Kanye

All of us, myself included, sometimes make more of an event or comment than is justified. That may be happening with recent events concerning Kanye West, a rap superstar (and husband of celebrity superstar Kim Kardashian), who has made very controversial comments regarding Donald Trump. But nonetheless, West's comments and the reaction to them is worth considering.

The reason Kanye West has become sooo controversial is because he had the temerity to suggest that Trump wasn't a monster (anthema to the progressives who represent the vast majority of the Hollywood and music communities and the core of the TDS movement). But he went further. West suggested that young African Americans shouldn't reflexively gravitate toward the Democratic party, given that after decade upon decade of loyalty (including absolute and somewhat understandable loyalty during the Obama years), far too many African Americans remain economically and educationally disadvantaged and continue to be overly dependent of government in many aspects of their lives.

Alarm bells went off immediately. Democrats, their trained hamsters in the media, and the glitterati launched vicious attacks on West, implying that anyone who advocates assessing actual multi-decade results and thinking for themselves is unstable and/or racist (as lightweight "journalist" Soledad O'Brien tweeted, "Hey babe, just fyi, this "new idea" is embraced by white supremacists"). O'Brien is far too dense and way too woke to recognize the irony of her implied insult or the actual meaning of West's comments.

As if on cue, a Detroit radio station, 105.1 FM, banned West's music, claiming that his comments on 'slavery as a choice' were offensive and racist. It was obvious to anyone with an IQ over 70 that he meant "the slavery" of modern dependency on big government and lock-step adherence to Democratic politics, but whatever.

Monica Showalter comments on all of this:

It's happening. Suddenly, a lot of young black men aren't all in for the Democrats anymore.

Black men's approval for Donald Trump has absolutely doubled, according to a new Reuters poll, and his overall support among blacks has risen sharply. This seismic shift just happens to coincide with rap superstar Kanye West's break with the Hollywood left, coupled with his open admiration for Donald Trump. According to the Daily Caller:

A poll taken on April 22, 2018 had Trump's approval rating among black men at 11 percent, while the same poll on April 29, 2018 pegged the approval rating at 22 percent. It should be noted that Reuters only sampled slightly under 200 black males each week and slightly under 3,000 people overall.

Trump experienced a similar jump in approval among black people overall, spiking from 8.9 percent on April 22 to 16.5 percent on April 29.

Kanye made his remarks on April 25, and much of the left panicked, calling him a sell-out, a traitor to his race, and other typical epithets black people who don't toe the Democratic Party line have endured for years. Kanye responded by doubling down, posting a picture of himself with an autographed MAGA cap, and calling Trump his "brother."

This may be much ado about nothing, but it is instructive, not so much because of the impact of Kanye West's comments, but in the broad-based progressive rejection of the notion that African Americans can't hold views that don't resonate with the American Left.

The Left prefers not to battle in the arena of ideas because their ideas are often weak and easy to defeat. Rather, they use ad hominem attacks, demonization, and shunning to dampen or eliminate debate. Kanye West is a case in point.