Kanye gets support from alt-right pundits

following the general trend and consensus… there was a time when slavery was the trend and apparently that time is still upon us. But now it’s a mentality. … Self-victimization is a disease.”

For an artist who once claimed on live, international television that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” and whose lyrics constantly make strong statements about racism in America (“You see it’s broke n---- racism / That’s that ‘Don’t touch anything in the store’ / And it’s rich n---- racism / That’s that ‘Come in, please buy more’” — from New Slaves), West’s conversion to conservative thinking might be surprising. However, we shouldn’t forget that Kanye made headlines just after the 2016 U.S. presidential election when he declared at a show that he hadn’t voted, and “If I would’ve voted, I’d have voted for Trump.” He also informed his fans of colour to “stop focusing on racism,” because “this world is racist, OK?”

Soon after, he cancelled the remaining dates of his Saint Pablo tour, and was hospitalized for exhaustion after a “psychiatric emergency.” He was reportedly also still reeling from the news that his wife Kim Kardashian had been robbed at gunpoint in her Paris hotel room in October.

Cut to December when, shortly after being released from the hospital, he was spotted meeting with Donald Trump at Trump Tower, posing for photos in the hotel lobby. In a series of tweets, Kanye wrote at the time, “I wanted to meet with Trump today to discuss multicultural issues. These issues included bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago. I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change.”

Trump said the two “have been friends for a long time,” and were simply discussing “life.”

Shania Twain, who couldn’t vote in the U.S. election as a Canadian, walked into a similar storm this week when she said words very familiar to West in an interview with The Guardian: “I would have voted for (him) because, even though he was offensive, he seemed honest.”

But unlike the rapper, who has seemingly doubled and tripled-down on his statement, Twain later apologized in a series of tweets. While her attempt to save face (and concert ticket sales) are clear, West may be staying firm because he’s never really lost much of his fan base.

In fact, many of those who continue to share his tweets of inspiration are asking whether this is rooted in a mental health issue. While others are suggesting some sort of subterfuge, acknowledging that racist white people are now exposing themselves as being openly racist, which is easier to spot and condemn than systemic racism. After all, West is married to a woman who actively campaigned for Hillary Clinton. And, according to Spin, West himself donated thousands of dollars to Clinton and the Democratic National Committee ahead of the 2016 election.

Perhaps the more likely scenario, however, is that this seemingly new stance is just who he is now. As he himself tweeted this week, “Constantly bringing up the past keeps you stuck there.” On his last album, West seemed to address the divide between fan understanding and his evolving public persona on I Love Kanye: “I miss the old Kanye, straight from the Go Kanye / Chop up the soul Kanye, set on his goals Kanye / I hate the new Kanye, the bad mood Kanye / The always rude Kanye, spaz in the news Kanye / I miss the sweet Kanye, chop up the beats Kanye / I gotta say, at that time I’d like to meet Kanye.”

As recently as Monday, on radio’s Hot 97, host DJ Ebro Darden said Kanye had told him he feels as though he is being “demonized” for his thoughts, and hopes he can “de-program people ... to think differently than they have before.”

Kanye then declared, one more time, “I love Donald Trump.”

Maybe it’s time we him. believed