Donald Trump risked worsening his infamous bruises as he held hands with MAGA rapper Nicki Minaj after she pledged to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on his latest money-making initiative.
The president invited the Trinidadian-born artist on stage on Thursday as he promoted his so-called “Trump Accounts,” which are designed to give new born babies a head start on long term saving and investing.
Minaj has pledged between $150,000 and $300,000 to fund her fans’ accounts as part of the policy, in which the government will deposit $1000 into the account of every child born between January 1 this year and December 31, 2028—the year of the next presidential election.
“She makes a lot of money and she’s generously stepping up,” Trump said, musing about the 43-year-old’s trademark long nails, which she often promotes through her Pink Friday Nails line.
“I’m gonna let my nails grow, because I love those nails,” he joked.
But those very nails could have become a hazard for the aging 79-year-old president as he took her hand in his during the “Trump Accounts Summit” at Washington’s Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on Friday.
Photographers captured Trump’s famously discolored hand, caked in makeup to conceal his bruising, in a color that happened to match Minaj’s nail polish.
“Now every bruise he has going forward will be blamed on those nails,” quipped one observer on social media.
Trump’s hand bruises—then on his right hand—first became apparent in February last year when he welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House for a bilateral meeting.
The images were plastered across the news and social media, forcing the White House to give what would soon become a familiar “explanation”: Trump’s frequent handshaking.
But Trump’s skin has become so delicate as he ages that a high-five with attorney general Pam Bondi previously left him with a bleeding hand, after she accidentally nicked him with her ring at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
The bruising was also on full display as Trump attended the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, with the marks on his left hand especially notable.
According to the White House, this had stemmed from him hitting it on the signing table during a Board of Peace event.
“I clipped them on a table, so I put a little, what do they call it, the cream on it. But I clipped it,” he told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington.
Trump also attributes his bruises to his unusual aspirin regimen, which involves taking a daily 325mg aspirin dose of the drug—much higher than the low-dose (81mg) often recommended for heart health.
Trump has declined to switch because he has been taking the higher dose for 25 years, telling the Wall Street Journal in an interview this month: “I’m a little superstitious.”
Friday’s event reaffirmed Minaj’s support for the president, who went from once criticizing Trump’s immigration policies to becoming a full MAGA convert.
Years ago, in a scene for the MTV documentary “My Time Now,” which traced Minaj’s roots from her native Trinidad and Tobago to superstar rapper, she used Trump as an example of misogyny in the entertainment industry.
In 2020, as Trump contested the election against Joe Biden, she also declared she was not going to jump on the Trump “bandwagon”.
This year, however, she began reposting videos from the White House on TikTok, including one that used her “Va Va Voom” song and touted Trump’s anti-trans and anti-immigration policies. She has also praised Trump’s focus on the alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
“I am probably the president’s number one fan and that’s not going to change,” Minaj told the audience on Thursday, clapping back against the “hate” she has received for her conversion.
“It does not affect me at all. It actually motivates me to support him more, and it’s going to motivate all of us to support him more.
“We’re not going to let them get away with bullying him and you know the smear campaigns—it’s not gonna work, okay? He has a lot of force behind him and God is protecting him. Amen.”
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