The rapper Nicki Minaj surprised everyone on Wednesday by publicly declaring herself “the number one fan” of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and proudly displaying a Gold Card, a special visa promoted by the Republican administration that offers residency in the U.S. and a fast track to citizenship for wealthy immigrants, according to a report by the BBC.
The gesture, which combined spectacle, politics, and migration, occurred during an event in Washington DC dedicated to the so-called Trump Accounts, a program promoted by the government to create trust funds for American children. Trump invited Minaj to join him on stage, took her hand in front of the cameras, and even jokingly pretended to mimic her iconic long nails.
"I am probably the president's number one fan, and that is not going to change," said the artist, born in Trinidad and Tobago, while stating that the criticism does not affect her and, on the contrary, motivates her to support him even more.
Minaj herself fueled the controversy on social media. In a thread posted on X, she showcased her Trump Gold Card, which is golden and features the face of the former president engraved on it, accompanied by a brief "Welp…".
In another message, she was even more explicit: she stated that she is finalizing the paperwork for her citizenship “by order” of her “wonderful, funny, and charming president,” and emphasized that the card was “free.”
From the government, support arrived promptly. The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, publicly thanked the singer for helping to promote the program, which he described as "a singular moment in American history" for, in his view, democratizing the benefits of economic growth and private ownership.
The enthusiasm contrasts with the artist's recent past. In 2018, Minaj harshly criticized Trump's hardline immigration policies and family separations, recalling that she arrived in the United States as a child. “I can't imagine the horror of being in a strange place and having your parents taken away from you,” she wrote at the time, in words quoted by the BBC.
The Trump Gold Card, launched in December, is designed as a fast track for wealthy immigrants, who must pay one million dollars plus an additional fee to obtain permanent residency.
The program has been criticized for emerging amid raids, deportations, and a general tightening of immigration policy, a situation that thousands of Cubans both inside and outside the island know all too well as they continue to struggle to regularize their status or reunite with their families.
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