Ice Cube stands by work with the Trump administration: "Black progress is a bipartisan issue"
Aux Features Ice Cube
Ice Cube is under fire this week after Trump adviser Katrina Pierson tagged him on Twitter, thanking the “Fuck The Police” rapper for his “willingness to step up and work with [the Donald Trump] Administration to help develop the #PlatinumPlan.” What is the Platinum Plan? fans asked. And how could one of hip-hop’s most incendiary figures work with such a racist administration? Ice Cube addressed his critics on Wednesday, and he isn’t apologizing.
According to the rapper’s representative (via Rolling Stone), Ice Cube has been working to connect with both the Trump and Biden campaigns to chat about his Contract With Black America (CWBA), which “strikes at the heart of racism and presents a blueprint to achieve racial economic justice.” The CWBA, which calls for a “complete paradigm shift in how we run our institutions and operate our country,” addresses economic inequality, prison reform, and the elimination of all confederate monuments, among other subjects. Ice Cube has made mention of it in multiple videos posted to his socials, where he criticizes both parties and calls the CWBA “one of the most comprehensive reform documents that have come out in a long time that can really address the problem.”
In a tweet on Wednesday, Ice Cube revealed that both parties contacted him about the CWBA. “Dems said we’ll address the CWBA after the election,” he continued. “Trump campaign made some adjustments to their plan after talking to us about the CWBA.” Their plan is the aforementioned Platinum Plan.
The Platinum Plan, which you can learn more about here, promises to “increase access to capital in black communities by almost $500 billion” by boosting jobs and local businesses in Black communities and offering “better and tailored healthcare” and “access to better education and job training.”
Ice Cube, though, remains skeptical as to whether the Trump administration will actually deliver. Speaking of Republicans in an October 11 video, he said, “They’ve moved their agenda a lot because of what we’ve said. They put $500 billion on the table. But who knows what’s really gonna happen. I just know one of them is gonna win. And I don’t know if it really matters to us.”
“People say we can’t take another four years of this,” he goes on to say. “Black people, we can take anything. Shit.”
After a fan criticized him for “working with the Darkside,” he replied by saying “every side is the Darkside for us here in America,” adding that “we can’t afford not to negotiate with whoever is in power or our condition in this country will never change.”
He continued to defend his work with the Trump administration on Thursday, noting that he hasn’t endorsed anyone and that “Black progress is a bipartisan issue.”
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110 Comments
“Why was Ben Carson so angry?”“That was Ice Cube, Mister President.”
“Is that the one who sings ‘Fuck the Poles’? Because I like that song. The Polish have gotten away with too much for too long.”“That’s actually not the… never mind.”
“Those Poles, fake Pole by the way, I read just last night about what to do with them.”
“But then why is Herman Cain so angry?”
“Because you got him killed.”
“Ice Cube, what is he? Is he, uh..something that…someone or…that uh…who put…that you put in your drink? Ice Cube! Sounds like something you put in a drink. Hey can I get an Ice Cube in my drink!”
i’m just here to cheer everyone up in case they were worried that potus was more clever off-camera
Ben Carson died so Ice Cube is Trump’s new ‘Black Friend’.
Carson is still alive! I googled it.(…died is the first suggestion after you type Ben Carson, though)
Herman Cain*
Yeah I bombed that joke pretty hard!BOO AT ME:(
It was Kanye. It was always Kanye.
promises to “increase access to capital in black communities by almost $500 billion” by boosting jobs and local businesses in Black communities and offering “better and tailored healthcare” and “access to better education and job training.” If there’s one thing Trump’s known for, it’s his steadfast commitment to keeping his promises.
They’ll take that $500 billion and spend it on conferences for improving the Black community at Maralago and other Trump properties and perhaps some golf events.
Yeah, apparently Ice Cube doesn’t have Internet access.
“increase access to capital” sounds a lot like those Miss America taglines about how they offered access to copious scholarship money. Doesn’t mean your actually giving out any money.
Trump to Cube after winning the election: Sue me.
Definitely something he’ll get to, almost 4 years into having the job.
maybe Ice saw one of Dipshit’s commercials where he crows about “promises made, promises kept”, or asked any of his cultists who think Dipshit kept every single one of his promises (the incomplete wall is only because the Democrats are such obstructionists; never mind that the GOP controlled the entire government for 2 years and still couldn’t get the wall built), when in reality the only promise he kept that mattered was making a bunch of ignorant racist overentitled dipshits feel important and special again.
