Kanye West details Trump support and dealing with scrutiny from friends and family

Then-President-elect Donald Trump and Kanye West pose for a photo in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, Dec. 13, 2016. (Associated Press)

Whether he's interrupting concerts to go on rants, charging exorbitant amounts for clothing or publicly stating his devout support for President Trump, Kanye West is no stranger to controversy.

After giving his uncompromising endorsement to our nation's president, the star seems to be relishing in the clash between his views on Donald Trump and the cynics who disagree. In a new interview, West not only explains his decision to back Trump, but claims there's plenty more Trump supporters in Hollywood that are afraid to come forward.

“There were people who said Trump would never win,” West said in an interview with the New York Times. “I’m talking about the it-will-never-happens of the world, people in high school told you things would never happen.”

In West’s mind he played the role of underdog his entire career as a hip-hop artist, producer and fashion designer. This is only part of the conjoining fabric West used to forge his backing of Trump, a man who many felt could never win the presidency. He claimed the two shared “dragon energy."

West, 41, famously visited with Trump in 2016 at Trump Tower in New York City after he was hospitalized for what was reported to be severe exhaustion. During the meeting, the President said the two “discussed life” before they emerged for photos in the lobby.

“I felt that I knew people who voted for Trump that were celebrities that were scared to say that they liked him,” he said. "But they told me, and I liked him, and I’m not scared to say what I like. Let me come over here and get in this fight with you.”

The star went on to describe breaking free of the "mob-thought" that made him feel obligated to support Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election because of his celebrity and status.

West’s fight to express his political views is seemingly genuine, which he says turned off many of his friends and family members who oppose his views and disapprove of his boisterous method of articulating his opinions. He even donned a "Make America Great Again" hat, the slogan that Trump ran with during his presidential campaign.

In May, the “College Dropout” artist came under scrutiny when he tweeted, "I love the way Candace Owens thinks.”

He was immediately called out by close friends in the music industry for his association with the conservative pundit and made an appearance with Owens on TMZ Live where he notoriously implied, slavery was a choice.

In the days after his tweets, West was advised by his wife and reality star, Kim Kardashian, to proclaim that he doesn’t agree with all of Trump’s policies and that he only wants love and for the dialogue to continue.

The world may not be able to fully understand West’s unwavering support for Trump, but he admitted to The New York Times that he wished Bernie Sanders would have been Trump’s vice president so that both of their visions for the country could have come to fruition.

In an interview with Charlamagne Tha God earlier this year, West backtracked a bit saying that if he ever ran for president it will more likely be with “Bernie Sanders principles.”