Donald Trump has given his favorite singer’s pageant queen wife a hot new job.
‘God Bless the USA’ artist Lee Greenwood got to know Trump in the 1990s, and his music has since become a key part of the MAGA soundscape.
Former Miss Tennessee Kimberly Payne first introduced her husband to the then-New York real estate mogul after she’d met him through the Miss Universe Organization, which Trump owned between 1996 and 2015.
Decades later, Payne, 59, was included on a list of names sent on Monday to the Senate for confirmation after Trump, 80, nominated her as the new U.S. ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
“I am profoundly honored and humbled by President Trump’s confidence in nominating me to serve as United States Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean,” she said in a post on Instagram, which included a picture of her, Trump, and Greenwood. “To be asked by the president of the United States to represent the country I love is one of the greatest honors of my lifetime.”
Like so many appointed by Trump since his return to power last year, she then dialed up the suck-up.
“Mr. President, thank you for believing in me and entrusting me with this extraordinary opportunity to serve,” she said. “If confirmed by the United States Senate, I will work every day to earn that confidence, to listen and learn, to build genuine relationships, and to make sure the people of every nation I am privileged to serve know how deeply America values their friendship.”
After further gushing, she then signed off, “God Bless the USA forever!”
Greenwood also posted a message on social media about his wife’s new gig.
“My heart is overflowing with pride today as I share that President Donald J. Trump has nominated my beautiful wife, Kimberly Payne Greenwood, to serve as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Barbados and, concurrently, to the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,” he said.
“Kim worked with President Trump for 18 years through the Miss Universe Organization while directing multiple state pageants, and I am deeply grateful for the confidence he has once again placed in her through this nomination,” he added. “I have proudly supported President Trump since he first announced his intention to lead this great nation, and I remain grateful for his service to America.”
Payne worked as a pageant producer for Miss Universe-affiliated Miss Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi competitions for decades following her own win in Tennessee in 1989.
Trump and Greenwood’s bromance led them to go into business together, according to AP, which reported that he started selling $59.99 God Bless the USA Bibles, which can go up to $99.99 if Trump’s name is on it.
Greenwood’s 1984 hit “God Bless the USA” has become synonymous with the MAGA movement, and more specifically with Trump rallies, where the tune often plays as he walks on stage.
Its lyrics—“I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free/ And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me/ And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today/ ‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land/ God bless the USA”—have meanwhile become a rallying cry for his movement’s nationalist-populist sensibilities.
Trump’s involvement in the Miss Universe Organization was well documented during his ownership and co-ownership.
Adwoa Yamoah, who competed as Miss Canada in 2012, told The New Yorker in 2018: “He made comments about every girl: ‘I’ve been to that country.’ ‘We’re building a Trump Tower there.’ It was clear the countries that he liked did well. He’d whisper to [Miss Universe Organization president] Paula [Shugart] about the girls, and she’d write it down. He basically told us he picked nine of the top fifteen.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for more information on the nomination.
