Onlookers dumbfounded at celebrity Trump touts as fan of White House makeover

President Donald Trump dumbfounded onlookers Tuesday after proudly touting a celebrity’s endorsement of his White House ballroom project, a boast that came amid soaring gas prices and an escalating war against Iran.

Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump bragged that rapper Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. – known professionally as Lil Wayne – praised the president’s White House makeover. He also shared a report from Mediaite in which Carter Jr. recalled performing for an event spearheaded by former Vice President Kamala Harris, but appeared to forget her name.

“I did meet miss, uh… who was the vice president?” Carter Jr. asked in a recent episode of the "Friends Keep Secrets” podcast.

Onlookers were left both perplexed and confused by the announcement.

“I’m glad architecture historian Lil Wayne finally gave his opinion,” wrote Chris Robinson, a New Jersey-based podcaster, in a social media post Tuesday on X.

He also added in a separate post, after initially doubting the authenticity of Trump’s claim, “wait, no, that’s a real story.”

British actor, comedian and voice actor Geoff McGivern called Trump’s boast “Idiocracy to the power of a billion,” and Joan Wendland, an author and game designer, questioned what demographic Trump was “trying to please” by touting an endorsement from Carter Jr., attributing what she characterized as the misguided effort as an explanation for the president’s “miserable poll numbers.”

Foreign policy analyst Logan McMillen issued a more serious condemnation of Carter Jr., who appeared to support Trump’s bid for the White House in 2020.

“Lil Wayne is a reactionary who denounced the [Black Lives Matter] movement, saying ‘I don't know nothing about that, what they're talking about… Don't get mad cause I'm rich and I don't see none of that,’” McMillen wrote. “Wayne also received a pardon from Trump in January 2021 on a federal weapons charge.”