The hip-hop artist Kanye West created a firestorm this past week by tweeting politically conservative viewpoints over a period of a few days. He began by praising an outspoken young black conservative on April 21. “I love the way Candace Owens thinks.” He reportedly was referring to a video where Owens told Black Lives Matters protesters they are not oppressed.

He continued with tweets reflecting that viewpoint. They included “self-victimization is a disease” and “There was a time when slavery was the trend and apparently that time is still upon us. But now it’s a mentality.”

Freaking Out the Left

West received plenty of criticism for his tweets from the left, which expects stars in entertainment to be Democrats. He tweeted in response, “The thought police want to suppress freedom of thought.” He kept on, “Constantly bringing up the past keeps you stuck there.”

On April 23, he tweeted several videos of Scott Adams where he discusses West. Adams is the outspoken conservative creator of the cartoon strip Dilbert.

On April 25, he tweeted out a photo of himself wearing a Make America Great Again red cap, with the caption “we got love.” He followed up with a photo of a MAGA cap signed by Trump.

He tweeted a poster of himself running for president in 2024 with “Keep America Great.” An anonymous artist posted them around the country after West started his conservative tweetstorm.

West continued defiantly addressing his critics and defending Trump.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989179757651574784

West attempted to appear fair, tweeting that he loves Hillary Clinton too. He reiterated that he’s not a Republican or Democrat and is not scared of the media. Trump retweeted him and said thank you.

Kim Defends Him

At the same time, news articles appeared claiming West is mentally ill. His wife took to Twitter to defend him.

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

— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018

West also tweeted that his wife called him and asked him to remind everyone that he doesn’t agree with everything Trump does. Kardashian vocally supported Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. West told a California concert audience last year that he would have voted for Trump.

Later that day he tweeted criticism of Obama. That really raised eyebrows, since black entertainers almost monolithically loved Obama.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989272340432240641

On April 26, West posted a screenshot of a conversation he had over text with a friend. The friend tried to talk him out of tweeting favorably about Trump, saying West had betrayed people. West responded back in part, “You bringing up my fans or my legacy is a tactic based on fear used to manipulate my free thought.”

This isn’t the first time West has expressed positive interest in Trump. In December 2016, he met with Trump and tweeted a photo of the two together. He deleted it later after he was hit with a wave of criticism.

The reaction to West’s tweets by the left has been vicious. When celebrities praise Democrats, the left is proud of them. But when they praise conservatives, the left says society shouldn’t listen to celebrities opine about politics. West is a big enough star that it is unlikely his conservative tweets will harm his career.

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