In an upcoming podcast appearance, Nicki Minaj touches on why she’s chosen to get more involved in conservative politics recently — revealing that it wasn’t Donald Trump‘s policies, but the way he’s “been treated” by the public that inspired her to start publicly supporting him.
In preview clips reshared by the rapper on X on Monday (Feb. 2), she answers questions from podcaster Katie Miller — whose full interview with Minaj drops Tuesday — about why she felt politics is her calling right now. When asked which of the twice-impeached president’s stances in particular motivated her, be it on immigration or “religious freedom,” Minaj replied, “Religious freedom is something that’s very important to me, but if I’m being honest, President Trump … when I saw how he was being treated, over and over and over, I just couldn’t handle it.”
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“I felt that a lot of that bullying and the smear campaigns and all of the lying, I felt that that had been done to me for so many years,” she continued. “And I was watching it in real time happen to someone else, and I didn’t think he deserved it.”
In another clip posted to X, Minaj elaborates on when she first started paying close attention to Trump’s politics. “During the last [presidential] campaign … I saw something, and I texted someone I knew right away, and I said, ‘This is a mistake.’ And I also said, ‘All of this is making me want to get into politics,’” the hitmaker told Miller, without revealing what it was she saw.
“And then there was something that happened a few months ago that, if I wasn’t going to do it before,” she continued cryptically, adding when asked for specifics, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I will say, sometimes people can push you so much, that they push you all the way into your next calling,” Minaj added with a sly smile. “That’s what happened with me.”
The Queens spitfire wrote of the latter video, “You guys are going to love this interview, Barbz. Here’s a sneak peek.”
The rare podcast interview comes a few days after Minaj appeared alongside the POTUS at his Trump Accounts Summit, where the two embraced behind the podium and the musician declared, “I am probably the president’s No. 1 fan.” Shortly afterward, Minaj revealed on X that Trump had bestowed her with a Trump Gold Card, which requires the holder to make a $1,000,000 contribution plus a $15,000 processing fee, according to its website. The Gold Card also claims to serve as a “visa based upon an individual’s ability to provide a substantial benefit to the United States,” potentially expediting the Trinidad-born artist’s U.S. citizenship.
Both Minaj and Trump were unhappy with the Grammys broadcast that took place afterward on Sunday (Feb. 1), during which host Trevor Noah ripped apart their new alliance. Imitating the politician, the comedian theorized that Trump’s conversation with Minaj went something like: “Actually, Nicki, I have the biggest a–! I have it. Everybody’s saying it, Nicki. I know they say it’s you, but it’s me! WAP WAP WAP.”
The rapper unleashed a series of angry posts on X after the fact, while Trump wrote on Truth Social, “The Grammy Awards are the WORST, virtually unwatchable! CBS is lucky not to have this garbage litter their airwaves any longer.”
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