There was a time when Russell Simmons and Donald Trump were the best of friends. Not any longer according to Simmons, who confirmed to the New York Daily News on Monday, January 30, that the man Trump revealed himself to be over the course of his controversial presidential campaign, isn't someone he can chummy up to. In fact, he recalls the moment he cut ties with the President by deciding that he was done taking his calls.
“We haven't been friends since the day he announced, and I said, ‘I’d rather Kim Kardashian be President.’ So he called the office and that was the end of our friendship,” the Daily News reports Simmons telling them while in attendance at the National Cares Mentoring for the Love of Our Children Gala in New York City. “I didn't pick the phone up,”
Simmons first became publicly critical of Trump back in December of 2015, when in an open letter directed at the GOP candidate at the time, he famously told him to "stop the bulls**t." In the letter he recounted them having enjoyed over 30 years of friendship, noting the Trump having regularly flown he and his family out to stay with him in at his Mar-a-lago resort, taking him on helicopter rides, frequenting his shows, and even writing the forward to a few of his books. But he could not in good conscience continue to stay in his corner, writing, "what’s at stake is bigger than us."
“I was with him on his first date with Melania,” he told the Daily News. “We were friends for many years.”
Simmons told the publication that he is currently planning the tactics he will incorporate in a "resistance" he looks to coordinate against some of the policies Trump has on the table. His decision to abandon their relationship has more to do with the power he has and the threat he poses while in office than it does any of his personal flaws, he said, implying that it is more complex than judging him as a person. "All of our friends have issues — I have issues,” Simmons told the daily. “I accept people as they are as long as they're not running for President.”
Source: nydailynews.com