Particularly to moderates and progressives.I bet Ice believes that Trump is going to protect pre-existing conditions too.
“They put $500 billion on the table. But who knows what’s really gonna happen.”They’re going to continue to murder black people with impunity and take away access to healthcare and job protections as they always have and always will.see also: 220,000 dead and one $1,200 check.
We forgetting Ice Cube went full-on antisemite this summer?
This summer? Give ‘No Vaseline’ another listen
We gave recognitions the day off. It’s been a busy week of concern trolling.
‘The Platinum Plan’ sounds like a choice at the car wash.Trump will never do anything to help Black people as a whole, just the occasional stunt for the publicity. Congrats Cube, you just got played. You are a grade A sucker. Now your plan will carry the taint of having been ‘Trump’s Plan’, because that’s how he’s going to use you.
it sounds like a financing plan a creditor would offer to people with the worst credit, i.e. it’s undoubtedly something Trump’s father used to offer to the people of color who tried to live in his properties to fuck them over
Cube’s not wrong. You don’t work with the regimes you want, you work with the regimes you have.
Have you not been aware of everything the Trump administration has done and lied about in the past 4 years? This is either naive or just plain stupid. The best you’ll get is a small action helping practically no one so they can use it as propaganda ultimately helping themselves more for PR.
I think that might have been a valid argument generously two weeks into the presidency when people weren’t yet quite sure if Trump was all talk or if he was going to attempt to execute all things awful. It didn’t take long to see that Trump doesn’t listen, doesn’t want to learn, doesn’t have a plan, and doesn’t care for anyone other than himself.
Yeah, fuck him for trying.
Right. At least two things have to be true for this negotiation to be worth it:
1.) Ice Cube has something the Trump administration wants going forward, other than good publicity before the election.
2.) The Trump administration can be trusted to keep its promises and is acting in good faith.
There’s no real evidence for either proposition, and substantial evidence against both.
Democrats don’t do enough for minority populations, I agree. But percentage-wise, the ACA disproportionately benefited uninsured black and hispanic populations (although, of course, substantial disparities remain).
Trump and the Republicans in general actively demonize them. It might not make much difference to Ice Cube, who is rich, but for the couple million black people who don’t have to worry about going bankrupt and then dying because of a treatable ailment this year, it definitely matters who wins.
So Ice Cube IS wrong, and he shouldn’t try to work with them no matter what?God, I hope nothing actually comes of this, because you’d look like a stupid ass and a useless cynic for this comment if so.
You’re such a fucking idiot. I will always dismiss you. *kisses*
So Ice Cube IS wrong, and he shouldn’t try to work with them no matter what?God, I hope nothing actually comes of this, because you’d look like a stupid ass and a useless cynic for this comment if so.
And for black America, what evidence do you have that they will get more from the Democrats?
Remember Jim Brown, Steve Harvey and MLKIII in Trump tower after the last election? Something about them meeting him to speak about problems with black americans? And nothing happened.
Plus, if you get Cube on the court, he’s trouble. Last week, he messed around and got a triple-double.
On certain days he does have to use his AK!
You’re the worst… here’s your damn star.
If Joe Biden is seriously going to start packing the court, The Honorable Judge Ice Cube would be an…interesting start.
This is true but you need to be careful working with regimes you can’t trust because you’ll get nothing but used for their propaganda (cf Killer Mike and NRA TV)
He’s not wrong, but probably naive. I do find it interesting that the Dems told him “we’ll talk after the election”. Why wouldn’t the Dems want Cube on their side before the election? That seems like that would be something they could really take advantage of? Or do the Dems (the party not the people) think they’ve got the Black vote locked up and don’t need him? That seems like a missed opportunity and now Trump gets the “praise” when it’s not deserved.And I’m not Black but this, to me, average white guy, is a great quote and I’m not sure why this didn’t get more notice: “They all lie and they all cheat but we can’t afford not to negotiate with whoever is in power or our condition in this country will never change. Our justice is bipartisan.” That, to me, average white guy, is a nuanced view that FTP Cube probably didn’t believe in but now Middle Aged Cube does.
Yeah, it’s an ongoing problem for Black people that both parties take their vote for granted, so there’s no incentive to actually pass and enforce policies that will secure their rights.Minneapolis, like most major cities, had a Democrat mayor and city council, but still had policies and people in place that led to George Floyd’s murder.
