As protests continue this week in response to ICE raids in Los Angeles following Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines, Cardi B is explaining her hesitation in speaking out while cautioning that the situation is likely to get worse.
In a recent X Spaces broadcast, Cardi, who previously endorsed Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris in past elections, said she had been seeing talk on TikTok about her and other artists not speaking out amid the latest moves of aggression from the Trump administration. As Cardi put it, her hesitance has stemmed from realizing that not only does Trump “not give one fuck about me,” but she also has fears that he might retaliate against her remarks.
“Personally, the reason why I haven’t really said anything is because I could say something every single day about it and guess what? Nothing is going to happen,” she said just after 12:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, per reporting from Alex Ocho. “Because Trump do not give one fuck about me or what I gotta say. I personally believe that he doesn’t like me. So if somebody don’t like you, and they say something or they do something, they’ll be like, ‘Oh word? Now I’m gonna show you.’”
Cardi also reflected on her past political statements, namely her warnings about what a Trump presidency could mean for immigration policy. As far back as the 2016 election cycle, to be clear, Cardi was indeed sounding the alarm on what she and others predicted would be the impact of a MAGA-ified White House.
“He always gives dictatorship vibe,” Cardi said on X Spaces this week. “I tried to warn people that this was going to happen. I don’t know nobody anymore in the White House. I don’t know a representative. I don’t know nobody in there. And if I talk about it every single day, he is not going to care. Actually, I feel like if I talk about it every single day, he’s going to deport more people on purpose to show you. … Like, ‘Bitch, I run this country.’”
While Cardi reiterated that she feels as though there is “no point or purpose” in her speaking out, she did offer a message for Trump in the event that what she says on X makes it back to him. In short, she called on him to “have some compassion” when it came to his administration’s increasingly aggressive approach. The targets of such policies, she added, are “working their ass off and providing for this country,” despite what Trump and others would have their supporters believe.
“So they actually have helped America a lot,” she said. “Plenty! We wouldn’t like for an American to get snatched up in Russia and get fucking treated practically like dog shit. And we’re treating these people like they’re dog shit, like not even humans.”
Later, Cardi offered another warning—“He’s not going to stop, he’s gonna get worse”—and reminded those in power of how “bad karma” could come back around in the U.S. as a result of such abuses of power. Bringing the COVID-19 pandemic into the conversation, Cardi highlighted just how quickly things can change.
“God will fucking have us pay,” she said.
As previously reported, California Gavin Newsom is planning to take legal action in response to Trump’s recent targeting of the state. As Newsom explained in an X update on Monday, Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Fox News alum Pete Hegseth, is “illegally deploying” Marines just so Trump “can have a talking point” at one of his upcoming events.
“It’s a blatant abuse of power,” Newsom added. “We will sue to stop this.”
