Nicki Minaj beaming next to the US President on January 28, 2026.Image: keystone
The musician once criticized the US President. Now she appears on stage holding hands with him. A timeline of their political change.
January 29, 2026, 2:51 p.mJan 29, 2026, 3:02 p.m
In 2020, Nicki Minaj publicly announced that she would “not jump on the Trump bandwagon.” This after years of criticizing his anti-immigrant policies. Now – six years later – she is competing with Erika Kirk and describes herself as the US President’s “biggest fan”. But how did this radical change come about? A timeline.
Nicki Minaj’s origins
Onika Tanya Maraj – Nicki Minaj’s real name – was born in 1982 in the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Loud CNN She lived there with her grandmother until she was five years old, before she emigrated illegally to her parents in New York in 1987 without documents. There she attended a public high school for music and drama.
Minaj began to establish herself as a rapper in the scene as early as 2004. In 2009 she achieved her international breakthrough with her mixtape “Beam Me Up Scotty” and her collaboration with Lil Wayne’s label Young Money. To this day, their hit “Super Bass” is one of the most successful songs worldwide.
Nicki Minaj made her international breakthrough in 2009.Image: Joel Ryan/Invision/AP/Invision
2010: Nicki Minaj shoots against Donald Trump
Since then, the musician has used her voice not only to advocate for migrants, but also for the LGBTQIA+ community and women’s rights. In 2010, she shot against Donald Trump, who was still an entrepreneur and reality star, in her MTV documentary series “My Time Now”.
On the show, Minaj spoke about her reputation and explained that women are judged by different standards than men: “When I’m determined, I’m called a bitch, when a man is determined, he’s a boss,” said the rapper. She added:
“Donald Trump can just say, ‘You’re fired.’ If Martha Stewart said that, she’d be called a bad b*tch.”
She further explained that Donald Trump could have “50 different wives” and still be seen as totally cool. But as a woman, this would never be tolerated: “You have to do your job perfectly, but always remain sweet and nice.”
2012: Nicki Minaj endorses Obama
In 2012, Barack Obama was campaigning for re-election against the Republican former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. Back then, fans were outraged when Nicki Minaj rapped in Lil Wayne’s song “Mercy”: “I’m a Republican and I’m voting for Mitt Romney, you lazy bitches are ruining the economy.”
Obama responded by saying he didn’t believe Minaj actually supported Romney. He is of the opinion that she plays different characters in her rap style that do not reflect her own opinion. Minaj responded on Twitter and wrote: “Thank you Mr. President for understanding my creative humor and sarcasm, the smart ones always do. Kind regards and support.”
Image: screenshot/X
2015: Nicki Minaj calls Trump childish
Looking back, there were first signs over ten years ago that Minaj sympathized with Trump – but was far from supporting him. She said this in an interview in November 2015 Billboard: “Some of his statements might not have been so bad if his demeanor wasn’t so childish.” She added that she found him hilarious entertainment and said: “I wish they could just film him running for president. That would be the ultimate reality show.”
2016-2020: Nicki Minaj criticizes Trump’s immigration policies
In the Rae Sremmurds song titled “Black Barbies” in 2016, Minaj emphasized her Trinidadian origins while simultaneously firing back against Trump’s immigration policies: “Island girl, Donald Trump wants me to go home,” she rapped.
Nicki Minaj has repeatedly been critical of Donald Trump in the past.Image: keystone
She was similarly direct in a tweet in 2018 when the Trump administration separated children from their families: “I came to this country as an illegal immigrant when I was five. I can’t imagine the horror of being in a foreign country and being separated from my parents at the age of five. This scares me so much. Please stop this.” The rapper also posted a picture of children in a cage.
Image: screenshot/x
Two years later, during the Pollstar Live 2020 conference, Minaj was asked about her feelings toward Trump. She then emphasized again that she was not a fan of the politician:
“I will not jump on the Donald Trump bandwagon. I understand that many don’t like him for obvious reasons. But what particularly concerned me were the children who were taken away from their parents. I can’t imagine what it’s like for a little child who has to go through all of this, who has to try to get to another country because he doesn’t have money in his home country or because he’s fleeing war.”
