Kanye West, who once declared he would run for president in 2020, didn’t actually vote in the 2016 presidential election, but he says if he did it would have been for Donald Trump. West paused his Thursday show in San Jose, California to indulge in one of his traditional stream of consciousness thought exercises to tell the crowd, “If I would have voted, I would have voted on Trump.” It was announcement that was met, as one attendee shared on Twitter, with boos and an awkward sense of disquiet.
West’s reasoning for backing Trump, somewhat predictably, had less to do with substance and more to do with aesthetics. “There’s methods, non-political methods to speaking, that I like, that I feel were very futuristic,” he said. “And that style and that method of communication has proven that it can be a politically correct way of communication. And I fuck with that.” In short, West likes that Trump also goes on long, seemingly unscripted diatribes full of empty phrases. West says he also loved Trump’s “approach” to the debates—which makes sense, because West is also a fan of interrupting people with whom he disagrees.
But clearly this isn’t about ideology, exactly. West also revealed that he thinks Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and even Ben Carson should serve as “consultants” to Trump, and he added that he still believes in causes like gay marriage and Black Lives Matter. Though, to that last point, he also declared that America is a “racist country” while calling on black people to “stop focusing on racism.” The speech reportedly sparked walkouts, while many took to social media to express their displeasure and say that, this time, they were really “done” with him.
West’s wife, Kim Kardahsian West, vocally supported Hillary Clinton in the run up to the election, despite some reports that she was wavering. Oh, to be a fly on the wall during their dinner table conversation.