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During his White House Oval Office visit, Kanye West told President Donald Trump that his friends tried to scare him out of wearing his make America Great Again hat.
USA TODAY
Kanye West meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.(Photo: SAUL LOEB / AFP / GETTY IMAGES)
Kanye West took his bromance with President Donald Trump to another level.
The rapper, who has become one of Trump's highest-profile celebrity supporters, visited the White House Thursday, where Jared Kushner and Ivanka, Kid Rock and Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown gave way to a meandering 10-minute monologue.
During the wide-ranging discussion, West dropped an F-bomb, "(he warned reporters), explained why he famously derided form President George W. Bush has racism while defending Trump ("I was in a victim mentality") and announced that he had been misdiagnosed with a bipolar disorder.
Here is the full transcript from their planned lunch meeting, provided by the White House Press Office.
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Kanye West speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House with President Donald Trump. They discussed one of the president's favorite talking points in his administration's success: The record low rate of black unemployment. (Photo: EVAN VUCCI / AP)
Trump: Kanye – everybody knows, right? Every – does the world know Kanye? Kanye, what people do not know about Jim – they say – first of all, he's the best football player. But they say he was an even better lacrosse player. Do you think so?
Brown: Never thought about it.
Trump: Huh?
Brown: Never thought about it.
Trump: I heard he was even – at Syracuse.
Brown: I love the game. Yes, I loved it. I loved all the sports.
Trump: Well, it's great to have you, Jim. Great to have you.
Brown It's good to be here, Mr. President.
Trump: Kanye, it's great to be with you.
West: Great to be here.
On their friendship
Trump: And these are two friends of mine. And Kanye has been a friend of mine for a long time. And Jim is – Jim came out of nowhere, and he said, "I like what the President is doing." A long time ago we put. Right? And I just appreciated it very much.
And, you know, if you look at the employment numbers, if you look at the median income, if you look at every single indicator, we're keeping our promise, Jim. Thank you. And I want to thank you.
On North Korea
Brown: And I like North Korea.
Trump: I like North Korea too.
Yeah. Yeah Well, he's – turned out to be good. Dialogue. We had a little dialogue. And Secretary of State just came back – Mike. He just came back from North Korea We had very good meetings, and we'll meet again. But we're doing good. No more nuclear testing. No more missiles going up No more nothing And it's – that was headed to war. That was headed to war.
Brown: Yeah. I mean, it was – to me, it seemed like that.
Trump: Yeah. It was so close We spoke – I spoke to President Obama. I will tell you, that was headed to war. And now it's going to be – I believe it's going to work out very well.
West: You stopped the war –
Trump: We really stopped the war. Saved millions of lives You know, Seoul has 30 million people You do not realize how big Thirty million people who are right near the border; 30 miles off the border Millions of people would have been killed And I will say, Chairman Kim has been really good. Really good And we've made a lot of progress.
That 's nice that you say that, because it' s a big – that 's a big thing These folks were covering – they were covering North Korea not – I think not very promisingly. And there were a lot of problems. President Obama said that was his biggest problem. And I do not say anything is solved
West: You, one day, solved one of the biggest problems.
Trump: Yeah.
West: We solved one of the biggest problems.
Trump: It was a big solving. And not solved yet, but I think we're along – I think we're on the way.
No, no. It's – we're well on our way.
In a short period of time, Jim. Very short period of time. You know, I left Singapore three months ago. And we've made a lot of progress. So it's very good. Hey, look, that's one of many things. But I appreciate everything with you.
On Kim Kardashian's visit, reform prison
Trump: I'll tell you what – Kim was in. Mrs. Johnson, we got her out. She was very unfairly treated. And there are many other people like that, that –
West: Yeah, we have Larry Hoover's lawyer with us today. And it's a prisoner that has been focused on – he has six life sentences, and they have him to the Unabomber doing 23 and 1. That means –
Trump: What did he do? Larry? What happened?
Moore: Why was he in?
Trump Yes, tell me Tell us.
Moore: Allegedly, it's for conspiracy from prison – from state prison. You know, it's alleged. But we do not know if he has committed these crimes, the sentence was overly broad and too strict.
Trump: What was the sentence?
Moore: Six consecutive life sentences in the most secure prison in the world, also known as "a clean version of hell," for an economic crime.
West: What prison is that? Name the prison.
