Entertainment
After a year of silence, Kanye West finally made his return to social media, exploding with tweets like a volcano. He announced he produced five albums, which will drop in five weeks, causing his fans' collective minds to explode. He also offered more of his signature cryptic philosophy, like "sometimes you have to get rid of everything." How zen. In response, his wife, Kim Kardashian freaked out, asking, "Wait...EVERYTHING?!?!?!"
However, 'Ye's latest tweet-storm reignited rumors that he's a Donald Trump supporter. When Trump was running for president, Kanye famously met with him at Trump Tower to discuss "multicultural issues." After the election, he told fans at a concert that he didn't vote, but if he did, it would have been for Trump. Recently the eccentric rapper added fuel to the fire, tweeting, "I love the way Candace Owens thinks." Owens is a conservative pundit who has criticized the Black Lives Matters movement, arguing their supporters have a "victim mentality." Kanye echoed that sentiment, tweeting "Self-victimization is a disease."
This afternoon, Kanye made it clear that he loves Donald Trump, with a flurry of tweets. I know, it's a pretty big ideological shift, from the guy who said "George W. Bush doesn't care about black people." However, Yeezy explained he was a free thinker, and "Free thinkers don't fear retaliation for your thoughts." He continued, "You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone." And that includes Trump's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. "I love Hillary too," Kanye added. "I'm not a democrat or a republican."
At this point, Kim Kardashian intervened, by giving her husband a call. Kim endorsed Hillary in 2016, and supports several 'liberal' causes, like the Black Lives Matter movement, gun control, reproductive rights, immigration rights, LGBTQ rights, etc. So, you can imagine she wasn't thrilled about Yeezy tweeting his support for The Donald.
After their conversation - which I hope was recorded, because I'd love to hear it - Kanye decided to clarify a few things. After all, Trump's policies have been pretty divisive, from his proposal to end DACA to the travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries to the tax bill which critics say only benefits the 1%. Kanye tweeted, "my wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don't agree with everything Trump does. I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself." (Of course!)
Then he tweeted a photo revealing he got it autographed from Donald Trump himself. (I know, his signature is weird. It kind of looks like a heart monitor.)
President Trump responded to Kanye's tweets, writing "Thank you Kanye, very cool!" (What a time to be alive.)
Then Trump retweeted Kanye's photo of the signed MAGA hat, adding "MAGA!"
Yeezy's tweets thrilled Trump supporters, while Trump critics curled into a ball on the floor and wept. On Twitter, Kim defended her husband from his harshest detractors, writing "your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary. So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair. Then she added, "He’s a free thinker, is that not allowed in America? Because some of his ideas differ from yours you have to throw in the mental health card?"
Well, both Kanye West and Donald Trump are contrarians with enormous egos, who love to speak without thinking, so maybe their friendship isn't so surprising.
Some Kanye fans may be struggling to reconcile their love of his music with his support of Donald Trump. Well, maybe this old tweet provides an explanation: "truth is my goal. Controversy is my gym. I'll do a hundred reps of controversy for a 6 pack of truth."