WASHINGTON — President Trump praised Kanye West on Thursday for having “good taste” for supporting the president.

Trump said in an interview with “Fox & Friends” that he knew the rapper “a little bit” and always got along with him, and said West has noticed the low unemployment rate for black Americans.

“He sees that stuff and he’s smart and he says, ‘You know what, Trump is doing a much better job than the Democrats did,’ ” the president said.

West recently offered his support for Trump in a series of tweets, saying they both share “dragon energy.” That caused a backlash among other public figures who oppose the president.

In a tweet Thursday, West wrote that while hate is a similar emotion to love, “hate is not the answer.” He also tweeted a link to a TMZ.com story about himself with a headline that described West as “the opposite of erratic.”

Trump’s re-election campaign quickly moved to raise money off the attention, applauding “free thinker” West in a text message to supporters and encouraging them to buy red “Make America Great Again” hats. “Group think is a mandate in today’s society and when a free thinker like Kanye West speaks truth, they attack him,” read the text. “We support Kanye speaking his mind, even if sometimes we do not agree on the issues.”

West has toyed with running for president himself and on Wednesday tweeted a poster of his face emblazoned with “#Kanye2024.”

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