Moore: ADX supermax, in Florence, Colorado. They house the Unabomber, al-Qaeda operatives, mass killers, Oklahoma City bomber, things of that nature.
Trump: How old is he? How old?
Moore: 68.
Trump: 68 years old?
Moore: Yes, 68 years old.
West: And really, the reason why they are doing it because he started doing positive for the community. He started showing that he actually had power, that he was not just one of a monolithic voice, but he could wrap people around.
So there's theories that there's infinite amounts of universe and there's alternate universe. So it's very important to get to Hoover out, because in an alternate universe, I am him. I'm moving back to Chicago and it's not just about, you know, getting on stage and being an entertainer and having a monolithic voice that's forced to be a specific party.
On welfare
West: You know, people expect that you're black Democrat. I have a – I 've had a lot of things to say that this is a reason for a lot of people. They say – you know, first of all, it 's a limited amount of jobs. So the fathers lose the jobs, and they say, "We'll give you more money for your kids." And then, we get rid of the mental health institutes in the '80s and the' 90s, and the prison rates just shot up.
On Chicago murder rate
West: And now you have "Chiraq," what people call "Chiraq" – which is actually – our murder rate is going down by 20 percent every year. I just talked to the superintendent; puts with Michael Sacks; that's (Mayor of Chicago) Rahm (Emanuel's) right-hand man. So I think it's the bravery that helps you beat this game called life.
On 'MAGA' hat, superpowers and Hillary Clinton
West: You know, they tried to scare me to not wear this hat – my own friends. But this hat, it gives me – it gives me power, in a way. You know, my dad and my mom separated, so I did not have a lot of male energy in my home. And also, I'm married to a family that – (laughs) – you know, not a lot of male energy going on. It's beautiful, though. But there's times where, you know, there's something about – you know, I love Hillary. I love everyone, right? But the campaign "I'm with her" just did not make me feel, as a guy, that did not get to see my dad all the time – like a guy who could play catch with his son. It was something about when I got this hat on, it made me feel like Superman. You made a Superman. That was my – that's my favorite superhero. And you made a Superman cape.
On the 'Yeezy Effect'
West: For me, also a guy who looks up to you, looks up to Ralph Lauren, looks up to American industry guys – non-political, no (expletive) delay – and just goes in and gets it done.
Right now, you give me the heart to go to Adidas. Because at Adidas, when I went in, in 2015, we were a $ 14-billion company losing $ 2 billion a year. Now we have a $ 38-billion market cap. It's called the "Yeezy effect."
And I went to Casper. We had a meeting in Chicago. And I said, "You have to bring onshore manufacturing." And not even shore; into the core. It's not about the border; it's the core of Adidas. And Chicago is the core of Middle America. And we have to make Middle America strong.
So I had the balls – because I have enough balls to put on this hat. I mean, this adidas thing made be a billionaire. And I could have lost $ 200 million walking away from that deal. But even with that, I knew it was more important for me to take care of Chicago. And when we have reformed prison, for no – because it 's empowerment, not rehabilitation, because they did not have the abilities in the first place. We never had anyone that taught us. They did not teach us. Exactly – we had no one that "taught" us. Right?
On the 13th Amendment
West: So it's more important than any specific deal – anything – that we bring jobs into America, and that we provide a transition to mental health and the Amer-I-Can education curriculum that Jim has worked on. Larry Hoover also has a curriculum that he worked on. We have Montessori curriculus that we worked on. WeWork has a beautiful curriculum. The Waldorf establishment has a curriculum. We have meditation. This is a lot of things affecting our mental health.
I did say "abolish" with the hat on. Why would you keep something around that's a trap door? If you're building a floor – the Constitution is the basis of our industry, right? Of our country, of our company. Would you like to build something up – you accidentally happen, you end up coming to the Unabomber? You end up – you got to go all out of the relationship.
The four gentlemen that wrote the 13th Amendment – and I think the universe works, it's perfect. We do not have 13 floors, do we? You know, so the oven – the fourteen gentlemen wrote that the 13th Amendment did not look like the people they were amending. Also at that point, it was illegal for blacks to read – or African Americans to read. And so that if you actually read the Amendment, you would get locked up and turned into a slave.
