Cardi B is already known as a rap superstar, cementing her status after she became the first solo woman to win a Grammy for best rap album this year. But the Bronx-born artist has another passion: Politics. Ahead, see all the moments Cardi showed off her interest in government and made it clear where she stands.
2016
Let’s start off with the infamous 2016 presidential election. Prior to November, Cardi B gave a brief endorsement, telling people to, “Vote for Daddy Bernie, bitch.”
April 2016
Also in 2016, while Cardi was still on Love & Hip Hop, she made a video declaring her faux run for president. In the video, she once again talked about her interest in politics, saying Donald Trump was making “a mockery” out of the presidency and that Franklin Delano Roosevelt is her favorite president.
September 24, 2017
Shortly after Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico, Cardi tweeted about President Trump’s inaction, saying, “Puerto Rico in crisis right now & Donald has not yet visited or talk about it .PR is part of the USA you know Don’t forget about the island”
September 26, 2017
In a video with Billboard, Cardi slammed President Trump and his obsession with football player Colin Kaepernick, who protested against police violence by kneeling during the national anthem at NFL games. (To be clear, Trump did not approve of Kaepernick’s actions.) “Why is our president so concerned about what football players are doing when the goddamn world is going in shambles?” she said. In the same video, she called Trump “carrot face,” and spoke about how it was wrong that Colin Kaepernick still didn’t have a job after he kneeled in protest.
Later in February 2018, when asked by TMZ when she would play the Super Bowl halftime show, Cardi said, “When they hire Colin Kaepernick back.” She doubled down again a year later, saying, “I got to sacrifice a lot of money to perform. But there’s a man who sacrificed his job for us, so we got to stand behind him.”
March 2018
Cardi is interested in all the ins and outs of politics, including taxes. In March 2018, she made a quick video talking about how she wants to know exactly where her tax dollars are going since, as she says, she’s from New York and the streets are still dirty, there are still rats on the subway, and prisons are still underfunded.
“When you donate to a kid from a foreign country, they give you updates of what they’re doing with your donation,” she said. “I want to know what you’re doing with my fucking tax money.”
April 2018
Cardi also showed off her political side during a GQ profile published in April 2018. She told the outlet about her love for political science, the government, presidents, and knowing “how the system works.”
She also, again, spoke about her love for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, explaining, “First of all, he helped us get over the Depression, all while he was in a wheelchair. Like, this man was suffering from polio at the time of his presidency, and yet all he was worried about was trying to make America great—make America great again for real. He’s the real ‘Make America Great Again,’ because if it wasn’t for him, old people wouldn’t even get Social Security.”
In the same interview, Cardi shared her stance on gun control, saying she supports mental evaluations for gun purchasers and thinks the minimum age to own a gun should be raised above 21.
But, she said, she wouldn’t consider a career in politics, though that doesn’t mean she’s not an engaged citizen. She told GQ, “I’m always watching the news. I’m always looking at it on my phone. I hate when you talk about something that’s going on in the community, people think, because you’re famous, you doing it for clout. But you concerned about it because you are a citizen of America; you are a citizen of the world.”
In response to Cardi’s comments about Roosevelt, Senator and now-presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, replied on Twitter, writing, “Cardi B is right. If we are really going to make America great we need to strengthen Social Security so that seniors are able to retire with the dignity they deserve.”
June 20, 2018
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Cardi spoke once again about her disgust for Trump. She said, “Every artist has explained how harmful he is. He has made divisions in this country–he almost made a crazy civil war between the blacks and the whites. He has proven himself to be a madman so many times, and proven himself to be disrespectful to women, and that still hasn’t gotten him impeached.”
She also spoke again about her support for stricter gun laws, though she said she supports the second amendment: “God forbid, the government tries to take us over, and we can’t defend ourselves because we don’t have no weapons. How do you think American colonizers went to Africa and it was so easy for them to get those people? Because they had guns. No matter what weapon you have, you can’t beat a gun. They have weapons like nuclear bombs that we don’t have. So imagine us not having any weapons at all.”
