TO CLOSE

Kanye West has been a staunch supporter of President Trump since the 2016 election. According to the New York Times, the rapper will travel to Washington to lunch with the president
Buzz60

Taylor Swift and Kanye West(Photo: Getty / AFP)

It's the feud of celebrities that will not die. Except that this time, instead of Kanye West and Taylor Swift claiming the lyrics or taking subliminal clichés in the interviews, they fired opposing political opponents, apparently exchanging factions of their supporters.

Call it an unintended effect of the Donald Trump era on the fact that Swift and West have become representatives of the American political divide – in a way that no one could have predicted there are close to ten years, when the destiny of the two stars collided on the stage of the MTV Video 2009 Music Award.

Of course, it was the VMAs that West's famous speech caused a quarrel that revived in 2016 about West's song "Famous". And although the two artists were never the most politically motivated of their time, they had quite distinct and opposed reputations – West as a liberal-style brandon, stating that "George Bush does not care about blacks" at the time. live television in 2005, giving money to Democratic candidates and chanting on the occasion of racism and social justice, and Swift as a friend of Central America, which has deliberately avoided talking about politics in his interviews.

How things are different now. Since West declared his candidacy for the 2015 VMA presidency, he has focused on an agitator he considers a close-minded President Donald Trump. After getting away from public appearances shortly after his summit with the elected President at the Trump Tower in 2016, West came back for revenge this year by bringing his Make America Great Again hat. He congratulated Trump on Twitter and, more recently, in a monologue on "Saturday Night Live" from last week – again removing his social media accounts after being embarked on several political rants.

From associating with right-wing figures to sharing his questionable catch on slavery, West's political turnaround excited the conservatives – he's got a visit to the White House with Trump and Jared Kushner would have aligned himself for Thursday – while making it unrecognizable in the eyes of his fans. his raps ten years ago.

More: President Trump has an appointment Thursday noon with Kanye West

Related: Stars react to Kanye West's anti-13th amendment post-SNL, "pro-Trump" rant

As for Swift, she caught the heat for refusing to support a candidate in the 2016 election, which many have interpreted as her silent endorsement of Trump. However, after returning from his own break after fighting with West earlier that year, Swift increasingly shared his support for progressive causes and donated to charities supporting the victims. of sexual assault following his groping trial in 2017 and the public support of the March for our Lives campaign. end gun violence and support firearms reform.

It was not until Sunday, however, that Swift took the plunge of candidacy – she posted a letter on Instagram supporting the Democratic candidates of the Tennessee Congress, while condemning racism and discrimination.

The contrast was not lost for fans between West's comments on "SNL," in which he asserted that "if racism had troubled me, I would have left the room." America a long time ago "and the language in Swift's Instagram account. She writes in a post, "I think the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, disgusting and widespread." Incredulous West fans have expressed their surprise on social media that Swift, once considered a bad character. who played the victim to smear the name of West, became the superior ally.

More: The political declaration of Taylor Swift is a moment of redemption for the star

Like so many other aspects of 2018, what fans think of Kanye Vs. Taylor probably comes back to what they think of Trump. The president regularly congratulates West on Twitter while announcing Monday that he "likes Taylor's music about 25% less" after her. Democratic confessions.

And while the same voices on the right as West praises begin to express their new dislikes to Swift, while other commentators claimed that Swift "cared more about blacks" than West, the two artists once again opposed each other. way that fans could never have waited.

Automatic reading

Thumbnails poster

Show captions

Last slide next

Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/10/09/taylor-swift-kanye-west-surprise-fans-political-leanings/1570056002/