Exactly, BLM started when we had a Black President. I’m not blaming that on Obama but as much as I believe this country is finally on a path to becoming what it can be…people get upset with someone like Ice Cube who actually gets it. Who, from what I can tell, is serious about changing the lives of his people for the better, has thought it out and has imo a balanced (and possibly naive, we’ll see) view on how to achieve it. And then the internet shits on it. Progress!
One thing to note…Obama eventually hinting that police officers *might* have a little more trouble getting access to weapons pushed the racist-ass police unions entirely over into trumpworld.But anyway, seriously, anyone who still thinks progress is possible with the Central Park 5 guy….
I’m guessing the Dems don’t want to commit to anything because someone might actually hold them to it after the election and they would look bad to blacks and progressives if they didn’t follow through, whereas the Trump admin is a 100% willing to lie outright and then not follow through on anything and it never affects their supporters opinions/loyalty/votes at all.At least Cube is smart enough to acknowledge Repubs words might not translate into actions: “They put $500 billion on the table. But who knows what’s really gonna happen.”
And let’s also point out that when he says ‘Democrats’ he means the Biden camp. B/C I suspect that there might have been another Primary candidate that would have come together with Ice Cube on this and would have given this Platinum Plan a better world stage.
As a white guy myself, it seems to me that the Dems are concerned how white America may interpret (and how the Trump campaign will spin) any activity with Cube. So the typical Democratic cowardice.
“Why wouldn’t the Dems want Cube on their side before the election?”I’m sure they do, he just doesn’t take priority over the 1000 foot tall dumpster fire they are trying to manage right now. That, and I don’t think Biden wants to commit to anything until after the election, because he’s just as likely to be a lame-duck President handcuffed by a Republican-led Senate, as he is to have full control of all three houses and the ability to stack the Supreme Court.I think 2016 taught the Democrats the value of no overselling, and not counting their chickens too soon.
You’re right but then Twitter media runs with “Ice Cube is endorsing Trump”. I’m not saying the Dems (or anyone) should take advantage of Cube but it’s like when a baseball GM signs a player so that they can’t sign with their rival. Sometimes you gotta play chess when everyone else is playing checkers.
I think I just have a hard time believing that Cube wouldn’t continue to work with the Trump administration if the Democrats talked to him about this… because he says he’s got to work with who is in power.Anyway, agreed that it could have been handled better from an optics standpoint, but I don’t think the Dems could have done anything to prevent the inevitable “X endorses Trump by meeting with them” headlines.
I’d have said this viewpoint is optimistic at the beginning of 2017. Here in October 2020 it sounds naïve at best. I think we’ve all seen enough to know that unless you’re in the regime, or one of the old rich white dudes in bed with it, the only thing you’re getting from the trump regime is fucked over.
This regime’s only going to be around for 3 more months (and one week), I doubt it’ll be their priority.
The only reasonable explanation is the Ice Cube is promoting talks with Trump as a way of putting pressure on the Democrats, shaming them to the table.
You don’t work with Nazis.
Cube is wrong. Literally and objectively.
And I get what he’s saying. Maybe he’s grown up from the angry Cube of the past and felt that was pointless and unproductive. But still….The Trump administration is just gonna use him and show the Dems that, “oh look, Mr. Cube decided to work with us. How ya like them apples?”
Trump will say anything to get re-elected. Ice Cube….you sir are a pawn. The new Kanye. Your angry raps all sound like Uncle Ruckus now.
I mean, I’m a hugely anti-Trump person and yet I think he has great points. Black people have been marginalized by both parties for centuries – the debate tends to focus on who marginalizes more. If he can help improve things while the monsters rule, well okay.
I will go out on a limb here and say that Cube earnestly seems to be trying to make a positive difference, but my goodness is he a sucker if he believes one word of this horseshit.The “Platinum Plan” sounds like what they call a pool-only membership at Mar a Lago.
“Those people really like jewelry, let’s go with the name ‘Gold Plan’. No no, wait. ‘Platinum Plan’. Great name. Fantastic name. We have the best words.”
And no way is Ice Cube allowed in the pool at any of 45’s clubs.
It sounds like the highest level you can get in a pyramid scheme
Except of course for the ultra-secret Patriot Level that true supporters can unlock with a $50,000 donation.