2021-2023: Nicki Minaj speaks out against COVID vaccination
In spring 2021, Nicki Minaj was critical of democratic politics for the first time. The rapper decided not to take part in the MET Gala because one Compulsory vaccination against the coronavirus was valid. At the time, she explained her skepticism about the Covid vaccination on Twitter. The testicles of an acquaintance from her homeland swelled after the vaccination, which is why he was now impotent, she claimed. His fiancée then left him shortly before the wedding. She wrote:
“So think carefully about the vaccination and make sure that you are at peace with the decision and do not allow yourself to be put under pressure.”
Image: screenshot/X
In response to her post, the Minister of Health of Trinidad and Tobago spoke out and said that the claims made by Minaj’s acquaintance were false and that an incident never occurred. The White House also offered the rapper a phone call to discuss her concerns about the vaccination.
However, Minaj stood by her opinion and told the in 2023 Vogue: «I form my own opinion on everything without being influenced by others. There’s a lot we don’t know about what’s going on in government, and I don’t think that changes whether you’re on the left or the right.”
2025: Nicki Minaj reposts transphobic post
A really big change occurred in Minaj’s political views, according to LGBTQIA+ magazine “them» only really noticeable in the last year. The rapper shared a video from the White House for the first time that praised Donald Trump’s alleged successes since he took office in January. The successes included “No men in women’s sports”. The White House alluded to the government’s ongoing fight against trans women in sports. The video also said that “Our cities are safer than ever,” which is a euphemism for Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in major American cities. The post was accompanied by Minaj’s hit “Va Va Voom.”
This was followed by several posts by Minaj in which she spoke out against trans people and repeatedly emphasized her support for Trump and his deputy JD Vance. Vance commented on one of the posts with the words “Minaj > Cardi.” He alluded to the fact that Minaj was better than her rap competitor Cardi B.
On December 22, 2025, Nicki Minaj made a surprise appearance at Turning Point USA (TPUSA)’s “AmericaFest 2025”. TPUSA is a conservative, right-wing populist non-profit organization founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgomery. There, in conversation with Erika Kirk, she brought up the widow of the slain Republican Charlie Kirk, continued to express her conservative and transphobic views and said: “Boys, be boys. Be guys. It’s okay. Be guys. There’s nothing bad about being a boy. How about this?”.
Nicki Minaj in conversation with Erika Kirk.Image: keystone
In the same interview, she referred to Trump as “our handsome, dashing president” and said she had the greatest respect and admiration for him.
January 2026: Nicki Minaj describes herself as Trump’s biggest fan
At an event in Washington Nicki Minaj on Wednesday, January 28th again words of praise for the US President. After Trump invited her on stage with entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary at the “Trump Accounts Summit” event, Minaj explained:
“Well, I don’t know exactly what to say, but I will say that I’m probably the president’s biggest fan, and that’s not going to change. And the hate – or what people say – doesn’t affect me at all. On the contrary: it actually motivates me to support him even more, and it will motivate all of us to support him even more. We won’t let them get away with bullying him and the smear campaigns – that won’t work, okay? He has a lot of support and God protects him. Amen.”
The possible reasons for Nicki Minaj’s change of sides
One of the first to comment on Nicki Minaj’s sudden change of sides was the musician Lizzo. The 37-year-old is anything but surprised by this and said in a now-deleted TikTok: “We will soon see a stream of celebrities realizing that it is more profitable and advantageous to join this site. It has already begun and will continue.”
Many TikTok users share exactly this opinion. They assume that Minaj used to do queerbaiting and is now simply chasing the next trend: “She used to describe herself as bi and got the queer community on her side with her appearance. Now she’s betraying them in the worst possible way. “She just follows whatever makes her money,” writes one user.
According to a journalist at Guardian Some commenters on social media are also speculating that the reason for Minaj’s sudden change of heart could be her husband. Kenneth Petty was convicted of attempted rape in 1995 and served four years in prison. Since then he has been considered a sex offender and has to report to the authorities every time he moves. However, he did not do so when he moved to California, so he was sentenced to three years of probation and house arrest in 2022.
Fans now believe that by approaching Trump, Nicki Minaj is trying to stop her husband from being labeled a sex offender. However, the Guardian journalist sees this as unlikely, as deleting such a “status” is not possible. The rapper has not yet commented on these rumors.