Kanye West says President Trump 'cares about the way black people feel about him'

Earlier this month, Jimmy Kimmel asked Kanye West what makes him think Donald Trump respects black people, and West responded with silence. But on Wednesday, West found the words to express his feelings on a radio show.

During an interview on 107.5 WGCI Chicago, one of the show’s hosts asked the rapper whether he thinks the president cares about all people, “black people included.” After a long silence, West responded. “I feel that he cares about the way black people feel about him, and he would like for black people to like him like they did when he was cool in the rap songs and all this,” he began.

He admitted that Trump might be trying to gain the support of the black community for slightly selfish reasons, but said that at least he’s trying. “He will do the things that are necessary to make that happen because he’s got an ego like all the rest of us, and he wants to be the greatest president, and he knows that he can’t be the greatest president without the acceptance of the black community.” But he said that the president still needs help. “It’s something he’s gonna work towards, but we’re gonna have to speak to him.”

While West has thrown his weight behind Trump in the past, he didn’t vote for him — and he shared in the radio interview that he’s never voted in his life. West waited to make his Trump support public until after he won because he didn’t want to influence anyone’s decision. “Because my voice is so strong, I never even told people my opinion or my stance ’til after he won. I didn’t want to influence it, but I have the right as an American to have my own opinion.”

West said he believed Trump’s polarizing effect would force Americans to address issues that had been festering all along. “I knew that this rogue personality was gonna allow me to see and understand and allow my brothers to understand what we were dealing with,” he said, apparently referring to inequality and racism. “All the marches, people fighting, people standing up, people having a conversation about politics, our well-being. I knew this was gonna happen if he got into office.” He said that while he loved having Barack Obama in office, these issues persisted throughout the eight years of his presidency, and added, “We as a collective wasn’t [sic] woke.”

While he said on the show that he supports Hillary Clinton, he said he was not upset when she was not elected. “We would rather have a female president than to see another white man be president again, and I understand and I feel that, but I just don’t agree with it.”

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Kanye West says he ‘wasn’t given a chance’ to answer Jimmy Kimmel’s Trump question

• Kanye West talks ‘love’ for Donald Trump until asked about separating immigrant families

• James Corden reveals how Kanye West cost ‘The Late Late Show’ $45,000

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