Rapper Nicki Minaj said US President Donald Trump has “changed the energy of the country” as she joined him at a Michigan rally to stump for Republicans ahead of the nationwide midterm elections.

“He’s given us a future to look forward to,” she said, after Trump praised her figure and called her on stage to speak.

Minaj has called herself Trump’s “number one fan” despite criticising some of his policies in his first term.

In Michigan, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is locked in a tight race with Republican Mike Rogers with just over a week to go before the midterms. Former President Barack Obama held a rally – one of the first in this cycle – with the Democrat on Saturday.

Democrats are also aggressively hitting the campaign trail, with close elections taking place on 3 November which will decide which party controls Congress for the rest of Trump’s presidency.

In his remarks on Sunday, Trump focused on El-Sayed’s Muslim faith and background, alleging that he will “invite jihadists” into America if he wins.

El-Sayed has criticised similar remarks by Trump as Islamophobic, saying in an ad to voters last week that the US president “thinks he can use my name and my faith to distract us from the suffering his policies are inflicting on us at the pump, at the grocery store, and at the doctor’s office”.

In Port Huron on Sunday, Minaj, wearing a gold-coloured Gucci-branded suit, led the crowd in chanting Trump’s name, and the names of Republican candidates in Michigan.

“We really need all these great people to be elected, because this is a major turning point for our country,” she said.

“She never looked more beautiful,” Trump said as she left the stage. “She gets it. She’s smart,” he added.

Earlier in his speech, Trump praised the rear end of one male Republican candidate before turning the crowd’s attention to Minaj.

“By the way, I looked at a beautiful ass before,” he segued. “Nicki Minaj. That’s hard to miss.”

He then asked her to “stand up” as the crowd cheered, and added that he hoped she was not “insulted” by his remark.

The Super Bass singer had accompanied Trump to the state aboard Air Force One. She filmed a video with an aide – which was posted to X -on the president’s plane, pretending to be interviewing for the White House press secretary role.

The position is currently open after Katie Zacharia left five days after a shaky public debut.

The Trinidad and Tobago-born rapper has thrown her star power behind Trump a few times before, including on his allegations that Christians face persecution in Nigeria and his “gold card” visa, which offers applicants residency and a path to US citizenship.

By BBC News