We got the singer at LAX Thursday and wanted to know how he would defeat Trump, hypothetically speaking. Our guy barely finished asking the question when Akon pounced at the opportunity to debate 45, and obviously thinks he could take him down on several topics.

You can tell he's been thinking about how to make improvements, and even explained to us why he'd go with Zuckerberg as veep.

You'll recall ... Akon recently told us about his beef with the feds -- for rejecting his proposal to get electricity up and running in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, and also with Trump's "s**thole" comment.

Still, he thinks Trump has what it takes to be a great prez. Or, at least, he did.