Nicki Minaj is a Republican. We know this not because the former queen of rap is on a right-wing press tour doing interviews with Erica Kirk, the CEO of Turning Point USA and Katie Miller or because she spoke at Donald Trump’s “Trump Account Summit” in Washington DC, and declared herself to be “the president’s number one fan”. No, we know that Minaj is a Republican because she looks like one now.

Over the weekend, the 43-year-old shared pictures of herself on X, captioned “Barbie, 📸: Ken”, Ken being her sex offender husband Kenneth Petty. In the picture, Minaj wears a basic white shirt, a chunky brown-and-black belt, and black pants. Her hair is straight with almost blonde highlights, and her make-up is matte. She has harsh, block brows and orangey foundation, which many of her critics have described as “poorly blended”. Many are shocked by her supposed transformation, with one X user commenting on her picture: “I’m not even joking, this is literally Republican make-up.”

Republican make-up, as many, including comedian Suzanne Lambert, have spoofed on TikTok, is considered matte and flat, as Hannah Malach writes for WWD. It is believed to involve no skin care preparation, and includes “streaky foundation that is too warm for one’s skin tone, as well as garish eye shadow, caked-on powder, clumpy mascara and heavy, imprecise eyeliner. Sharp, defined brows should look overdrawn, as if applied in the dark.” It is a look that a number of the women in the Trump administration are supposedly sporting, including Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the President’s spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt (see her much maligned Vanity Fair shoot).

To put it simply, Republican make-up is considered ugly. While there is something to be said about the homogeneity of the “Republican look”, as podcaster and internet personality Matt Bernstein notes about Minaj in a post on X: “There is no room for creativity or self-expression within a fascist movement. Here’s your beige jacket and flat hair and boring make-up.” We need to be careful that we aren’t falling into the trap of equating beauty and morality when we learn that someone we once admired, or never admired, is acting poorly. This idea that Republicans would “look better” if they were “good” is the logic we are taught about good and bad as children. Aren’t we beyond that now?

The same accusations of “looking like a Republican” have been levelled at actress Sydney Sweeney, especially after her American Eagle advertisement, her comments about art not being political to her and the fact she is quite literally registered as a Republican in her home state of Florida. Through her problematic behaviour and comments, she is now a person who, like Minaj, has become ‘ugly’ to the public. Still, as beauty critic Jessica DeFino told Dazed in 2024, it’s easier to criticise someone’s physical appearance once they’ve done something bad because: “It’s an easy framework. It takes a very complex situation and whittles it down to the superficial. Wouldn’t it be so easy if ugly people were bad and pretty people were good and we knew the right person to agree with and the right way to be in the world?” Understandably, people become unattractive to us when they do bad things – but we must remember what beauty is built on when we are suggesting that it is an indication of goodness: racism, fatphobia, classism, ageism, colourism and more. 

When I sometimes find myself seduced by this way of thinking and talking, I remind myself that this is exactly how Trump talks. When asked about Zohran Mamdani during the New York mayoral race in 2025, he remarked, “I think I’m much better looking than Zohran Mamdani”. He also called New York Times reporter Katie Rogers “ugly” last November after she wrote a piece saying that there were signs that he is ageing in office. It is such a lame and boring way to speak about others, and it never gets to the heart of the issue, especially when their behaviour and rhetoric are causing harm to people. We should make a greater effort to speak directly about their actions, rather than their looks.