'This Is A F**king Nightmare': Donald Trump's Team On Damage Control Duty After He Dined With Kanye West & Known White Nationalist
Nov. 28 2022, Published 5:30 p.m. ET
Nearly one week after former President Donald Trump made headlines for all the wrong reasons after attending a controversial dinner with embroiled musician Kanye West and noted white nationalist Nick Fuentes among others, 45’s team is seemingly working overtime to manage the widespread backlash against the ex-Commander-in-Chief.
"This is a f**king nightmare," one of Trump’s longtime advisers told NBC News controversial meeting.
"If people are looking at DeSantis to run against Trump, here's another reason why,” they continued, referencing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is largely expected to run against the previous POTUS in the 2024 presidential election.
Denounced as a “white supremacist leader” by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Fuentes has frequently made headlines with his abhorrent remarks targeting People of Color, Jewish People and members of other marginalized groups.
Alongside calling for a military presence in predominantly Black neighborhoods, among other hateful remarks, Fuentes has also made several offensive comments regarding the Holocaust, jokingly denying the atrocity, which killed “6 million Jews and millions of others,” per the Illinois Holocaust Museum, and even comparing people who burned to death in concentration camps to burnt cookies.
Shortly after news of their meeting sparked major backlash, Trump spoke out on the matter, taking to social media with a statement alleging that he was unaware of Fuentes’ well-documented penchant for racism, bigotry and extremism.
“This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump explained in a statement shared to his Truth Social platform. “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,” he continued, describing the meal as being “quick and uneventful.”
- Donald Trump Insists He Wouldn't Have Been A 'Happy Camper' If He Had Known About Kanye West's Shocking Antisemetic Rants Before Dinner At Mar-A-Lago
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Despite this denial, several sources who knew of the dinner claimed that Trump was, in fact, acquainted with at least one of West’s guests, Karen Giorno, who served as a political strategist for the former POTUS amid his 2016 presidential campaign, per NBC News.
But it seems that several of Trump’s political foes and allies weren’t convinced, including The View’s Alyssa Farah Griffin, who worked as the White House Director of Strategic Communications amid 45’s administration.
“I don’t even want to promote this Nick Fuentes character. He’s not just an anti-semite. He’s a neo-Nazim,” she explained during a recent installment of the long-running daytime talk series.
“Donald Trump is the grandfather of Jewish grandkids,” she continued, referencing Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s three children. “It breaks my heart to think he’s of so low of character that he is incapable of outright just condemning this bigoted antisemitism.”