The world is still talking about Kanye West’sbizarre lunch with President Donald Trump ― including White House staffers. And many of them are feeling “hugely embarrassed” by the president’s Oval Office meeting with the rap star, New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman told CNN on Friday.
“If you look [at the president’s] face as Kanye West was doing, essentially, his filibuster standing in front of the Resolute Desk, [Trump] looks speechless and confused, right. [He’s] uncertain quite what to do with this,” Haberman said.
The reporter pointed out the facial expressions of Trump’s daughter and son-in-law as further examples of the mixed reaction.
“You can see Jared Kushner there looking very happy, his wife Ivanka Trump not looking quite as happy,” Haberman said. “That represented the split that you saw within the White House.”
Haberman said White House staffers were troubled by the optics of the meeting.
“I heard from other West Wing aides who were hugely embarrassed that that had happened, thought that was not a good look, that this is not a rock concert,” she said.
She added:
“The main sentiment I have heard is why have we taken what was a pretty good week for the president with Kavanaugh, which is something that Republican candidates heading into the midterms would probably rather be talking about, and why are we now doing ‘Kanye Week’?”
West, wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, held forth for nearly 10 minutes in what seemed like a stream-of-consciousness rant. When he finished, Trump remarked: “I tell you what ― that was pretty impressive. That was quite something.”
You can see the complete CNN segment with Maggie Haberman below:
"My psychic told me she have an ass like Serena, Trina, Jennifer Lopez, four kids/And I gotta take all they bad ass to show-biz" --"Gold Digger"
"My dawgs couldn't tell if I/I look Tom Cruise on 'Vanilla Sky,' it was televised" --"Through the Wire"
"She got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson/Got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson" --"Slow Jamz"
"I'm just trying to say the way school need teachers/The way Kathie Lee needed Regis that's the way I need Jesus" --"Jesus Walks"
"'Cause I'm Jake Gyllenhaal/I'm in the hood with the bubble with a tall model broad like I took her from Russell/didn't play the cards I was dealt, I made the dealer re-shuffle" --"Looking for Trouble"
"Any girl I cheated on, sheets I skeeted on/I couldn't keep it home, I thought I needed a Nia Long" --"Touch the Sky"
"Only playa that got robbed but kept all his jewelry/Alicia Keys tried to talk some sense to them 30 minutes later seems there's no convincing them" --"Diamonds from Sierra Leone"
"You got Ds mother f***er, Ds, Rosie Perez/And yes, barely pass any and every class" --"Good Morning"
"And I'll admit, I had fell in love with Kim/Around the same time she had fell in love with him/Well that's cool, baby girl, do ya thang" --"Way Too Cold"
"You can't fathom my love dude/Lock yourself in a room doin' five beats a day for three summers/That's a different world like Cree Summer" --"Spaceship"
"I'll never be picture perfect Beyonce/Be light as Al B., or black as Chauncey/Remember him from Blackstreet" --"Everything I Am"
"Revolution ain't a game/It's another name/For life fighting/Someone to stay in they corner like Mike Tyson" --"My Way Home"
"Feel like Amerie "It's this one thing"/When they said that she made it/You see the eyes gleam" --"Roses"
"We was sort of like Will Smith and his son/In the movie I ain't talkin' 'bout the rich ones/'cause every summer he'll get some" --"Champion"
"When it feel like living's harder than dyin'/For me givin' up's way harder than tryin'/Lauryn Hill say her heart was in Zion/I wish her heart still was in rhymin'" --"Champion"
"I guess I'll clean up my act like Prince'll do/If not for the pleasure, least for the principle" --"Champion"
"But I can't complain what the accident did to my Left Eye/Cuz look what a accident did to Left Eye" --"Never Let Me Down"
"First Aaliyah and now romeo must die/I know a got angels watching me from the other side" --"Never Let Me Down"
"Let you tell that man I'm falling/Well somebody must've caught him/Cause every fourth quarter, I like to Mike Jordan 'em" --"Never Let Me Down"
"My money was thinner than Sean Paul's goatee hair" --"Last Call"
"Though the fans want the feeling of A Tribe Called Quest/But all they got left is this guy called West/Better take Freeway, throw him on tracks with Mos Def/Call him Kwa-lI or Kwe-li/I put him on songs with Jay-Z" --"Last Call"
"You'll sell everything includin the mannequin/They got a new bitch now you Jennifer Aniston" --"Gone"
"You a big L, and I ain't talkin 'bout Cool J" --"Gone"
"Caught somethin on the Usher tour he had to 'Let it Burn'" --"Gone"
"How am I suppose to stand out when everyone get dressed up/So yeah at the Grammys I went ultra Travolta" --"The Glory"
"In two years the Dwayne Wayne became the Dwyane Wade" --"The Glory"
"Got caught with 30 rocks/the cop look like Alec Baldwin" --"Gorgeous"
"Look like a fat booty Celine Dion/sex is on fire, I'm the King of Leon-a Lewis" --"Dark Fantasy"
"I'm so appalled/Spalding ball/Balding Donald Trump taking dollars from y'all" --"So Appalled"
"Prince William's ain't do it right if you ask me/'Cause I was him I would have Mary Kate and Ashley" --"N****s in Paris"
"What's scary to me is Henny makes girls look like Halle Berry to me" --"The New Workout Plan"
"With some light-skinned girls and some Kelly Rowlands/In this white man's world we the ones chosen" --"Power"
"Let's get lost tonight/You could be my black Kate Moss tonight" --"Stronger"
"And I'm still Cole like Keyshia's family" --"Barry Bonds"
"You know how long I've been on you?/Since Prince was on Apollonia/Since OJ had Isotoners" --"Stronger"
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