AFRICAN AMERICANS/CELEBS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The universe threw together Donald Trump, Kanye West and the Oval Office on Thursday [10-11-18] afternoon, a collision that resulted in what may be the Trump era’s greatest mashup yet. Ahead of a planned lunch meeting, West embraced Trump in a hug at the Resolute Desk and expounded for 10 minutes straight on sleep deprivation, male energy,’ liberals, gun rights, alternate realities and much else while Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, football legend Jim Brown and a crowd of stunned journalists looked on. Officially, the purpose of Trump’s meeting with West, Brown, Kushner and the first daughter was to discuss prison reform, urban revitalization, violent crime in West’s hometown of Chicago and other priorities for black Americans. But its only sure result will be to briefly focus the attention of a confused nation on the awesome spectacle offered, free of charge, by its government. As for policy, West did, at the prompting of a reporter, voice his opposition to stop-and-frisk. And Trump — who on Monday [10-8-18] said police should implement the controversial tactic in Chicago — did say that he was ‘open’ to looking at police reforms. West spoke repeatedly about bringing manufacturing operations back to the United States, and about police shootings, and he advocated land ownership for black Americans. ‘We want a brand more than we want land,’ he said.”
–Ben Schreckinger, “Donald Trump and Kanye West remix the government,” Politico, October 11, 2018 5:50 pm