Kanye West, center, speaks with President Donald Trump in the Oval office of the White House. To train great Jim Brown sits to the left of West. (Photo: OLIVER CONTRERAS / POOL / GETTY IMAGES)
On bipolar disorder misdiagnosis, mental health
West: Again – so what I think is, we do not need sentences; we need forgive. We need to talk to people. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I was connected with a neuropsychologist that works with the athletes in the NBA and the NFL. And he looked at my brain – it's equal on three parts. I'm going to go ahead drop some bombs for you – 98 percentile IQ test. I had a 75 percentile of all human beings, but it was counting eight numbers backwards, (inaudible), so I'm going to work on that one. The other ones, 98 percent – Tesla, Freud.
So he said that I actually was not bipolar; I had sleep deprivation, which could cause me 10 to 20 years from now, where I would not even remember my son's name. So all this power that I got, and I'm taking my mind to the game and all that, I would not be able to remember his name from a misdiagnosis.
And what we need is, we can empower the pharmaceuticals and make more money. That's one thing – I've never stepped into a situation where I did not make people more money. So we can empower pharmaceuticals, we can empower our industries, we can empower our factories. We can bring onshore, we can bring – Foxconn has set up a factory in, I think, Minnesota.
Jared Kushner: Wisconsin.
West: Fifty-three thousand –
Trump: Wisconsin. Yeah. Wisconsin.
On iPlane1
West: Yeah. Wisconsin. They have 4,000 jobs. People making $ 53,000 a year. And one of the things we got to set is Ford to have the highest design. The dopest cars. The most amazing. I do not really say "dope." We just say positive, lovely, divine universal words. So the flyest, freshest, most amazing car.
And what we want to start with – I brought a gift with me right here. This right here is the iPlane1. It's a hydrogen-powered airplane. And this is what our president should be flying in. Look at this, Jared. (Laughter.)
Trump: We'll get rid of Air Force One. Can we get rid of Air Force One? (Laughter.) No? You do not like that idea.
West: Well, we're going to have Apple, an American company, work on this plane with –
But you know what I do not like – it's not that I do not like – what I need "Saturday Night Live" to improve on, or what I need to make it better , we do not look good. This is our President.
Trump: It's true.
West: He has to be the freshest, the flyest, the flyest planes, the best factories. And we have to make our core be in power. We have to bring jobs to America. But when we make everything in China, then we're going to cheating on our country and we're going to be in the world.
On Trump looking good
Trump: I'll tell you what – that was pretty impressive, folks. (Laughter.) You know, I hate to say this – Jim, do you want to say something? (Laughter.) What do you after that?
You are – please, Jim. Please.
Brown: If he does not look good, we do not look good.
Trump: Great, right? Is not that a great statement?
Brown: Yes, it is.
Trump: And it's so true.
Brown: Makes a lot of sense.
Trump: As a country. It's – very – I've never seen Jim Brown impressed before. (Laughter.) He was impressed. That's true. That statement is amazing, huh?
Brown: Yeah yeah. It makes a lot of sense.
Trump: I want to say it's great to have you guys here. And we're going to have some lunch.
That was quite something. That was quite something.
West: It was from the soul. I just channeled it.
Trump: Yeah.
Reporter: Can I just ask a quick question of Kanye?
Trump: Really very interesting.
Yes, yeah. Please.
We form President George W. Bush and racism
Reporter: So you had said, of President Bush, that he does not care about black people. And you've heard some people say that about this President. What do you – how do you respond to that? What do you make of that?
West: I think we need to care about all people. And I believe that when I went to NBC, I was very emotional, and I was programmed to think of a victimized mentality. A welfare mentality.
I think that with blacks and African-Americans, we really get caught up in the idea of racism over the idea of industry. We want to be polite-sporting Obama again. We want a brand more than we want land. Because we have known how to behave in our own country.
So when you do not have ownership, then it's all about how something looks. It's about the patina; it's not about the soul. So we focus more on, is somebody wearing something; is someone disrespecting so I got to shoot them. Or the idea of someone being racist.
On police brutality
West: You know, we're talking about police murders, which we definitely have to discuss, and we're talking about police officers and make – police officers are just like us. But there's this whole hate-building, right? And that's a major thing about racial tension.
And we also, we black people, we have to take responsibility for what we're doing. We kill each other more than police officers. And that's not saying that the police officer is not an issue, because they are in a place – a position of power. But sometimes they are in a place of law enforcement. They need to be law-power. It's strength versus power And when you – you should not be forced to do that.