Ice Cube doesn’t even seem to understand the basics of negotiation. All the Republicans want from him is the illusion of caring about black people. He gave that away for free while getting nothing in return.
He is wealthy. He already got paid for this with a tax cut.He doesn’t car how many others die as long as he gets to keep his tax cut.
This. Heart in the right place, brain nowhere to be found.
Yeah, the brand naming for this plan is weak sauce.
*Samples the Isley Brothers* *Gets my grub on, but doesn’t pig-out*
*Samples the Isley Brothers* *Gets my grub on, but doesn’t pig-out*
He kind of has a point about the bipartisan thing, but also republicans have repeatedly proven themselves to be racist shit bags who can’t even hide it anymore. Also, “platinum plan” sounds like a payday loan credit card grift being run out of an old liquor store.
Maybe the song actually meant we should be having sex with the police. I can’t be the first person to make that joke, but it seems pretty applicable.
In a world of despair, this comment brought me great joy. Thank you.
Yeah, I guess it’s more like “Fellate The Police” now…
Ice Cube is also an Antisemite so birds of a feather
Sellout.
Wow, you’d have to be pretty God damn stupid to think Republicans would make good on that 500 billion. Don’t both parties have to consider something an issue in the first place for it to be bipartisan?
I’m going way out on a limb here and predicting that like many people in Cult 45, this is a choice he’ll come to regret in due course but never admit it in a million years (unless it affects his download royalties)
has anyone told him about Trump’s replacement for the ACA? I assume that has to be delivered before the Platinum Plan? (and why can’t I help thinking they named it this because Trump thinks “the blacks like platinum”?)
“Black progress is a bipartisan issue.” oh the cynical “both sides do it” bullshit equivocation on display here…when the real diehard Cult 45ers do it you know you have them in a corner…it should be a bipartisan issue, and yes the Dems have not been the good faith actors they should have been, but if I had to bet on one party to try and make your lives better, it’s not gonna be the fucking Republicans.
spoken like a Democrat who secretly wishes to turn the clock back to 1840 there with your “how dare black people have opinions not aligned with their Democrat Party masters” hate mongering there
seriously, just when I thought Republicans had mastered cognitive dissonance, you’ve gone out and mastered projection too. You’re like a shitty Intro to Psych textbook written in crayon. Well done.
You know you can just dismiss moronic trolls instead of responding to them, right?Just checking.
I do, but sometimes I can’t help bashing my head into a figurative wall. Believe me, I feel pretty stupid about 3 seconds after I hit that Publish button, but from the 0-3 second range I’m King Shit. 🙂
“RESPECT the police comin’ straight from the underground!…”
I never have dinner with the President
I never have dinner with the President
I never have dinner with the PresidentAnd when I see Ice Cube again, I’ll be hesitant
Obviously Black progress is a bipartisan issue, but Ice Cube is kidding himself if he thinks the Republican Party generally, and Donald Trump specifically, are going to— wait a minute:posted to his socialsNo, absolutely not. Calling social media accounts “socials” and saying shit like “I follow him on social” makes my teeth itch.
“People say we can’t take another four years of this,” he goes on to say. “Black people, we can take anything. Shit.”Jesus Christ on a pogo stick. Just because you think you can take it, doesn’t mean you should just resign yourself to it! Hell, I can take a shock from an electric fence, but logic and experience dictates that there’s a gate or an off switch somewhere.
i think this might be a long-game play with cube. i don’t see it as about getting anything done with trump. long term change isn’t going to happen under any one administration, but in 10, 15, 20 years being able to say ‘i’ve been working with both republican and democratic parties, here’s what i know and here’s what i want to see changed’ is valuable. his worst error here was doing a piss-poor job of controlling the narrative.
So Ice Cube is a moron that is easily taken by con men. Good to know.
Cube got played, and it’s sad reading all the folks on Twitter explaining to him exactly why, and the cluelessness of his responses. This is what happens when sophisticated political operatives of the right get their hands on some celeb that is totally ignorant of the facts and history. You can con them into just about anything by just saying, “Well, he didn’t give you x, y or z, and me? Well, I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!” And he wasn’t even thinking about it enough to go, “Hmmm, it’s three weeks before the election and this candidate is DESPERATE like no other incumbent in history. Maybe he’s just gonna tell me anything I want to hear, and I should just avoid these chumps?”