June 20, 2018
Cardi was also vocal about the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy, which caused migrant parents and children to be separated at the border. She Instagrammed one of the children who was being held in a cage with a message that constituents should call their representatives to tell them to end the separations:
October 2018
While on Jimmy Kimmel Live in October 2018, the rapper shared what she would do if she were elected mayor of New York. (Hint: Her plan included doing away with the rats and raccoons.) She also joked that while she’s always been interested in politics, she feels like she has to watch what she says: “If I make certain points, I’ve been feeling like the government’s going to say like, this girl is up to something. We might have to get rid of her.”
November 2018
When the midterm elections rolled around, Cardi made sure to share her endorsements again. This time, she was voting for Cynthia Nixon to be governor of New York and also encouraged voters to get to the polls.
January 16, 2019
The rapper has been vocally against Trump’s proposed border wall, going onto Instagram Live at the start of the year and saying, “You promised these fucking racist rednecks that you was gonna build the wall, but you know that was impossible. But they voted for you and you promised them this shit so now you have to do it.”
According to The Hill, she continued, saying, “Even if motherfuckers build the wall, that’s still not going to fucking prevent people coming into this country… Trump is like a clout chaser. He’s like one of these new rap artists, they follow, they do the most for clout. And Trump wants that.”
January 16, 2019
In the midst of the country’s longest government shutdown, which occurred because of Trump’s insistence that Congress vote to give him billions of dollars to help fund a border wall, Cardi went onto her Instagram to explain the gravity of the situation.
She said, “I just want to remind y’all because it’s been a little bit over three weeks… Trump is now ordering, as in summonsing, federal government workers to go back to work without getting paid. Now I don’t want to hear y’all motherfuckers talking about, ‘Oh, but Obama shutdown the government for 17 days.’ Yeah bitch, for healthcare. So your grandma could check her blood pressure and you bitches could go check your pussies at the gynecologist with no motherfucking problem.”
She then continued, “This shit is really fucking serious. This shit is crazy. Our country is in a hellhole right now all for a fucking wall. We really need to take this seriously. I feel like we need to take some action… Bitch, I’m scared. This is crazy. I really feel bad for these people who have to go to fucking work to not get motherfucking paid.”
January 16, 2019
Shortly after the video came out, conservative commentator Tomi Lahren chimed in on Twitter, saying: “Looks like @iamcardib is the latest genius political mind to endorse the Democrats. HA! Keep it up, guys! #MAGA2020” and quickly got into a Twitter altercation with the rapper. In response, Cardi said she would “dog walk” Lahren, who then replied that Cardi’s political rambling was “moronic.”
But because Cardi is not one to be messed with, she replied, saying, “You’re so blinded with racism that you don’t even realize the decisions the president you root for is destroying the country you claim to love so much. You are a perfect example on no matter how educated or smart you think you are you still a SHEEP!”
At this point, Cardi got a little bit of help from another Bronx-born celebrity, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who said, “Why do people think they can mess with Bronx women without getting roasted? They act as though our borough hasn’t been perfecting the clapback game since the Sugarhill Gang.”
To which, of course, Lahren responded with another charged tweet:
January 22, 2019
In response to some critiques following her video and conversation with Lahren, Cardi tweeted, “All these conservatives been harassing me and telling me the most disgusting things these past few days. Listen I’m not telling ya to turn liberal all I’m saying is to admit that your president is fuckin up this country right now! Liberal or conservative we ALL suffer as citizens.”
January 23, 2019
In the lead up to President Trump’s annual state of the union, Stephen Colbert started a “petition” to have Cardi give the rebuttal by asking people to retweet his suggestion in support:
Cardi responded on Instagram, saying, “why not …I get straight to the point .Government shutdown over 🎉🎉🎉🎉“
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