Kanye West Clarifies His Support for President Trump

What’s going on with Kanye West? While his mother-in-law Kris Jenner has refuted reports of a feud between them, and his wife Kim Kardashian West seems unfazed—continuing her roll-out of naked pictures to promote her latest fragrance—West’s Twitter rants show no sign of stopping.

On Tuesday, People published two reports from anonymous sources, one claiming that West “seems to be on the edge” and “is very hard to deal with right now.” Another went even further to allege that he’s had “explosive” fights with Kris Jenner and that his wife Kim is struggling to keep him under control. Jenner went on to refute both claims on Twitter, writing, “Lies,Lies,Lies,” and “Nope…not true!” But the question remains: just how is Kanye doing?

The drama started when West abruptly returned to Twitter on April 15, revealing that his favorite part of his last Madison Square Garden show was walking out with Khloé Kardashian’s ex-husband Lamar Odom, who was unfaithful to Kim’s sister during their marriage. The timing was especially interesting, as Khloé was in the midst of another cheating scandal, this time with her boyfriend and baby True’s father, Tristan Thompson.

West went on to show a sneak peek at his new Yeezy products in the works, advising his fans to stay true to their vision and “try to avoid any contractual situation where you are held back from your ideas.”

“Sometimes you have to get rid of everything,” he Tweeted, leading Kim to respond “Wait…EVERYTHING?!” It wasn’t the last time she’d publicly respond to one of his divisive Tweets.

West went on to detail his upcoming album, which he said is 7 songs and will drop on June 1. According to his tweets, he has a separate album coming out with Kid Cudi on June 8. But it wasn’t long before he started stirring up controversy once more.

On Monday, West began tweeting videos by cartoonist Scott Adams, who is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, a men’s rights activist, and an outspoken critic of Black Lives Matter. As West has also met with President Trump in the past, the seeming endorsement of Adams had fans questioning his partisan alignment and his own political ambitions. He also Tweeted “2024,” which some speculate is a reference to his own desire to run for president—note that if this is true, he’s allowing time for President Trump to have a second term.

On Wednesday, he declared that he fired his manager Scooter Braun. “I can’t be managed,” he wrote. “I’m nobody’s ‘client.’” He personally attacked several news organizations that were publishing stories about him. “Harvey Levin of TMZ your hearing from your future president. Let’s be friends. Please never use the word erratic to describe a person who is economically and psychologically empowered,” he wrote. “People magazine. Watch how you speak my name. You would love a pair of Yeezys. Don’t play yourself.”

Next, West shared three photos from inside the home that he shares with Kim Kardashian and their tree kids, North, Saint, and Chicago. The rapper has not allowed Keeping Up with the Kardashians to film inside the space, so it’s a rare look inside the minimalist house. The reality star responded, “Ummm babe. We had a rule to not show our home on social media! Soooo can we now allow KUWTK filming in the home?” she wrote, later clarifying that she was kidding. “Oh RELAX I’m joking! Seriously you can’t have a personality on social media these days or your called bizarre or disturbing.”

West wasn’t done talking about his opinion on President Trump. “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. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought,” he wrote.

“For people in my life the idea of Trump is pretty much a 50 50 split but I don’t tell a Hillary supporter not to support Hillary. I love Hillary too,” he wrote. “Love who you want to love. That’s free thought. I’m not even political. I’m not a Democrat or a Republican.”

He referenced being out of the “Sunken Place,” a term from the film Get Out. “I’m all the way out of the sunken place. And I’m not scared anymore. I’m not scared of the media. I’m not scared of the past and I’m optimistic about the future.”

Seeing his string of Tweets, Kim called in one edit. “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.”

Kim also took to her own Twitter account to fiercely defend her husband against media reports calling his mental health into question. "To the media trying to demonize my husband let me just say this... 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," she wrote.

As for his comments about Trump, Kardashian made clear that while she doesn't agree with his support of the president, she thinks her husband is entitled to his own opinion. With her Tweets came even more supportive messages from West about President Trump, including pictures of his own (signed) Make America Great Again hat.

For what it's worth, Trump is grateful for the support.