Probably a little of both. I think Candace Owens has filled his head with the idea that liberals/Democrats aren’t on his side. And I largely agree, Democrats aren’t doing nearly enough for minority and oppressed communities. But since Kanye identifies with the basics of Trumps personality he thinks the far right is the alternative to the, let’s be honest, slightly left of center Democrats. He does need to discover the real, radical left wing.
Yeah Kanye likes Trump for being an outsider and probably also for being an insane narcissist. They have the same brain. He probably would like the left if he discovered it or whatever but he would also still like Trump. His understanding of politics is so shallow that his reasons for siding one way or the other are basically unrelated to politics entirely
You’re right, I’d forgotten some lines from his Pablo era rants about the way liberalism has failed black Americans, I do think that thread has been slightly present in some of his outlook previously. But he followed that thread into “the democrats founded the kkk and a republican freed the slaves” bullshit because he’s an idiot and doesn’t read. Kanye is also a misogynist and rape apologist, and given how public he’s been about it, I think he also identifies with Trump in that capacity and identifies with the party that goes full force in defending misogynists and rapists.
I don't know what makes you guys think the radical left would appeal to Kanye at all if he "discovered" it. I think it's time we accept that a lot of far right ideas Candace Owens and others have been feeeding him probably genuinely appeal to him. EDIT: posted this while I was still on the last page, I see that this has already been addressed now
A lot of far left ideals would appeal to working class trump supporters if the ideas are articulated in the right way. Free from bias a lot of more left ideas poll really well with people largely considered core Republicans, that why Fox News goes so heavy with the socialism will murder everyone rhetoric. They know their base would benefit from those policies at a high level and stop supporting redistribution to the wealthy.
I just don’t agree without Jack Allison’s take that this is because of centrist liberals (which is often a Jack Allison target). I’m pretty sure the people that Kanye surrounds himself with are mostly capitalist-touting Republicans, minus Common and John Legend.
Someone mentioned that Rick Rubin started praising alt-right figures, and it just makes sense that Kanye would start doing that after he worked with him. Again, it might be a reach but it's just an example of the kind of people he seems to be surrounded with these last few years.
Kanye has idolized capitalist figureheads his whole life, in Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, even Jay Z, etc. I don't know that I'd pin this on a rejection of his friends' ideals, I think he genuinely and enthusiastically is attracted to Trumpism and the alt-right. While I recognize that he's (vaguely and without much thought) identified the failures of liberalism in regards to race, I think it's actually giving him too much credit to attribute that as a driving force in his movement to the alt-right.