She cannot help but understand that she is a product of the same technological conditions that gave rise to Trump, but as a social media provocateur par excellence, she can read the president like a book. “I feel like not any of these Democrats have a really strong support base—I’m gonna say a fan base, because it’s almost like a fan base, what Trump has,” she explains. “Because he was an entertainer, Trump knows how to get them to keep on talking about him. All these little antics that he do, like get into arguments with Chrissy Teigen, it’s just techniques to get attention. And I get that. You like a certain artist that do crazy shit. But this person is in charge of our country. This person is in charge of our well-being. When it comes to my president, I want my president to be, like, extremely holy. That is the person I want to look up to. I don’t want my president to have any hatred toward a certain type of people. I don’t want my president to be arguing with freaking celebrities or caring what people think of him. I want my president to tell me an answer on shit that really matters. I don’t want my president to entertain me. I just don’t.

“One thing that I like about Bernie,” she adds, “is that, you know, there’s proof that he’s been doing this for years. That he been caring about people for years. That it’s inside of him, being a humanitarian. When I see the candidates be like, oh well, some of his bills, they not perfect. If he’s such a perfect person, why is Vermont not perfect? People are not perfect, but he has the perfect intentions. He naturally cares about minorities. He actually cares about people getting Medicare because he knows they can’t afford it. I don’t feel like he’s just saying these things ’cause he want the vote.”

Cardi always intended to have a child by the age of 25, but she took care to wait until she had the means to provide for that child herself. Touring and performing create their own challenges: Although Cardi can depend on her own mother for help, it’s more complicated as her daughter gets older and more aware. “Flying is hard on Kulture, so if I go to a place and I’m not going to stay more than five days, I’m not bringing her,” she says. “But now that’s getting harder, because she’s sleeping on my chest and she doesn’t want to let me go, or she sees you on FaceTime and she’s crying. It’s kind of like a friendship now, and it’s hard to leave your little friend.” Occasionally her candor about the challenge of balancing a career in overdrive with the demands of motherhood has been turned against her. In early October, on Access Hollywood, she cataloged the stresses of simultaneously recording an album, creating a hip-hop talent contest (Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow, which debuted in October), promoting a film (Hustlers), and designing a clothing collection for Fashion Nova, only to watch as the television show ran a headline on its website suggesting that as a result of her divided attentions, Kulture has been calling someone else “Mommy.” (The show has since apologized.)