Meet the alt-right 'Dilbert' creator who's behind Kanye West's renewed enthusiasm for Trump

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

• Kanye West's renewed "love" for President Donald Trump is apparently closely linked to Scott Adams, the creator of the cartoon "Dilbert." 
• Adams, an admired figure across the far-right, is a vocal supporter of Trump and has been tweeting about West for years.
• Prominent far-right figures have been celebrating West's recent tweets.

Rapper Kanye West's renewed "love" for President Donald Trump is apparently closely linked to Scott Adams, the creator of the cartoon "Dilbert." 

West recently returned to Twitter and claimed he was going to write a philosopher book in real time via tweets.

Amid this effort, on Monday the rapper retweeted nine links from Adams, an extremely vocal Trump supporter who's become a prominent figure within the alt-right movement. This delighted far-right social media personalities such as Paul Joseph Watson and Mike Cernovich, who quickly expressed their approval via Twitter. 

Adams has appeared on the conspiracy theory-laced talk show "InfoWars," hosted by Alex Jones, a number of times (relatedly, Jones recently took to Twitter to praise West for his "bold moves against the thought police"). The cartoonist has expressed controversial views on everything from the Holocaust to the #MeToo movement, according to BuzzFeed. 

But Adams has contested characterizations of him as a right-wing personality and consistently points to such assertions as "fake news." Some have suggested that West has been coerced or "redpilled" by the alt-right and have pointed to his connection to Adams as a clear sign, but Adams has also vehemently denied this to BuzzFeed, saying he considers himself to be politically left of Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive.

Regardless of Adams's claims, the controversial cartoonist's overall philosophy seems to have taken hold of West, who has been tweeting non-stop in recent days. Both men have touched a great deal on the need for people to free themselves from so-called "mental prisons."

West's tweets have been widely met with confusion and have seemingly turned him into a hero of the far-right. Adams, in particular, has enthusiastically encouraged West's return to Twitter--especially after the rapper expressed his admiration for the conservative commentator Candice Owens. 

In a video posted to Twitter on Sunday titled, "Scott Adams tells you how Kanye showed the way to The Golden Age. With coffee," Adams said, "Kanye West, somebody who has strong credentials for being an advocate for racism... what did he tweet? He tweeted 'I like the way Candice Owens thinks,' and he ripped a hole in reality." For context: Owens, who is black, has been a vocal critic of the Black Lives Matter movement.  

For several years now, Adams has said he believes West has a real shot of becoming president.

In September 2015, Adams tweeted, "Odds of a Kanye West Presidency: 90%. That's my prediction." And in February 2015, Adams tweeted, "Am I wrong to like Kanye West just the way he is? Japanese potters say art lives in the mistakes. He made a few. I find it oddly beautiful." Fast-forward to April 2017 and Adams tweeted, "For those wondering if Kanye West could someday be president, the answer is yes."

In the past, West suggested he might run in 2020. Now, West seems to be teasing a run in 2024, though it's extremely unclear as to whether he actually intends to do so.

Meanwhile, West's stream-of-consciousness approach to tweeting continues.

On Wednesday, West proclaimed his "love" for Trump in a series of tweets, including one featuring a selfie of him wearing one of the president's "Make America Great Again" hats. Trump responded to the praise via a tweet, stating, "Thank you Kanye, very cool!"