Kanye West hasn’t shied away from supporting President Donald Trump as of late, posting a plethora of tweets many are viewing as cringeworthy and disappointing at best.
While his fans remain conflicted about how to digest Ye’s outpouring of support for the president, Trump has begun inserting the rapper’s name into his political repertoire, further showcasing how the rapper’s words do hold weight.
“Kanye West must have some power because you probably saw, I doubled my African-American poll numbers,” Trump said, during an NRA convention in Dallas this week. “We went from 11 to 22 in one week. Thank you, Kanye. When I saw the number, I said that must be a mistake, how can that happen? Even the pollsters thought there must be a mistake. No, we’ve come a long way.”
However, according to a recent Rueters poll, the referenced data in question was from April 22-29, with the current number reflecting that his approval rating among people of color is at 16.5 percent. Per the poll, only 9.3 percent of Black women are pleased with the president at this time. Overall, Reuters reports that Trump’s rating is currently at 41.4 percent.
While Trump may be fixating on already-outdated numbers, his campaign has also been turning to the controversial creative to raise money, recently sending out a mass text to its donor list using the rapper’s verbiage in order to gain support.
Additionally, West has been in hot water for his recent TMZ appearance, during which he made the statement that he feels “400 years of slavery sounds like a choice.”
In the wake of the outlandish and offensive remark, a Nigerian senator has extended an invitation to the fashion entrepreneur, extending the opportunity to visit slave ports in Africa in order to learn more about the reality of slavery and the impact it has had on global history.
“If Kanye West thinks slavery was a choice, we will offer him a free ticket and tour guide to visit slave routes and camps in Badagry, Lagos, Ouida, Benin Republic, Ghana and Goree Island in Senegal to ‘experience the choices in chains,’” lawmaker Shehu Sani wrote on Twitter. “Kanye defecated on the graves of victims.”