So a lot of times the police officer is sitting there, they're forced to do this and forced to do that block. And then they force somebody into something and force into something. We have to release the love throughout the country and give opportunities. A lot of times it's just the overall lack of reparations that we, at any given point, we say, "Oh, this is racist. This is racist. This is racist. This is racist. "
So we do not have reparations, but we have the 13th Amendment. We got to open up the whole conversation. So – and that's a move. One of the moves I love that liberals try to do – the liberals would try to control a person through the concept of racism, because they know we are very proud, emotional people. So when I said "I like Trump" to, like, that's liberal, they'll say, "Oh, but he's racist." You think racism could control me? Oh, that do not stop me. That's an invisible wall.
On racism
Reporter: But you do not think – you say who he is?
West: On your question – and you had one question; we're going to do it to another question.
Reporter: (Laughs.) OK.
West: I answered your question. I do not answer questions in simple soundbites. You are tasting a fine wine. It has multiple notes to it. (Laughter.) You better play 4D chess with me like it's "Minority Report." Because it is not that simple. It's complex.
Improving crime in Chicago
Reporter: When would you like – I'm from the Chicago Sun Times, sir. I would like to know what you would like President Trump to do for Chicago. You're here to talk about crime in Chicago.
West: The thing that the head of the police and the Mike Sacks puts in place so much so that the "stop and frisk" does not help the relationship in the city. And everyone that knew I was coming here said, "Ask about stop and frisk." That's the number one thing we're having this conversation about.
Another thing is opening up industries. And we've got to get some tax breaks too. Because we're making – we got a Speedfactory in Atlanta, but the shoes are costing us $ 300, so it's costing us too much to make things.
So we need some prototypes here so we can get people working back, so China can not beat us. You got Levi's, the greatest jeans company in the world, making their jeans in Vietnam.
So we're going to need to get a few places in my hometown of Chicago, and 2.7 million to the 9 million surrounding suburbs where we can create some factories.
Now, I think it would be cool for them to be trump factories, because he's a master of industry. He's a builder. And I think it would be cool to have Yeezy ideation centers, which would be a mix of education that empowers people and give them modern information like – sometimes people say, "This kid has ADD. This kid has ADD. "He do not have ADD. School is boring. It was boring. It's not as exciting as this. We have to make it more exciting. We have to mix curriculums.
You play basketball while you're doing math. You learn about music while you meditate in the morning. We have to instate mental health and art programs back into the city. So those are –
And also, Larry Hoover is an example of a man who has been turning his life around, and they have tried to turn his life around, they hit him with six life sentences. So I believe he's – you say do not tear down the statues? Larry Hoover is a living statue. He's a beacon for us that needs to see his family; that needs to go out and represent. When you have a block leader on every single block, they can own the block as their own. That's something I learned from Jim Brown, from "Amer-I-Can."
Jim Brown has created. Jim Brown has created.
On the Second Amendment
Reporter: What about gun violence? With all the debate about the Second Amendment, how do you fix that?
West: The problem is illegal guns. Illegal guns is the problem, not legal guns. We have the right to bear arms.
Reporter: President Trump has said that he favors "stop and frisk." Are you guys going to be discussing that? Do you think you can change his mind?
West: Yeah. We're going to discuss that. I did not mean anything like that, bro, but –
Trump: No, no. It's OK. (Laughter.)
West: But this is definitely a –
Trump: Hey, I'm open-minded. I'm here. I am open-minded.
On West joining Trump on campaign trail
Reporter: Mr. President, would you like to speak to one of your rallies?
Trump: He can speak for me anytime He wants to be a great guy. He's a smart cookie. Smart. He gets it. These two guys – Jim Brown. He's been doing this for a long time.
Brown: Yes sir.
On West running for president
Reporter: Is this a future presidential candidate?
Trump: Could very well be.
West: Only after him. It'll be 2024.
Trump: Could very well be. That's good. I'm glad to hear that.
On the future, or lack thereof
West: We have a good – and the thing is, let 's stop worrying about the future. All we really have today. We just have today. Over and over and over again, the eternal return. The hero's journey. And Trump is on his hero's journey right now. And he might not have expected to have a crazy (expletive) like Kanye West run up and support, but best believe we are going to make America great.