“they put $500 billion on the table”? What a maroon! I bet Cube thinks Trump doesn’t carry debt!The other thing I have been looking at is how involved is Van Jones in Kanye West’s “candidacy”/public-defecation? He is tutoring or otherwise guiding Kim Kardashian through non-law school and was perhaps involved in some of the administration’s lip-service to police reform (as sincere as their offer to Cube)…is he supporting West supporting Trump?
sorry to hijack this space, but Deadspin writers are cowards and post whatever crap they want with no fear of counterpoint. LBJ is fine, he is not cheating anyone or anything. He did get snubbed in this year’s MVP, but so what? Like the Oscar and other awards, there are always great runners up. https://deadspin.com/lebron-s-ugly-truth-he-cheated-us-and-the-game-1845368478
hypothetical question—could Ice Cube redeem himself if he intentionally posed with Trump (smiling his biggest shit-eating grin as “friend of the blacks”) with the caption “Friend of the Blacks Donald Trump poses with the singer of ‘Fuck the Police’, Ice Cube”?
Antisemites of a feather…
He played himself for nothing. Trump has his grinning ass endorsing him – even in this minor, transactional, way. And the administration doesn’t have to do SHIT because guess what? We are fucking goldfish now and they know it. Last week feels like a year ago and if they win there’s likely another bullshit crisis they will fumble and… what Platinum Plan? Oh no… no money or will. But they will ALWAYS drag Ice Cube out as their new black friend, Lucy with the football ***he*** gave them.
Ice Cube is working with the Republicans for the same reason Caitlyn Jenner supported them- they’re rich and the GOP has lowered their taxes. Any claims that Trump and the Republicans will be good for their respective communities are hilariously inept attempts at trying to convince their fans that they’re fighting the good fight.
If you take the word of someone who has been caught lying 20,000+ times in under 5 years, you’re a dummy. Sorry, Ice Cube. You got played.
“…one of them is gonna win. And I don’t know if it really matters to us.”Call me naive, but I think I’d go with the guy who didn’t refuse to denounce white nationalists, and who didn’t call a mob of Nazis with torches “very fine people”.
Black progress isn’t a bipartisan issue when one of the parties are white supremacists, you rich idiot. More Both Sides bullshit from someone isolated from real problems.
More like ICE Cube! Am I right? Ladies, back me up on this one! This guy knows what I’m talking about!
What a fucking moron. Like, he is legitimately stupid. Of course they are going to promise a bunch of crazy shit right before an election. That number is so ridiculous it might as well be “eleventy billion” or some other such nonsense. They get good press from this now and either immediately backtrack if they remain in power (cause who’s gonna be able to do shit about it then?) or they lose and it’s not a problem anyway. Totally meaningless.I’m not saying democrats are perfect on this topic, but ffs, you get in bed with the devil all you’re gonna get is burned. Dumbass.
It’s not a bipartisan system right now. Trump is only working for his own self interest and any negotiations with him are going to backfire because he’ll bail on them in a heartbeat, that is if he does anything you agreed to and he’ll probably give you a virus while you’re doing it.
He has some good points actually, but he seems to be acting like Trump can be moved away from doing police violence (which he fuckin’ loves like nothing else). Maybe you could get some reforms out of him? I suppose? But then you find out that the president (and particularly this president) can only do so much before you gotta take shit to Congress. And then the Courts too.Clearly Trump admin is enjoying his attention and tacit endorsement. Yeah, he says he isn’t endorsing anybody, but they’re sure acting like he’s with them.
https://www.theroot.com/ice-cube-working-with-the-trump-administration-was-dumb-1845382346
Planning for the not entirely improbable outcome of y’all royally fucking up an election AGAIN is a very smart thing.
He should stand by his work.
Cube is on it. The idea that he shouldn’t attempt to work with the Trump administration is preposterous, and the idea that doing so constitutes an endorsement is also preposterous. He’s the least preposterous part about the whole damn operation.
The article isnt even going to mention that Cube is a bigot who’s been spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories, which may be part of why he’s so comfortable with Trump.Kinda disgusting, Coburn.
I can understand wanting to work with anyone in office to advance this issue. The problem is that anyone – literally anyone with a IQ above room temp I’d think – knows that this administration is not the one that will do anything on that issue.
So a misogynistic, homophobic, anti-semitic fraud from the Los Angeles suburbs is a huge sellout ???? Color me shocked
But… isn’t platinum WHITE? Get out Icecube, it’s a trap!