US Politics
Trump brings out his ‘No. 1 fan’ Nicki Minaj and Kevin O’Leary to help him tout his baby savings accounts
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A White House event to promote the children’s investment accounts established under the Trump administration’s partisan spending package took a bizarre turn on Wednesday when President Donald Trump dragooned a pair of celebrity attendees into joining him on stage.
Trump was roughly 25 minutes into a meandering speech at the Mellon Auditorium when he began rattling off the names of high-profile audience members and thanking them for their support.
After he shouted out a group of Republican officeholders and political candidates — including Senators Marsha Blackburn and Ted Cruz — as well as AirBnb founder turned U.S. chief design officer Joe Gebbia, Trump spotted Canadian-born entrepreneur and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary in the audience.
“I like Kevin O’Leary. Where’s Kevin? Over there. Kevin is so nice. He’s with me 90% of the time, but when he’s with me, he’s really with me great,” Trump said before remarking on how O’Leary had expressed interest in purchasing TikTok’s U.S. operations but had failed to submit the high bid in that deal.
“You’re an entertainer, businessman … so I know what you do, having done The Apprentice, I see you on television, you have what it takes, right?”
After shouting out Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines — the wife of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump then turned his attention to rapper Nicki Minaj.
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He said Minaj, who in 2024 became the first female rapper to have two songs certified as Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, was “the greatest” and “the most successful female rapper in history” while praising her for reportedly “investing hundreds of thousands of dollars” into the “Trump accounts” that will benefit children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, each of whom will receive $1,000 from the federal government that will be invested and held until the children turn 18.
“Nicki makes a lot of money, and she’s generously stepping up. She’s investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in Trump accounts to support the children and really, really the children of her incredible fans,” he said.
The Trinidadian-born musician, who has admitted to having come to the U.S. illegally but is now reportedly a green-card holder, has been a frequent presence around the Trump administration in recent months since outing herself as a supporter of the president.
Trump noted that Minaj has been “a big Trump supporter and a Trump fan” who has taken “a little heat on occasion” from her fans but has remained “an unbelievable supporter” nonetheless.
He then asked Minaj and O’Leary to join him on-stage while remarking that Minaj has “been with us all the way.”
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Wearing a puffy white fur-trimmed coat, Minaj said she wasn’t sure what to say but professed herself to be Trump’s “No. 1 fan” while vowing that her support for him was “not going to change.”
“And the hate or what people have to say, it does not affect me at all. It actually motivates me to support him more, and it’s going to motivate all of us to support him more,” she said. “We’re not going to let them get away with bullying him and you know, the smear campaigns, it’s not going to work. OK?”
The rapper added that “God is protecting” Trump.
O’Leary, who in 2017 unsuccessfully campaigned to lead the Conservative Party of Canada, said he wanted to thank Trump “on behalf of all the entrepreneurs in America” because “we create 72 percent of the jobs … and all we care about is policy.”
“We love policy. Pro business policy. And these accounts are fantastic for independence and support,” he said.
After he finished, Trump called the diversion from his prepared remarks “a little interlude” and quipped that having the two celebrities on-stage was “better than getting [Treasury Secretary] Scott Bessent up.”