https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/Ongoing. Kanye West met Donald Trump at Trump Tower in 2016, praised him publicly in 2018 and visited the Oval Office, then said he was distancing himself from politics. In 2020 West ran for president himself and said he no longer supported Trump. A November 2022 dinner at Mar-a-Lago, attended by Nick Fuentes, drew criticism, and Trump has since said West brought Fuentes without telling him.enhttps://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e24kanye-west-trump-ab3bbe175aSun, 16 Nov 2025 12:00:00 +0000Speaking to reporters in West Palm Beach, President Trump said he had not known Fuentes at the time of the 2022 dinner and had not known West was bringing him, the Associated Press reported. He was responding to questions about a separate interview of Fuentes by Tucker Carlson.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e23kanye-west-trump-d086c00acdThu, 05 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0000As Trump and Elon Musk exchanged criticism online, West posted on X asking two people he did not name to reconcile, Salon reported. Snopes confirmed the post was West's and said he was almost certainly referring to their dispute.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e22kanye-west-trump-7ccf05f903Mon, 05 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0000During a livestream with Adin Ross, Trump, then a candidate for president, described West as complicated and a nice guy who could get himself into trouble, Spectrum News and JTA reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e21kanye-west-trump-461282b8c0Sat, 26 Nov 2022 12:00:00 +0000White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said antisemitism had no place in America, including at Mar-a-Lago, CBS News reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e19kanye-west-trump-505d79110aFri, 25 Nov 2022 12:00:00 +0000In a statement and a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump said West had asked to visit and unexpectedly arrived with a guest he had never met and knew nothing about. He said he had told West he should definitely not run for president, that West expressed no antisemitism and that he did not know Fuentes, CBS News and The New York Times reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e20kanye-west-trump-92a2ddecf3Fri, 25 Nov 2022 12:00:00 +0000David Friedman, Trump's former ambassador to Israel, urged Trump to disavow West and Fuentes. Matt Brooks of the Republican Jewish Coalition condemned what he called the virulent antisemitism of both men. Anti-Defamation League chief Jonathan Greenblatt called the idea of such a meeting appalling, The New York Times reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e18kanye-west-trump-661dfc7bf0Thu, 24 Nov 2022 12:00:00 +0000In a video posted on Thursday evening, West said he had asked Trump to be his vice president for a 2024 run and that Trump had told him he would lose. He also said Trump was impressed with Fuentes, The New York Times reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e17kanye-west-trump-3f86b4638cTue, 22 Nov 2022 12:00:00 +0000Trump, by then a former president, hosted West for dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday evening, as Trump later described in a post. West arrived with others, including commentator Nick Fuentes. Karen Giorno, Trump's 2016 Florida state director, who attended, confirmed Fuentes was present, The New York Times reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e16kanye-west-trump-07cf32053dTue, 03 Nov 2020 12:00:00 +0000In the official results compiled by the Federal Election Commission, West received 70,296 votes nationwide, about 0.04 percent. The same compilation records 74,216,154 votes and 232 electoral votes for Trump.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e14kanye-west-trump-ccb915dd7eSat, 01 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000The Washington Post and ABC News reported that Republican operatives, some with ties to Trump's campaign, helped West seek places on state ballots. In Wisconsin, Madison lawyer Lane Ruhland, a former general counsel for the state Republican Party, delivered West's ballot petition to state election officials. The Post reported she had been listed weeks earlier as an attorney for the Trump campaign in a lawsuit against a local television station. She did not respond to requests for comment. Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller told the Post the campaign was not involved.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e15kanye-west-trump-22137c1ef3Sat, 01 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000Asked by reporters about the help West was receiving, Trump said he liked West very much and had nothing to do with him getting on the ballot, according to ABC News and The Washington Post.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e13kanye-west-trump-513da67595Wed, 08 Jul 2020 12:00:00 +0000In an interview with Forbes, West said he no longer supported Trump and was taking off the red campaign hat. He said he would run under a new banner, the Birthday Party, and that he was running to win, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e12kanye-west-trump-9a4c04cb90Tue, 07 Jul 2020 12:00:00 +0000Speaking at the White House, Trump called West's announcement very interesting and said West might run against him. He said that if West did, he would have to treat it as a trial run for the following election, AFP and Fox Business reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e11kanye-west-trump-fd5ab2a576Sat, 04 Jul 2020 12:00:00 +0000In a tweet on Saturday 4 July, West announced that he would run for president in 2020, according to Reuters and the Associated Press. Trump was the incumbent president seeking reelection.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e10kanye-west-trump-4ee12465b7Tue, 30 Oct 2018 12:00:00 +0000West wrote on Twitter that he had been used to spread messages he did not believe in and would focus on being creative. He said he had never wanted any association with Blexit, a campaign urging Black Americans to leave the Democratic Party, Bloomberg News reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e8kanye-west-trump-a652bebd46Thu, 11 Oct 2018 12:00:00 +0000Trump hosted West and former football player Jim Brown for a lunch billed as a discussion of manufacturing, prison reform and violence in Chicago, with Jared Kushner among those present. Wearing the campaign hat, West spoke about prison sentences, Larry Hoover, stop and frisk policing and manufacturing, according to the White House transcript and the Associated Press.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e9kanye-west-trump-a57c7c33eeThu, 11 Oct 2018 12:00:00 +0000During the meeting Trump said West's remarks were quite something and that West could speak for him anytime. Asked whether West could be a future presidential candidate, Trump said he could very well be, and West replied that it would be in 2024, after Trump.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e7kanye-west-trump-b011103a17Sun, 30 Sep 2018 12:00:00 +0000Trump wrote on Twitter that he had not watched the show but had heard West was great after putting on the hat despite being told not to. In the same remarks he said the show was no longer funny.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e6kanye-west-trump-929309adebSat, 29 Sep 2018 12:00:00 +0000After the credits of the Saturday Night Live episode, West took the stage wearing a Make America Great Again hat and gave an unscripted speech supporting Trump, the Associated Press reported. Videos of the speech circulated on social media.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e4kanye-west-trump-b31892e00eWed, 25 Apr 2018 12:00:00 +0000West posted on Twitter that the mob could not make him stop loving Trump and called Trump his brother. He also posted a photo of himself in a Make America Great Again hat that Trump had signed, the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e5kanye-west-trump-b619d3b226Wed, 25 Apr 2018 12:00:00 +0000Trump, then president, replied on Twitter with thanks, the Associated Press reported. Bloomberg reported that he did so while retweeting a post West had made earlier that day.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e3kanye-west-trump-a72f92ef11Mon, 06 Feb 2017 12:00:00 +0000Reuters and CNN reported that West's tweets about the Trump Tower meeting were missing from his account, along with a later post showing a TIME cover signed by Trump. Reuters said the reason was not clear. West's representatives did not respond to requests for comment.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e1kanye-west-trump-88814cd46dTue, 13 Dec 2016 12:00:00 +0000West visited Trump Tower in New York. Trump, then president-elect, told reporters West was a good man and that they were friends. West told reporters he was there to take a picture.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e2kanye-west-trump-baa5595815Tue, 13 Dec 2016 12:00:00 +0000In a series of tweets the same day, West said he had met Trump to discuss multicultural issues, including bullying, support for teachers, modernising school curriculums and violence in Chicago. He said a direct line of communication with the incoming president was important.https://howitunfolded.com/rivalries/kanye-west-trump/#e0kanye-west-trump-3f3aef0779Thu, 17 Nov 2016 12:00:00 +0000At a concert in San Jose, California, West said he had not voted in the presidential election but would have supported Donald Trump if he had, the Associated Press reported. He also praised Trump's method of communication.