No one has irked Charlamagne Tha God throughout the 2016 election cycle more than Donald Trump, prompting the radio host to award his popular “Donkey of the Day” award to the Republican presidential nominee over and over again.
“When I saw the rise of the anti-Christ Donald Trump, I was like hell no,” Charlamagne told CNN. “We can’t be in a country where we love celebrities so much that we let the executive producer of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ become the GOP nominee.”
“Donkey of The Day” is the segment that concludes each show, where Charlamagne calls out celebrities, artists and politicians for what he considers stupid behavior.
Calling Trump a “habitual donkey of the day offender,” the co-host of the hip hop radio show “The Breakfast Club” has been very outspoken in criticizing Trump and awarded him the first “Donkey of the Day” award when the billionaire declared his presidential run in June 2015 and said some Mexicans are “rapists.”
Charlamagne said that “Donkey of the Day” does not discriminate when he also awarded Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton the label for “pandering to black people in the worst possible way,” mispronouncing Beyoncé’s name, and for doing the “dab” and dancing to “Trap Queen” on “Ellen.”
Incidents that prompted Charlamagne to select Trump for the designation include — but are not limited to — the following:
When Trump declared a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the country;
When he said “Second Amendment people” might be able to do something about Clinton becoming president;
When he asked “How’s Joe Paterno?” (who passed away) at a Pittsburgh rally;
When he kicked Univision’s Jorge Ramos out of a press conference;
When he said Hispanics “love” him;
And when he said he would have fought the female Black Lives Matter protesters if they had grabbed his mic like they did when they interrupted Bernie Sanders last year.
A CNN message left with the Trump campaign seeking comment was not returned.
Charlamagne said that while Trump’s message “fuels hate” and represents “everything that’s wrong with America,” Trump also represents “everything that’s right with America.”
“He’s everything that’s right with America because Donald Trump is the best case scenario when you’re trying to build a case for optimism,” Charlamagne said, adding that to many, Trump’s success in business and politics represents the American dream.
“Donald Trump is the epitome of that, because he was the executive producer of “Celebrity Apprentice,” and now he’s the GOP nominee, potentially about to be president with no political background whatsoever,” Charlamagne said.
“That’s the beauty of America — the fact that all of us can be anything we want to be if we put in the work,” he added.
Charlamagne, whose legal name is Lenard McKelvey, teamed up with the Hip Hop Caucus’ “Respect My Vote!” campaign to encourage millennials to get to the polls in November.
While the campaign is non-partisan, Charlamagne said he plans on voting for Clinton.
“I feel like the soul of the country is at stake and we really have to do our due diligence in picking our next head of state,” he said. “I feel like Barack Obama was a phenomenal president and we just want somebody to continue to keep his legacy going.”
He said that he supported Clinton from the start because he wanted to see a female president, but after he learned about her policies and interviewed her on “The Breakfast Club,” along with co-hosts Angela Yee and DJ Envy, he can now say that he supports her for the right reasons.
Charlamagne said their approach to interviewing Clinton was different because they chose to ask her some non-political questions that could sway her way from rehearsed talking points and allow viewers to see a different side of her.
Form confronting her about her “super predators” comment and the 90s crime bill, to asking her why she didn’t shout out Jay Z while in Brooklyn and what she always carries in her purse (hint: hot sauce), the trio got Clinton talking.
“I feel like I got a real human interaction from Hillary. I liked her,” Charlamagne said. “I’m an energy person. No politician is a good enough BS-er that they can forge their energy. Energy is one thing that’s genuine …. I felt like she’s actually a good person.”