Trump huddles with Kanye West in phone call after Parler announcement: report

On Monday, POLITICO reported that former President Donald Trump spoke with rapper Kanye West on the phone following the announcement that the latter would be acquiring the right-wing social network Parler.

"West placed the call, during which the two confirmed plans to have dinner though nothing is currently scheduled," reported Meridith McGraw. "The call comes shortly after it was announced that West would be buying Parler, the social media app that is dominated by conservatives, and as the rapper faces criticism for a round of highly antisemitic comments, including from Trump-allied conservatives."

This comes soon after West was suspended from Twitter over an anti-Semitic post that appeared to contain vague threats of violence. "I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE," he wrote. "The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda."

West, who was held up as a third-party candidate for president in 2020 and was long praised by the GOP for his relationship with Trump, has earned the condemnation of a number of Trump's allies, including American Conservative Union director Matt Schlapp, who tweeted, “With so many problems in society blaming Jews for exploiting media or people of color is not one of them. Jews and other minorities should find common cause in crushing BDS/CRT. I admire Kanye is many mays but his harsh comments of Jews are offensive and wrong. Unite and Fight.” Even Trump himself reportedly has told allies West is "crazy" and needs help.

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Parler, which was intended as an alternative to Twitter supporting the "speech" rights of right-wing figures deplatformed for hate speech or harassment, has been struggling to maintain its user base after an initial surge in interest. The site is currently run by George Farmer, the husband of Candace Owens, a Trump-supporting Black activist close to West, leading some analysts to speculate Owens and Farmer are trying to cut their losses by offloading Parler onto him.

All of this is going on while the future of tech billionaire Elon Musk's well-publicized Twitter acquisition deal remains in limbo, with the social media giant refusing an offer from Musk that would reportedly close the deal and head off litigation over his attempts to back out.