Kanye West met in private with President Donald Trump‘s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner last weekend, according to a report by The New York Times. West is still running for president in the 2020 election, and while he claims he no longer supports Trump, the meeting has raised many eyebrows. Sources said that Kushner was traveling with his wife, Ivanka Trump, at the time of the meeting.
West and Kushner reportedly met in Colorado as Kushner was passing through, and West was there for a camping trip with his family. When the family went home, West flew instead to Telluride and was alone at the time of the meeting. When contacted by reporters, West did not offer details on his meeting with Kushner, though before the Times broke the story of the meeting, he tweeted that he and Kushner had discussed the book PowerNomics by Dr. Claude Anderson. West used his platform to reiterate his newfound hatred of abortion and to say that he doesn’t “reflexively” support Democrats.
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Iโm willing to do a live interview with the New York Time about my meeting with Jared where we discussed Dr Claude Andersonโs book Powernomics
โ ye (@kanyewest) August 12, 2020
The meeting comes on the heels of an interview with Forbes last week, where West criticized former Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. In it, West acknowledged that his last-minute presidential campaign could only damage the chances of Biden’s campaign. West has successfully petitioned to get his name on the ballot in states like Colorado, and when asked if he thought he would be siphoning votes from Biden there, he said: “I’m not denying it, I just told you.”
West’s Forbes interview also hinted that he has an ongoing relationship with the Trump administration, even if he no longer supports Trump as a candidate. He said that he is “designing a school within the next month,” adding: “I’m meeting with [Secretary of Education] Betsy DeVos about the post-COVID curriculum.” So far, DeVos’ team has not confirmed this meeting.
So far, West’s political convictions seem to be related to his own religious evolution, focusing heavily on the issue of women’s reproductive rights. At a campaign event in North Carolina, he teared up telling the story of how he and his wife, Kim Kardashian nearly sought an abortion during their first pregnancy, and then later said that he believes his parents almost got one as well. West also told Forbes that he believes Planned Parenthood is part of a white supremacist conspiracy, and that some vaccines are as well.
West is running under his own political affiliation โ the Birthday Party. He may appear on the ballot in some states in November, but others have already denied him.