Trump and Kanye West's relationship through the years: From friends to 'brothers'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kanye West once promised to be the “loudest voice,” and his thoughts were certainly amplified on social media Wednesday when he defended his support of the president.
While the internet was abuzz with West’s vocal support of President Trump on Twitter, the two men have a history that goes back before the presidency.
Read on for a glimpse at Trump and West’s relationship over the years.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kanye + Trump = Twitter love
West and Trump showed some love for each other on Twitter in April 2018.
West tweeted a variety of pro-Trump messages on April 25, including a photo of a signed “Make America Great Again” hat and a screenshot of Trump retweeting him.
“You don’t have to agree with [Trump] but the mob can’t make me not love him,” West said in one tweet. “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.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trump, in turn, thanked West for his support on social media.
In another tweet, West said his wife, Kim Kardashian West, told him “to make clear to everyone” the he doesn’t “agree with everything Trump does.”
Kardashian West also defended her husband on Twitter, calling him a “free thinker.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Most people (including myself) have very different feelings [and] opinions about this,” she said of West’s comments about Trump. “But this is HIS opinion. I believe in people being able to have their own opinions, even if really different from mine.”
Kanye picks Trump over Obama
A picture of then-President Barack Obama is projected as Kanye West preforms during the MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool in 2008. (Reuters/Phil Noble)
West told radio host Ebro Darden in April 2018 that he had reached out to former President Barack Obama over the years but “couldn’t get anything done.”
However, Darden said West told him, Trump gave him a meeting. During their conversation, West reportedly continued to express his love for the president.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kanye is Trump
After Trump won the presidential election, West signed some of his merchandise “Trump,” the Daily Beast reported.
A vote for Trump
West told fans at a concert in California that he would have voted for Trump -- if he had voted at all.
“There were things that I liked about Trump’s campaign,” West said. “There’s methods, non-political methods, to speaking that I like that I feel were very futuristic, and that style and that method of communication has proven that it can beat a politically correct way of communication. And I f--- with that.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kanye goes to Trump Tower
Kanye West said he he met with President-elect Trump “to discuss multiracial issues” such as “bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculum and violence in Chicago.” (Reuters/Andrew Kelly)
The 40-year-old rapper visited Trump, then the president-elect at Trump Tower in New York City in December 2016.
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” Trump said at the time, according to The New York Times. He said the bombastic pair discussed “life.”
West later said online that he met with Trump “to discuss multiracial issues” such as “bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculum and violence in Chicago.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future Presient if we truly want change,” he said in the since-deleted tweets.
Hope Hicks, then a spokeswoman for Trump, said West was the one who requested the meeting.
‘You can’t stop the thing now’
West included a whole host of celebrities in his suggestive music video for his song “Famous” -- including Trump.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Images of Trump, along with Taylor Swift, Caitlyn Jenner and Rihanna, are seen lying naked in bed along with West and his wife in the music video, released in June 2016.
2020: Trump versus Yeezy
West declared he would run for president in 2020 during a 2015 VMAs acceptance speech -- but that did not phase Trump, then just a presidential candidate.
“I hope to run against him someday,” Trump told Rolling Stone magazine.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trump also defended West as a “nice guy” and “actually a different kind of person than people think.”
“He’s said very nice things about me in the past … extremely positive things,” Trump said.
West has since tweeted a photo of a poster with his face and the words "Keep America Great" with he hashtag #Kanye2024.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trump is #TeamTaylor
It was the controversy of the year in 2009 when West stormed the VMA stage to interrupt singer Taylor Swift after she beat Beyonce for the best female video award.
Afterward, Trump told TMZ that people should boycott West because of his “disgusting” actions.
“He couldn’t care less about Beyonce. It was grandstanding to get attention,” Trump said then.