CNN host Anderson Cooper tore into President Trump for taking time to “yuck it up” with rapper Kanye West on Thursday while Floridians were facing the destruction left by Hurricane Michael.
The host railed against the “surreal” conversation between the president and West while splitting the screen with images of the meeting and images from the aftermath of the storm.
“We’re going to show you exactly what was going on in the White House in the Oval Office. It’ll be on one half of your screen. It starts with Kanye West talking about his ‘Make America Great Again’ hat,” Cooper said.
{mosads}“On the other half will be what cameras had captured on the devastation up to that point,” he continued.
CNN footage showed fallen trees, destroyed buildings and the debris left behind by Hurricane Michael — which made landfall near the Florida Panhandle as a Category 4 storm on Wednesday afternoon.
West sat across from a quiet Trump at the Resolute Desk wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and launched into a 10-minute uninterrupted tirade laced with profanity.
The rapper discussed a variety of topics including his mental health issues, the prison system and his past call for the abolishment of the 13th Amendment.
“This isn’t about the worthiness of those topics. This isn’t really about Kanye West,” Cooper said.
“This is about the president sitting there, listening, nodding, laughing, calling Kanye West a ‘smart cookie,’ saying Kanye West can speak for him anytime, putting on this show less than 24 hours after the worst hurricane to ever hit the Florida Panhandle made landfall.”
Cooper asked why the president would choose to spend his time on Thursday with the rapper.
“Because Kanye West is a fan of his,” Cooper said, adding that Trump always makes time for his supporters.
Trump held a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, the same day Michael hit Florida along the Gulf Coast.
The president said earlier on Wednesday that he would still make the campaign stop during the hurricane because he didn’t want to disappoint his supporters.
“What are you going to do? Tell thousands of people that have been waiting there all night that we’re not coming?” Trump asked.
Cooper said the thousands of Americans in Florida and Georgia who lost power during the storm also spent a “long night waiting.”
He also resurfaced a Trump tweet from November 2012 criticizing then-President Obama for making a campaign stop with Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen after Hurricane Sandy hit New York and New Jersey.
“The president was busy basking in the warm glow he no doubt feels when the cameras are rolling, when he is center stage, and a famous person is praising him to his face,” Cooper also said.