Nicki Minaj said repeated swatting calls at her Los Angeles mansion and what she described as a cold response from California Gov. Gavin Newsom helped push her into public support for Donald Trump.
In an interview with Time, the rapper said she became an open Trump supporter in late 2025, after years of feeling aligned with him but unwilling to say so in public because Democratic politics are deeply embedded in the music business. She said the shift was accelerated by a series of incidents that made her feel abandoned by politicians who often talk about public safety but did not show up when she needed help.
Minaj said her home was targeted by multiple swatting calls between 2022 and 2023. After that, she requested a meeting with Newsom and said he “completely ignored me, with all the money I pay in taxes.” She added that she had “never seen anyone in politics treat me that way.” The rapper said an April 2025 swatting incident led Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna to offer help connecting her with law enforcement and private security, and that Luna’s response made her more willing to speak publicly.
That public turn grew more visible in November, when Minaj thanked Trump in a post on X for addressing violence against Christians in Nigeria. Trump campaign adviser Alex Bruesewitz then connected her with administration officials, and Minaj made her first appearance with them that month at a United Nations event on the issue, where she appeared with U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz. She said criticism of that appearance only pushed her further toward speaking out in support of Trump.
Minaj said the connection between politics and personal treatment shaped her new posture. “If they would have left me alone, maybe I would not have done so much,” she said. She also said many celebrities agree with her but stay silent: “Many celebrities feel the way I do, but they don’t say it.”
The shift also revived other chapters of Minaj’s public record that have long trailed her online. She has long accused Roc Nation of trying to sabotage her music career, and she doubled down on her 2021 comments about the Covid-19 vaccine, which drew condemnation from Democrats and public health experts. Trinidad’s health minister, Terrence Deyalsingh, said at the time that her vaccine remark was false.
Minaj also pointed to former President Barack Obama’s appearance at a rally for Kamala Harris during the 2024 election, saying he delivered a condescending speech. Looking ahead, she said she would help Trump campaign for Republicans during the upcoming midterm elections if asked: “I’ll do whatever it is.” For now, the immediate question is not whether Minaj will keep talking. It is how far she is prepared to take a political conversion that began, by her account, with a security emergency and ended with one of the biggest pop figures in music publicly aligning with Trump.
