Kanye West wears MAGA hat, says Trump has ‘dragon energy’

Kanye West made his grand return to Twitter this month to tell the world about all sorts of things: his upcoming album releases, his thoughts on art and creativity, his upcoming shoes, and his neck tattoo designed by Gosha Rubchinskiy. However, things became political this week when he tweeted that he “loves” the way that right-wing commentator Candace Owens “thinks.” And according to Kanye's tweets from yesterday, April 25, he also “loves” Trump, because Obama was in office for eight years and “nothing in Chicago changed” – plus, the current POTUS apparently has “dragon energy.”

What followed was a string of tweets that saw him don a Make America Great Again hat signed by Donald Trump. Ye was then called “cool” by Trump himself, and that’s when his wife Kim Kardashian had to step in to do some serious damage control. Here’s what went down. 

KANYE AND TRUMP EXPRESSED LOVE TO EACH OTHER

"You don’t have to agree with Trump but the mob can’t make me not love him," Kanye tweeted on April 25. He first met with Trump in December 2016, when he took a meeting with the president-in-waiting at his Tower in New York, but hasn’t spoken publicly about the president since that time. 

Kanye also tweeted that he shares “dragon energy” with the president, adding that Mr Trump was his “brother”. He boasted about his signed MAGA hat, and labeled Trump (along with Apple’s Tim Cook) one of his “favourite people”. Trump responded that Kanye was “very cool”.

KIM STEPPED IN TO MANAGE THE SITUATION

“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,” Kanye wrote, after what we can only imagine was a call of sheer panic.

Shortly afterwards, Kim addressed her husband’s increasingly inflammatory tweets. “Yesterday it was announced that Kanye had parted ways with some business people and media outlets made this about Kanye’s mental health,” she wrote. As we know, West was admitted to hospital after cancelling his tour in November 2016. “Mental Health is no joke and the media needs to stop spitting that out so casually. Bottom line.”

She continued: “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? That’s just not fair. He’s actually out of the sunken place when he’s being himself which is very expressive”

AND SO DID MOMAGER KRIS

If you thought Kris Jenner wasn’t watching the drama, then you don’t know the all-seeing eye of the Kardashian momager. While Kanye caused chaos on the TL, Kris wanted to know that even if his moral compass is temporarily skewed, he is still very rich:

CHANCE THE RAPPER LEAPED TO YE’S DEFENCE

Fellow Chicago native Chance the Rapper then chimed in, tweeting: “Black people don’t have to be democrats”.

To many, though, Kanye’s tweets arent shocking because they reveal that he isn’t a democrat; they’re shocking because he is openly supporting a president with anti-black ideologies, despite years of pro-black lyrics and his famous “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” political mentality.

BUT FRANK OCEAN GAVE SOME SIDE-EYE

Speaking of Ye’s “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” moment, Frank captured the incredulous mood of Twitter perfectly when he posted a screencap of that moment to his Tumblr. 

RIHANNA UNFOLLOWED

According to various outlets, Ye’s peers and former collaborators, including Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, and Nicki Minaj, no longer follow him on Twitter.

AND MANY OTHERS WERE VOCAL IN THEIR CRITICISM

From Janelle Monae to John Legend, several high profile celebrities responded. Meanwhile, thousands of people took to their accounts to express their concern and disappointment at the idea that being a “free thinker” means accepting possibly dangerous rhetoric for people of colour or other minorities like the LGBT community.