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Rapper Kanye West meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Oct. 11, 2018. (Calla Kessler/The Washington Post) |
I believe that Ye, the singer born Kanye West, was the first subject of Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson's interview on Thursday. Carlson has previously exaggerated Kanye West's political views; many on the right have praised the artist for slowly embracing Donald Trump's larger political platform. But it looks like Carlson didn't give Ye exposure for a lengthy talk until this week.
This is also the week when Ye made headlines throughout the world by attending Paris Fashion Week wearing a T-shirt that said, in enormous block letters, "WHITE LIVES MATTER." Carlson then extended a hand.
Carlson framed the interview on the shirt and its message as he began his show. Ye, according to Carlson, had evolved into "a sort of Christian missionary" whose acceptance of the phrase "clearly true" had incensed the left, much to Carlson's delight. Ye also struck the typical Carlson guest notes, saying things like "Trump was amazing," "the left is toxic," and other such things.
We'll return to Carlson's interest in the week's events later, but first, let's discuss how Ye's comments were unintentionally illuminating. He consistently exuded a sense of betrayal that was mixed with politics, betrayed by his mother, his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, her family, and allies.
Ye, for instance, went on a lengthy rant about the ownership shares of Skims, the shapewear company created by Kim Kardashian, and how he discovered that Josh Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, had an unusually substantial position in the business. Ye's celebrity world is probably not well-known to the typical Tucker Carlson viewer, so passing mentions about Kris Jenner's beau would not have been picked up. The Kushners' narrative, however, is a pretty traditional one that overlaps envy and the strains of starting a business together after Ye's presentation has been dissected. Ye then extrapolates a traditional anecdote to infer that Jared Kushner's efforts to negotiate a peace agreement in the Middle East were about benefiting himself and weren't primarily focused on "helping my baby Trump."
There is no denying Ye's strong religious beliefs, which currently correlate with conservative politics. But when he expresses his dissatisfaction with liberals, it almost always comes out as dissatisfaction with liberals themselves. As Trump himself recognized, anti-elitism is a potent channel for a political vision. Ye and Trump are in rebellion against the Democrats who are of the ruling class. The distinction between a person and their politics is not always clear, but it would be interesting to see how Ye's politics would change if he were surrounded by wealthy, well-known individuals who he felt had wronged him and who were also ardent conservatives. There are undoubtedly many such individuals.
Ye claimed that when Trump was running for office and he was someone he liked, "every single person in Hollywood, from my ex-wife to my mother-in-law too, you know, my so-called friends-slash-handlers around me, told me, like, if I said that I like Trump, that my career will be over, that my life would be over." God, however, "builds fighters in a different way," he claimed. He created me specifically for this moment. Then he made a comparison between himself and the biblical shepherd David, who defeated Goliath.
Putting aside the grandiosity, Ye identified a duality that is essential to the kind of presentation Carlson enjoys giving. There is also the issue of the "elites" themselves, a loosely defined group that fluctuates in size and is becoming more and more left-leaning (particularly once it expands and contracts). Then there are the political structures that are in place in the US; they are superficially influenced by the elite but are fundamentally conservative (in the nonpolitical sense). Carlson is a supporter of the systems; he battles every night to preserve the current quo, which favors a specific group of Americans. His most-discussed view in the past year or two is the idea that Democrats are importing new, non-White voters to reshape America — in other words, he is rising to the defense of the way America is now because he understands, if only intuitively, how it is weighted in his favor and in the favor of his allies.
Ye's "White lives matter" T-shirt appealed to Carlson because it can be used to defend the current system. We're a little further up the line now, so let's go backward. In fact, "White lives matter" is a stronger denial of "Black lives matter" than "all lives matter." Not only is the term "Black lives matter" diluted, but it is also being suggested that expressing "Black lives matter" implies that White lives don't. However, the goal of the "Black lives matter" campaign was to draw attention to the systematic disadvantages faced by Black people, notably in the criminal justice system. It was stating that Black people did not deserve to be unfairly singled out for discrimination, not that they did.
But Carlson is one of the leading voices in the right’s robust sense of victimization. The right has interpreted requests for leveling the playing field as requests for preference as Black and Hispanic Americans, as well as gay and transgender Americans, have become more capable of speaking up for themselves or pointing out biases (partly due to how technology enables people to capture events and helps people organize). Of course, there are a lot of edges to this, but polls have consistently shown that White Republicans see themselves as discrimination victims on par with minorities. Carlson and Trump, who share that perception, draw attention to examples that support it and criticize the group that is most vociferously demanding that the playing field be equal.
that side. the modern elite
Carlson thus recognizes the chance when he observes Ye wearing a shirt that openly portrays Whites as victims. Here is a Black man who is prepared to advance the notion that White lives are disadvantageous in a manner comparable to Black lives. He is a member of the inner circle of the elite. to justify the agony and persecution. Let's arrange a meeting.
Ye complimented right-wing speakers for being prepared to oppose the mainstream voices inside the celebrity ecosystem at one point in the conversation, including pundit Candace Owens (who joined him at the Fashion Week event). He claimed that the issue was that the elite was afraid to be truthful.
Ye stated, "They always have people around them teaching them what to be terrified of. It's more like what to be terrified of than what to do or say explicitly.
Ye expressed that Carlson's show was likely lost on both the host of the program and his viewers.
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