Trump-Kanye West meeting: Rapper rants and swears at surreal White House lunch on day president signs 'historic' music bill

Rapper hugs Donald Trump while wearing a 'Make America Great Again' hat

Donald Trump meets with Kanye West and former American Footballer Jim Brown at the White House

Kanye West has launched into an expletive-filled rant touching on everything from prison reform to how Donald Trump makes him feel like “Superman” as part of a surreal meeting in the White House.

West, who lavished praise on the president ahead of a planned lunch, launched into a near 10-minute monologue that Mr Trump called “quite something”.

Referring the Make America Great Again hat he was wearing while sat across from Mr Trump in the Oval Office he said that it felt like it gave him “power”.

“There was something about putting this hat on that made me feel like Superman,” West said, as part of the speech that spanned topics from his mental health - saying he did not have dipolar disorder, but was merely “sleep deprived” - and violence in Chicago.

The rapper has been criticised over his for his support for Mr Trump, including after a recent appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live.

“People expect that if you're black you have to be Democrat,” he said. “What I need Saturday Night Live to improve on, what I need the liberals to improve on: if he don't look good, we don't look good,” West said, gesturing at Mr Trump.

Taking out his phone, he showed the president an image of a hydrogen-powered plane and suggested the president should use the design for Air Force One.

West also said he would like Mr Trump to ditch talk about persuading police in Chicago to institute “stop and frisk” policies to crack down on crime and violence.

“I didn't mean to put you on the (spot), bro,” West told Mr Trump, who said “I'm open to everything” about the subject, adding that West could speak for him “any time” as he was a “smart cookie”.

West also said the president is on a “hero's journey.”

“Let's stop worrying about the future, all we have is today,” the music star said, commenting on his own presidential ambitions. “Trump is on his hero's journey right now. He might not have thought he'd have a crazy mother-f***** like me [supporting him].”

Asked if he saw West as a potential presidential candidate Mr Trump said “could very well be” with West adding “only after 2024” - the end of a potential second White House term for Mr Trump.

Over lunch, according to White House spokesman Hogan Gidley, Mr Trump and his guests - which include former NFL running back Jim Brown and White House advisors Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump - would discuss potential future pardons for convicts along with “addressing the massive violent crime surge in Chicago” and efforts to create jobs for black Americans.

Kim Kardashian-West, who is married to the rapper, had previously raised the issue of pardons in a White House meeting of her own.

Before leaving the Oval Office for the lunch of roast chicken and potatoes West stood up and gave Mr Trump a hug, saying: “I love this man”.

If you want to read how the meeting unfolded, please see what was our live coverage below.

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[11 October 2018 18:29 · Chris Stevenson]

It was quite an end to the meeting:

 

[11 October 2018 18:31 · Chris Stevenson]

Here is some of the monologue from West earlier. "This is our president... he has be the freshest, the flyest":

 

[11 October 2018 18:44 · Chris Stevenson]

More from what was an extraordinary impromptu press conference:

President Donald Trump Donald welcomed West to the White House, and says the rapper "has been a friend for a long time." 

West credited Mr Trump with stopping a potential war with North Korea and encouraged Trump to swap his usual Air Force One jet for a hydrogen-powered plane. 

In a nearly 10-minute long speech in the Oval Office, West said he was pressured not to wear his red "Make America Great Again." West also says that many people believe that if someone's black, then that person has to be a Democrat. 

[11 October 2018 18:48 · Chris Stevenson]

More on that North Korea segment: 

 Mr Trump: “If you look at the employment numbers, if you look at the media. Income if you look at every single indicator, we are keeping our promises.”

West: “I like the North Korea.”

Mr Trump: “Dialogue. We are having dialogue. And the secretary of state just came back, Mike, just came back from North Korea , a series of meetings over the weekend, but there’s no more nuclear testing, no more missiles going up, no more nothing.”

“It was headed for war. It was headed for war.”

[11 October 2018 18:51 · Chris Stevenson]

Mr Trump was also asked if West was a potential presidential candidate:

Mr Trump: “Could very well be.”

West: “Only after, 2024.”

“Let’s stop worrying about the future all we have is today .... Trump is on his hero’s journey right now. He might not have thought he’d have a crazy mother-f***** like (me)”

[11 October 2018 19:04 · Chris Stevenson]

West said that his Make America Great Again hat, featuring Mr Trump's 2016 presidential campaign slogan makes him feel "like Superman".

[11 October 2018 19:11 · Chris Stevenson]

West also pitched an idea for a new Air Force One plane to the president:

 

[11 October 2018 19:15 · Chris Stevenson]

West's was not the only musical visitor to the White House today, with Kid Rock earlier attending the signing ceremony for a digital music bill:

 

[11 October 2018 19:31 · Chris Stevenson]

Kanye's visit to the White House follows a similar trip by Kim Kardashian West, who met with Trump in May, and persuaded him to grant clemency to Alice Johnson, who was serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug charge in Tennessee.

[11 October 2018 20:09 · Chris Stevenson]

In a meeting that was not short on memorable quotes, here is West talking about racism being an "invisible wall".