Now, the thing is my – another thing is black people have an issue with the word "again." And I believe – I'm going to throw inaudible), because time is a myth. All we have is now. All we have is today.
So the word "again" – it does not hurt us because of the idea of racism and slavery, different things; it hurts because we need to focus on who we are now, today, I believe.
Kanye meets with Trump and plays to the press. (Photo: SAUL LOEB / AFP / GETTY IMAGES)
On MAGA hat and Colin Kaepernick
West: So I do not really have a bit of a transition. I'm not trying to put you – (inaudible) in the spot a little bit. I made a hat that says "Make America Great." Just that.
But I would love to see, at the Super Bowl, Trump wearing the "Make America Great" hat; Colin (Kaepernick) Making – wearing the "Make America Great," and showing that we can bend a bit on this side, we can bend a bit on this side, and we can learn how to be malleable in the infinite universe that we are We are one country we are one of the world We are one moment in history and time We are one We're here before, and we're here now and we're here and we need to stop working on It's like gang again.
On the Oval Office's energy
Trump: Let me ask you this question. You're in the Oval Office –
West: OKAY. (Laughs.)
Trump: How does it feel in the Oval Office?
West: Oh, it's good energy in this.
Trump: Is not it good energy?
West: It's good energy.
Trump: It's a great place. Jim, how do you feel?
Brown: I feel good. I truly feel good. And thank you, too.
On the importance of their meeting
Trump: You are so respected. And what is Kanye doing incredible? All over the world they're talking about this. And I have to tell you, I had important meetings today with senators and with everything. Nobody cared. They wanted this meeting. This is the meeting. Is that right? I can say that to Jon.
Reporter: We care about other stuff, too.
Trump: The others were good, right? But this is what they want.
Brown: (Inaudible) honor you would be here.
Trump: Well, it's my honor, Jim. I want to tell you. I've been a fan of yours for a long time.
Brown: Well, thank you very much.
Trump: Long time. Nobody like you. Nobody like you. No athlete like you.
Brown: Well, you know why I'm here? I'm here to serve.
Trump: Yeah. That's really nice, Jim.
Brown: I'm not here to ask for anything. (Inaudible.)
Trump: And you know, that's always been the way Jim has been – for a long time. And he just wanted to help. And it's something special.
Jennifer, did you have a question?
On stop and frisk
Reporter: I guess – just you – what do you feel about stop and frisk? Are you going to, you know –
Trump: Well, we're going to look at it.
Reporter: – back-track on your comment (inaudible)?
Trump: I'm open to everything. Hey, look, I think it's a shame what's happening in Chicago.
On crime in Chicago
Reporter: And what else can be done in Chicago?
Trump: I'm in Chicago a lot, too. I have nice things in Chicago. You know that, right? And I hate to see what's happening. They're having numbers – the numbers of people being shot and killed – it's not for this country. So they have to do something. And I am totally open. If we can do it a different way, Kanye, I'm totally open. I mean, we all agree they have to do something, that's for sure.
Reporter: Mr. President, is it a law enforcement issue? A legislation – a legislative issue?
Trump: Well, maybe it's a combination of both. Yeah, I guess it is. But I think it's probably a combination of both. And it's also a respect issue. They respect this guy. They respect this guy. That's a big thing. Right now, they're not respecting, let's say, your mayor, or let's say your leadership in Chicago. But it should not be happening. What's going on there should not be happening.
Steve? Go ahead.
On prison reform
Reporter: Sir, what do you want this meeting?
Trump: Honestly, from our standpoint, this was just set up to be a lunch of two people that I like. And I guess they like me. And we're going to have lunch. We're going to talk.
The hug
West: You said – you said, I guess, you know I love you.
Trump: I know.
West: Did I –
Trump: But I do not want to take
West: No, I'm standing in that spot. I love this guy right here. Let me give this guy a hug right here. (Laughter.) I love this guy right here.
Trump: That's really nice. Come here. That's really nice. And that's from the heart. I did not want to put you in that position. (Laughter.) But that's from the heart. Special guy.
These two are special people. Whether you like it or not, it's special people. And I appreciate it. Jim, Kanye, I appreciate it. So let's go have some lunch.
Thank you all very much.
Contributed by Jayme Deerwester, John Fritze and Maeve McDermott
Related: Kanye West goes on 10-minute soliloquy, references Superman cape and swears during White House visit
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