Trump thanks Kanye West in NRA speech, claims rise in poll numbers among African-Americans

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Trump thanks Kanye West for surging poll numbers

President Trump thanks rapper Kanye West for increasing his support with African-Americans.

President Trump praised Kanye West on Friday, saying that the rapper “must have some power” as the president touted what he said was a surge in poll numbers among African-Americans.

The comments came during the president’s remarks at National Rifle’s Association annual convention in Dallas, more than a week since West, in mid-tweetstorm, said there was “dragon energy” between him and his “brother” Trump.

“And by the way, Kanye West must have some power because you probably saw, I doubled my African-American poll numbers,” Trump told the crowd in remarks that also touched on gun rights, job gains and unemployment. “We went from 11 to 22 in one week. Thank you, Kanye. Thank you.”

“When I saw the numbers I said there must be a mistake. How can that happen?” Trump continued. “Even the pollsters thought there must be a mistake.”

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President Donald Trump spoke at the National Rifle Association annual convention in Dallas, Texas on Friday. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Trump’s Friday comments appeared to be in line with findings in a recent Reuters poll, according to The Washington Times. The April 29 poll found that 22 percent of African-American males approved of Trump’s performance in the White House, whereas a week earlier, his rating stood at 11 percent, according to the report.

In an array of tweets in late April, West talked about a wide range of topics, but he eventually pivoted to politics.

“You don’t have to agree with trump but the mob can’t make me not love him,” West tweeted. “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.”

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“If your friend jumps off the bridge you don’t have to do the same,” West continued. “Ye being Ye is a fight for you to be you. For people In my life the idea of Trump is pretty much a 50 50 split but I don’t tell a Hillary supporter to not support Hillary. I love Hillary too.”

The rapper, who is also famously married to Kim Kardashian, also shared a photo of a “Make America Great Again” hat, which appeared to have been signed by the president.

At the time, Trump took to Twitter to thank the rapper for the praise, adding “very cool!”

Fox News’ Serafin Gomez and Morgan M. Evans contributed to this report.