On Thursday, Kanye West followed in the footsteps of his wife Kim Kardashian to meet with his inspiration Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump at the White House. After weeks of vocalizing his support of Trump and wearing Make America Great Again Hats while also wearing Colin Kaepernick sweaters, West reportedly has a lot to discuss with Trump.
On the agenda: lunch (caprese salad and roasted chicken), prison reform, and the Music Modernization Act, which is "a sweeping bill to reform music licensing and royalty payments."
According to White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, they will also speak about "manufacturing resurgence in America, prison reform, how to prevent gang violence and what can be done to reduce violence in Chicago." So how is your lunch break going?
Ahead of their meeting, Trump praised West and said he's cool with other people calling West a genius. During a phone interview with Fox & Friends, Trump said:
"First of all, I like him a lot. He's been a friend of mine. I've known him for a long time. He's a very different kind of a guy. I say that in a positive way, but he is a different kind of a guy. Those that are in the music business say he's a genius, and that's okay with me because as far as I'm concerned, he is."
Trump also said there's potential for them to campaign together in 2020, and he gave West credit for a supposed increase in support among the African American community. He said, "I have a lot of African American support and a lot has developed over the last little while with Kanye coming out."
In video clips from the meeting, you can hear West talking about abolishing the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery. West said it was a "trap door" and reiterated his feelings by shouting, "I did say abolish, with the hat on, because why would you keep something around that's a trap door?" before asking, "We don't have 13 floors, do we?"
In short: West's visit to the White House had nothing to do with Kim's, in which she petitioning for the pardoning of Alice Marie Johnson and Chris Young. It was part of his longterm plan to help the city of Chicago. Also, he showed Trump a picture of a plane.
Shannon is a news writer at Cosmopolitan.com, and when she's not obsessing about Cardi B, she's thinking about Justin Bieber and still trying to memorize Beyoncé's Beychella choreography.
