Nicki Minaj made a surprise appearance at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest on Sunday in Phoenix alongside Erika Kirk, the widow of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk and the organization’s CEO. The pair arrived onstage to Minaj’s song “Super Bass,” entering the venue holding hands. They hugged before a Q&A session, which involved Minaj fawning over President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. “I love both of them,” she said during the conversation.
As a clip from Fox News relayed, Kirk welcomed Minaj, who responded, “I’m honored to be here, thank you for having me.” The Q&A opened with Kirk asking Minaj to read some of her tweets criticizing California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Kirk described Minaj’s tweets as “amazing and they are so funny.” Recently, Minaj has attacked Newsom on social media as he considers a 2028 presidential run, and she criticized him for expressing support for transgender children.
In one tweet, Minaj wrote that Newsom will be in a race that “you will not win,” in another she rails on him for his support of transgender children. “Imagine being the guy running on wanting to see trans kids,” she read her tweet from Dec. 12 aloud on Sunday. “Haha. Not even a trans ADULT would run on that. Normal adults wake up & think they want to see HEALTHY, SAFE, HAPPY kids.”
Earlier in December, Newsom appeared on The Ezra Klein Show, where he told the host that he supports the trans community, despite having suggested it was unfair for transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. “I want to see trans kids,” he said via USA Today. “I have a trans godson. There’s no governor that signed more pro-trans legislation than I have, and no one’s been a stronger advocate for the LGBTQ [community].” As for his stance when it comes to sports, he argued, “You have to accommodate the reality of those whose rights are being taken away as we advance the rights of the trans community, in terms of the fairness of athletic competition. That’s not a bigoted position.”
On Sunday at AmericaFest, Kirk invited Minaj to express what she’d like to say to Newsom now. Referring to him as “Newscum,” the derogatory term Trump also uses to refer to the governor, Minaj said, “We don’t have a problem cleaning up the scum if we have to, please tread lightly — that’s what I’d say to Gavie poo.”
She then went on to praise Trump and Vance. “I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president,” she said. “He has, I don’t know if he even knows this, but he’s 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.”
She added that she found Trump and Vance to be relatable. “I can relate to them when I hear them speak, I know that they’re one of us,” she said. She added, “They haven’t lost touch of the world. You know, they’re still connected to the world. And what’s happening in the world, with the younger people and older people, with the richer people and not so rich people — they have the ability to still connect and be real and make us feel proud to be American.”
Minaj’s apparent love of Trump and his administration appears mutual. Earlier this month, Vance weighed in on the Nicki Minaj and Cardi B rap feud, which has been largely dormant since October, writing “Nicki>Cardi” in response to a since-deleted post from Minaj that read, “Vance > Rants.”
Minaj has also boosted social media posts featuring Trump with Elon Musk, as well as a video highlighting Trump’s accomplishments since he begun his second term. More recently, Minaj’s appearance at the United Nations Headquarters, in which she made misleading claims of extremism against Nigerian Christians, was reportedly facilitated by Trump‘s adviser, Alex Bruesewitz.