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Rapper Nicki Minaj has publicly praised President Donald Trump and his administration during a surprise appearance at a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) event.
Minaj appeared alongside Erika Kirk at Turning Point’s annual convention in Phoenix on Sunday, December 21.
Erika took on the role of the organization’s CEO after her husband Charlie Kirk, 31, was shot and killed while speaking at a university event in Utah earlier this year.
- Nicki Minaj praised Trump and VP JD Vance at Turning Point USA, calling them powerful, relatable, and full of heart and soul.
- Minaj admitted to changing her mind about Trump, saying she got tired of being pushed around and won’t back down again.
- During the event, Minaj mistakenly called JD Vance an 'assassin,' then quickly reacted to her blunder on stage.
Nicki Minaj heaped praise on Donald Trump and JD Vance
Image credits: Caylo Seals/Getty Images
Minaj, who once vocally criticized Trump’s deportation efforts during his first term, told those gathered that Trump and Vice President JD Vance made her proud to be American.
“I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president,” Minaj told Kirk.
“I don’t even know if he knows this, but he has given so many people hope that there’s a chance to beat the bad guys and to win and to do it with your head held high and your integrity intact.
“This administration is full of people with heart and soul and they make me proud of them.
“I love both of them,” Minaj, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, said, referring to Trump and Vance. “They’re both powerful men. Smart, strong, all of that.
🇺🇸 Trump has “given so many people hope that there’s a chance to beat the bad guys, & to win, & to do it with your head held high & your integrity in tact. This administration is filled with people with heart & soul.”
MAKES US FEEL PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN 🔥 @NICKIMINAJpic.twitter.com/xkQosoncqI
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 21, 2025
“Both of them have a very uncanny ability to be someone that you relate to, I can relate to them. When I hear them speak, I know that they are one of us.”
Minaj added, “They haven’t lost touch of the world, you know, they’re still connected to the world.”
During the conversation, Minaj also blundered an attempt to praise Vance as a role model for young men, describing him as an “assassin” before covering her mouth in apparent regret.
🚨HUGE BLUNDER: Nicki Minaj just referred to JD Vance as an “assassin” while speaking to Erika Kirk. Watch her completely squirm when she realizes what she said.
An absolutely massive fuckup caught live: pic.twitter.com/FGJO6xCo0Z
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) December 21, 2025
“If the internet wants to clip it, who cares? I love this woman,” Kirk said, after the pair had an inaudible and brief conversion off mic.
Minaj heaped praise on the president, describing him as “handsome” and “dashing,” also taking aim at some of his political enemies such as Gavin Newsom.
California Governor Newsom, widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender, has been dubbed “Newscum” by Trump–a nickname Minaj repeated on stage.
Back in 2018, Minaj struck a different tone on Trump, openly criticizing his deportation policies after 5,000 children were separated from their families at the Mexico border under his zero tolerance immigration policy.
At the time, Minaj shared her own story of arriving in the U.S. as an “illegal immigrant.”
The pop star described JD Vance as an ‘assassin’
Image credits: Tom Brenner-Pool/Getty Images
“This is so scary to me. Please stop this. Can you try to imagine the terror & panic these kids feel right now?” she had posted on Instagram.
Pushed on her change of heart, Minaj told Kirk that it was “ok to change your mind.”
“I just got tired of being pushed around,” Minaj said.
“I have something inside of me that’s stronger than what’s out there. So when you’ve had enough, you realize, ‘Wait a minute, why do I even care about these people and what they think? Who are they?’ They don’t even know who they are. So I’m not going to back down anymore. I’m not going to back down ever again,” she added.
Image credits: Caylo Seals/Getty Images
Minaj’s latest comments, which were praised by the White House on social media, came after she joined forces with the administration last month to highlight the alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
Minaj joined the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, at the UN headquarters in New York, to give a speech during a special event moderated by Harris Faulkner.
She was invited to speak at the event after sharing Trump’s Truth Social post on the issue, saying that reading it “made me feel a deep sense of gratitude.”
“No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion. We don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other,” Minaj added.
“Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horror & it’s dangerous to pretend we don’t notice.”
Image credits: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Her recent appearance at the Turning Point event also sparked criticism among her fans, with one writing on X, “WE CAN NO LONGER PLAY ANY NICKI MINAJ MUSIC. PERIOD.”
Another added, “Watching Nicki Minaj destroy her legacy over an administration that won’t make it to 2029.”
“F**k Nicki Minaj. Supporting her at this point, especially as a gay fan, makes you just as brain dead as her,” a third wrote.
Minaj’s former stylist also slammed her recent comments, including some that have been deemed as transphobic.
“It’s sad to see her go down this path,” Daniel Lismore wrote.
“To turn on the very community that stood behind her, lifted her up, dressed her, styled her, celebrated her. Some of us are still here. Watching her lose the love from the LGBTQIA+ community she once worked so hard to gain.”
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