Kanye West’s yo-yo relationship with Donald Trump: from ‘disgusting’ to ‘very cool’ to rapper’s presidential bid
- West’s declaration that he would run for US president this year puts him up against a man he once said was his ‘brother’
- The pair appeared good friends during meetings in 2018, but West recently said he doesn’t support Trump any more and he’s ‘taking the red hat off’
Rapper and newly minted billionaire Kanye West celebrated the Fourth of July by tweeting out his 2020 bid for US president. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the rapper’s wife Kim Kardashian West each sent support tweets.
While the feasibility of this bid is up for debate, West has enjoyed a very public friendship with the current occupant of the White House over the years.
But West told Forbes this month that US President Donald Trump was losing his support because “it looks like one big mess”, specifically alluding to reports of Trump hiding inside a bunker during the Black Lives Matter protests in May. Trump has maintained that he was inspecting the bunker.
Here’s a look inside West and Trump’s up-and-down relationship over the years.
In 2009, West interrupted Taylor Swift’s MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) acceptance speech. Trump called the move “disgusting”.
Swift beat Beyoncé to win an award for You Belong With Me in the category for best female video. Unhappy with the result, West went onstage and said, “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but Beyoncé has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!” The outburst left both Swift and the audience perplexed.
The next day, Trump spoke to news website TMZ and said: “He couldn’t care less about Beyoncé. It was grandstanding to get attention.” He added that he wanted to “boycott” West to avoid a repeat of the incident.
The White House and West’s representatives did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment on Trump’s comments about the incident.
Trump’s feelings towards West seemed to have changed by 2014 when, during an appearance on TV news show Extra, he complimented West and Kardashian on their upcoming wedding. He told host Mario Lopez that he knew the couple “well” and thought they were both “very nice people”. He said he “wished them the best of luck” and that he hoped “they do well”.
A year later, West won the Video Vanguard Award during the 2015 MTV VMAs. He shared plans to run for president in 2020 during his 13-minute long acceptance speech. This took place roughly two months after Trump had announced his bid for the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential election. Trump called West’s speech and declaration “interesting”.
During the speech, West said: “It’s not about me. It’s about ideas. New ideas. People with ideas. People who believe in truth. And yes, as you probably could’ve guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for president.”
At the time, Rolling Stone’s Lauren Kelly asked Trump about West’s sweeping VMAs speech and announcement, to which he responded that “he’s a nice guy” and that he hopes to run against him someday.
West says he did not vote in the 2016 presidential elections but if he had, he would have chosen Trump over Hillary Clinton.
“I told y’all I didn’t vote, right? But if I would’ve voted, I would’ve voted for Trump,” West told concert goers in California in November 2016. The audience did not hold back from booing him.
West visited Trump Tower for a meeting with the president-elect in December 2016. West tweeted that he met Trump to discuss “multicultural issues”. His tweets about the meeting were later deleted in 2017.
In April 2018, West sent out a series of tweets expressing admiration for Trump, including that he was his “brother” and they both have “dragon energy”. Trump responded to his tweet saying, “Thank you, Kanye, very cool.”
We must now realise the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States
Fellow musicians John Legend and Chance the Rapper also got involved, each offering their take. Legend reached out to West directly, urging him to reconsider “aligning [himself] with Trump”. West posted a screenshot of their text exchange on Twitter.
Chance the Rapper initially came to West’s defence, tweeting: “Black people don’t have to be democrats.” He later apologised.
West solidified his position in the pro-Trump camp by visiting the White House later in 2018 and wearing the president’s signature red “Make America Great Again” hat.
Surrounded by supporters and a throng of cameras, Trump and West talked about welfare, prison reform and mental health, among other things. West said that putting on the red MAGA hat made him feel like Superman.
Although he says he skipped voting in the 2016 elections, West said he would make his way to the polling booth this year and heavily alluded to Trump as being the candidate with his support.
“We know who I am voting on,” West said in a GQ interview from April this year. “I will not be told who I’m gonna vote on because of my colour,” he added.
“We must now realise the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States,” he said in the tweet, followed by the American flag emoji.
Observers pointed out that the deadline to register as an independent candidate had passed in six states and the deadline is approaching in seven other states.
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West has enjoyed a more friendly relationship with Trump than with the previous two presidents: President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama.
During a 2005 TV programme meant to aid relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina, a category five storm that had a devastating impact on New Orleans, West said: “George Bush does not care about black people.”
Years later, while looking back at his term, Bush said hearing West’s comments was an “all-time low” for him.
Obama once called West a “jackass”, referring to his very public confrontation with Taylor Swift during the 2009 VMAs.
