Like clockwork, Donald Trump has responded to criticisms of his presidency expressed by Jay-Z in his Van Jones interview, which aired Saturday night. Jay-Z condemned Trump's remarks about "shithole countries," among other views held by the president, to which Trump fired back in a tweet Sunday morning. "Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!" he wrote.
https://twitter.com/_/status/957603800579297280
In his interview, Jay-Z called Trump's "shithole countries" remarks "hurtful," and also shared an analogy of how the president's election was the result of sweeping issues like racism under the rug rather than facing them head-on. He brought up Donald Sterling, who he feels should have jumpstarted a larger conversation rather than simply removed from his position -- something he feels was an overly simple solution to a complex problem. "Once you do that, all the other closet racists just run back in the hole. You haven't fixed anything. What you've done was spray perfume on a trash can," he said. "You don't take the trash out. You keep spraying whatever over it to make it acceptable and then, you know, as those things grow, then you create a superbug. And then now we have Donald Trump, the superbug."
Earlier this month, Trump took credit for lowering Black unemployment, which he reported had hit a record low in U.S. history. Others argued that the statistics were not a result of Trump's policies at all, considering Black American unemployment has been on a steady decline for years, but it has not stopped the president from wielding the numbers on Twitter.
This is not the first time Jay-Z has spoken out about Trump. In an interview with BBC1 last September, he spoke of Trump's America, and what he hoped would be progress to follow. "Usually when things are darkest, it's when light is on its way," he said. "I'm not fearful. I believe we're resilient. Especially black people, we've been through so much more than this guy. I'm looking at him, like this is a joke. I can't even say with all due respect -- with all disrespect. He's not a very sophisticated man. Until everyone's free, no one's free. If you oppress a certain people, everyone's in danger."
