The MAGA Decline of Nicki Minaj is Sad But Expected

When Nicki Minaj walked on stage at the Talking Points USA event, hand in hand with Erika Kirk, most of us reacted with a weary eyeroll. The whole thing felt like a deleted scene from The Righteous Gemstones. Minaj, who has spent most of the past couple of years embroiled in petty squabbles, failed rap beefs, and defences of her sex criminal husband, had fallen into the MAGA circle a while back. This moment, where she complimented Donald Trump as ‘handsome’ and spewed transphobic hate, was wearily expected.

As she falls further into red hat oblivion, spewing homophobic abuse at Don Lemon and appearing at events with Trump, it’s clear that this is the real Nicki. Some have theorized that she’s angling for a Presidential pardon for her creep husband, but this descent into hard-right hate and self-promotion always seemed like it would happen eventually for her. It would have been shocking a decade ago. Now, it was as predictable as the setting of the sun.

Nicki Minaj: "I am probably the president's number one fan"

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 28, 2026 at 4:42 PM

For the past few years, Minaj, the self-styled queen of rap, had been falling into a rabbit hole of hostility, cringe, and bad sampling. Once beloved by queer fans for her outlandish style and unapologetic confidence, she began distancing herself from her previous persona of neon-haired ally telling her fans to stay in school in favour of endless one-sided beefs and conspiracy baiting about non-existent people’s testicles. Professionally, she wasn’t doing great either. Pink Friday 2 started out strongly in terms of sales and streams, but was criticised for sounding derivative and using too-obvious samples, and its AI artwork made the whole affair seem cheap and rushed. During a tour stop in Amsterdam, she was detained on suspicion of marijuana possession.

Musically, she fell behind, and the more other women in rap overtook her, the more bitter she got. Her treatment of Megan thee Stallion is proof positive of that, as Megan’s scathing diss track ‘Hiss’ left her spiralling for days on end thanks to one line that might not even have been about her (Drake let out a sigh of relief before Kendrick woke up.) Nicki’s response, ‘Bigfoot’, is truly one of the worst diss tracks in recent history, and no amount of hype from her fans could dispel the sensation that she’d fallen flat on her face. Songs that followed felt as bland and derivative as ‘Bigfoot’, but benefitted from catchy samples doing all the heavy lifting. If this was truly the Queen of Rap then she’d fallen far from her throne in terms of pure quality. Megan, Cardi, Doechii, Little Simz, Glorilla, Doja Cat, and countless others in the indie scene were running rings around her. She never wanted to be one of many women in the room; she wanted to be the sole one chosen by the men.

But she could have maintained her status as a legacy icon with her space on the rap hierarchy thoroughly carved out had she not continued to berate her own audience in favour of pandering to misogynists and conservative losers. Her allegiance to her husband and brother, two convicted sex offenders, and her attacks on the victim of the former, was inexcusable. What was once fun and low stakes soon became steeped in an obvious contempt from Nicki towards those who loved her. Anyone who dared to dissent, whether that was by calling out her love of abusive men or just not liking a song, was exiled.

It’s often been joked about among people in my business that there are certain fandoms you just don’t mess with, and top of that list is the Barbz. Feral fans are commonplace but the sheer petty viciousness of Minaj’s most zealous devotees is something else. It’s not simply that they have a reputation for cruelty and harassment; it’s that they’re proud of it and encouraged in their terrible behaviour by Minaj herself. Many fans decided to jump ship after the Turning Point USA event, but they stuck around for so much cruelty, legal f*ckery, and defence of multiple accused sex criminals. They were happy to spin her attacks on Cardi B’s kids as ‘shade’ or an exciting spectacle of celebrity power. The power rush was addictive, and Minaj egged it on.

I’ve already seen some Barbz, drowning in their own cope, desperately trying to spin this MAGA turn as a move of genius from a woman who’s four steps ahead of her competition. She’s actually sneaking her way behind enemy lines to spread a more positive message, guys! In fairness, these are minority views, even among the fandom. Many are just embracing her hyper-conservative fearmongering because they feel honour-bound to endorse everything she says or does. Besides, are they really surprised? Was the vaccine denialism not a big enough red flag? Or marrying a sex offender? Or supporting her brother who’s also a sex criminal? Or collaborating with the likes of Takashi 6ix9ine? Or just straight-up endorsing Trump on more than one occasion? If you’re committed to the sunk cost fallacy then why climb out of the hole now?

Personally, I’m glad the scales have finally fallen from so many people’s eyes. As a queer person, I was effing sick of seeing Minaj heralded as some diva icon of our community because she used to be reasonably welcoming of LGBTQ+ fans, as though that wasn’t a lifetime ago. It was the same issue I’ve always had with the irony-poisoned stanning of Azealia Banks, another rapper of problematic quality who has spewed hate incessantly in lieu of releasing music: you can only spin this kind of bigotry as ‘lol slay’ surrealism for so long before the true ramifications reveal themselves. Besides, what good did Nicki ever do for us? She saw our community as a place to make money, not a cause to commit to.

Minaj’s impact on rap is obvious, but her legacy is a mess and it’s by her own hand. Even if her current musical output was good (and it definitely isn’t), it’d be no help in deflecting from the embarrassing pivot she’s committed to. And it is a conscious business decision on her part. There has always been money and clout in making a rightward swing politically and ranting about how you were ostracised from the triggered liberals’ inner circle. You don’t have to be talented or charismatic or especially coherent to sell it either. Just watch clips of Minaj speaking to Kirk - if you have a high enough cringe tolerance to withstand it - and see how much she flounders with the most basic of questions. It’s the easiest grift in town, and it’s one where nobody will say ‘no’ to Minaj’s rambling or cruelty as long as it benefits their image. They’re Yes Men of a different shade.

I keep thinking about something Bob the Drag Queen said in their video on Minaj’s MAGA turn: ‘Nicki Minaj did not lose relevance. She rejected evolution.’ She stopped supporting the underdog because they held her to a standard she did not like, whereas Erika Kirk’s pyrotechnic grief tour and Donald Trump’s playground fascism let her continue to believe she was the biggest star in the room. The curiosity and creativity required to make good art was replaced by arrogance and cruelty, and what we’re left with is a grown woman embarrassing herself in public for the approval of a group who hate her by design. They’ll give her a pat on the back while it’s useful for them to do so, but she will be the first one tossed aside when the tides turn. The thing about selling out to the MAGA crowd is that you’ll never truly be one of them.