served in senior positions in the Trump Organization before being tapped as Mideast special envoy, wrote a nuanced critique of Trump’s dinner with West and Fuentes, castigating the latter two over their antisemitic remarks while offering only veiled criticism of his former boss for hosting the meeting.

“The question I am addressing is what I thought of President Trump having dinner with haters such as Fuentes and West,” Greenblatt wrote. “I think it’s a straightforward answer — it should not have happened. Period.”

“I hope President Trump condemns Fuentes, West and their ilk for what they are — haters of Jews and haters of the foundations of the United States of America. People like Fuentes are dangerous to the United States. The President Trump that I know would recognize that and issue this condemnation.”

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Writing from Riyadh, Greenblatt also emphasized Trump’s “extremely positive record with respect to” Jews and his pro-Israel bonafides, explaining that the former president’s role in hosting the meeting required a more lengthy response than could be conveyed in a brief television news appearance.

“Nor can I try to respond to this issue in a brief interview on television, especially if the anchor is looking to score political points against President Trump. We must not allow antisemitism to be politicized or condensed into sound bites.”

Greenblatt noted Trump’s record of speaking “strongly against antisemitism,” and called the 45th president “an incredible friend to Israel.”

Trump has responded to criticism of the dinner meeting, writing on his Truth Social account that he was not familiar with Nick Fuentes and was unaware that West was bringing him to the meeting.

“This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said. “Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about. We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport.”

Trump called the meeting ‘uneventful.”

West, on the other hand, said the former president was “really impressed with Nick Fuentes.”