OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has gotten some love and support from what many would consider an unlikely source: Rapper L’il Pump.
The musician unveiled a massive new tattoo this thigh this week featuring Trump and honoring him as the “greatest president of all time,” as reported by Breitbart News.
The “I Love It” artist showed off his new tat in an Instagram post on Tuesday with the caption, “MAGA” and two American flag emojis.
Lil Pump’s tattoo seems to be a depiction of Trump’s mugshot from August 2023, when Trump turned himself in and was processed by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia. He faced charges stemming from an indictment by District Attorney Fani Willis over the 2020 election in the state.
In October 2020, the rapper endorsed Trump, taking to Instagram to tell his 17 million followers, “All I gotta say is Trump 2020, bitch,” before rebuking Joe Biden’s proposed tax hike.
The artist also attended a Trump rally in Miami that year just days after publicly endorsing the then-president. Trump also welcomed the rapper onto the stage during his final 2020 campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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Another top rap artist who spent much of Trump’s first term attacking him appears to have shifted his tone quite a bit.
The Hill reports: “Rapper Snoop Dogg did a U-turn on his opinion about Donald Trump, saying he has “nothing but love and respect” for the former president following years of staunch criticism. In an interview with London’s The Sunday Times over the weekend, the ‘Gin and Juice’ rapper was asked about his thoughts on the GOP front-runner in the upcoming presidential election. He replied by praising Trump, mentioning the former president pardoned Michael ‘Harry-O’ Harris, a former associate of Suge Knight.”
“Donald Trump?” Snoop Dogg said. “He ain’t done nothing wrong to me. He has done only great things for me. He pardoned Michael Harris.”
In the 1990s, Knight, in collaboration with Harris and Dr. Dre, co-founded the Death Row Records record label, where they signed Snoop Dogg during the early stages of his career. Harris had been convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and was granted a pardon by Trump in 2021 after serving 30 years of a 25-year-to-life sentence, as reported by USA Today. Just before his term ended, Trump issued pardons for Harris and 69 other individuals.
“I have nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump,” Snoop added.
The rapper is known for his past provocative actions aimed at criticizing the former president. For instance, he shared an EP cover on social media in 2017 that depicted him standing over a representation of Trump’s dead body. During a 2018 visit to the White House, he was photographed smoking a blunt outside the premises.
In one of his most contentious gestures, Snoop appeared in a music video shooting at a clown dressed as Trump with a toy gun.
Nationally, Trump appears to be even with President Joe Biden in some surveys while leading him in others.
Also, voters hold a negative perception of the term “Bidenomics” and believe that the president’s promotion of it could potentially benefit Trump in the upcoming fall election.
The strategy was seen as risky from the outset, given historical examples like the use of “Reaganomics” against the incumbent president. Despite this, Biden’s team remained optimistic about the possibility of giving the term a positive spin, with the president himself suggesting it could be synonymous with the “American Dream,” the Washington Examiner reported.
However, in the most recent Rasmussen Reports survey released on Thursday morning, likely voters did not express confidence in “Bidenomics.”
According to the survey, voters believed by a margin of 44 percent to 26 percent that the term would actually assist Trump, rather than Biden, in “winning” the fall election. A significant portion, 23 percent, felt that it would not have any impact on the election’s outcome.
The pollster also found that the term ‘Bidennomics’ actually reminded voters of how much better off they were during the Trump years.
