‘Nice career move’: Morning Joe whitesplains to Ice Cube, slams him for ‘associating’ with Trump

Joe Scarborough has slammed rapper Ice Cube for his work with the Trump administration, claiming his decision to consult on the ‘Platinum Plan’ automatically “associates” him with the president’s most controversial statements.

Discussing White House advisor Jared Kushner’s recent comments about black Americans doing well under Donald Trump only if they “want to be successful,” Scarborough set his sights on Cube’s widely-scrutinized meeting with Kushner.

The Trump critic said Ice Cube’s work with Kushner means he “associates himself” with a slew of the president’s most controversial remarks, including his comments on immigration from “s***hole countries.”

“I guess Ice Cube associates himself with Donald Trump calling Hispanics breeders, I guess Ice Cube associates himself with Jared Kushner saying that Donald Trump can’t help black people if black people don’t want to help themselves,” Scarborough said.

Despite his work with the White House, Ice Cube has been a frequent critic of the president and has made it clear that working with Kushner is neither an endorsement of Trump or the Platinum Plan. The rapper’s own plan to help black communities, called the Contract with Black America, was used to improve the Platinum Plan, which promises billions to black-owned businesses and designates the Ku Klux Klan as a terrorist organization, according to Kushner.

“It was a really in-depth and respectful policy discussion,” Kushner said on Monday of his meeting with Ice Cube. “There were some things we didn’t agree on. But there were a lot of things we did agree on. I think he helped make our plan better. And we appreciated it.”

Scarborough sarcastically called the meeting a “nice career move” for the rapper and blasted him for “backing” Trump and Kushner, citing the “racial animus” they have stirred up. He also took a dig at another rapper, Kanye West, a former Trump supporter who has been running an independent campaign for president while being accused by Democrats of threatening to split Joe Biden’s support with black Americans.

Scarborough may be critical of Cube talking to the White House, but he once counted himself as a confidant of the president, having him on as a frequent guest on ‘Morning Joe’ and claiming he gave political advice in private to him in 2015 and 2016. 

Ice Cube has said in recent interviews that he offered to meet with both the White House and Biden’s campaign to discuss issues black Americans are facing and strategies to create policies to address those problems. Biden’s campaign told him they would not meet until after the election. 

Speaking with Fox News on Sunday, Cube pushed back against criticism against his work with the Trump administration, saying he’s “not playing politics” and is “willing to meet with anybody” that wants to implement his ideas. 

“They listened, heard what I had to say ... and pumped up their plan and presented it to the people,” the rapper said of his meeting with the current administration. 

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