Long before Kanye West's relationship with Donald Trump became one of the most talked-about celebrity-political alliances, the rapper delivered a declaration that left plenty of people wondering what on earth he meant by "dragon energy".
On April 25, 2018, West, who now goes by Ye, publicly defended his affection for Trump in a series of Twitter posts, refusing to let criticism dictate his personal feelings towards the then-US president.
"You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him," West wrote, before adding the particularly memorable declaration: "We are both dragon energy. He is my brother."
It was an unusual way to describe a political friendship, and the message attracted widespread attention. Trump himself joined the conversation, responding with five words that would become a familiar internet meme: "Thank you Kanye, very cool!"
What Kanye West actually meant by his Trump declaration
Although the reference to "dragon energy" grabbed attention, the rest of West's message offered a clearer indication of what he was trying to communicate.
He argued that people could care about one another without sharing every political opinion, presenting his support for Trump as a matter of personal affection and independent thinking rather than unconditional agreement.
That distinction became particularly important later the same day. As CBS News reported at the time, West said his then-wife Kim Kardashian had called him and encouraged him to clarify his position.
The rapper subsequently explained that he did not agree with everything Trump did, making clear that his admiration for the president should not be interpreted as support for every decision coming out of the White House.
It was a clarification that sometimes gets overlooked when the original "dragon energy" quotation circulates without its surrounding context.
Why Trump's response became a meme of its own
The exchange was especially striking because West and Trump already had a public history. The rapper had visited Trump Tower in December 2016, during the presidential transition, and had previously spoken positively about the politician.
But the April 2018 Twitter exchange took their mutual admiration into particularly surreal territory. West also shared photographs of himself wearing a red Make America Great Again cap and displayed a hat apparently signed by Trump.
As documented in contemporaneous reporting by The Guardian, Trump's enthusiastic response came directly after West's public declaration.
The president's unusually brief acknowledgement soon became a joke in its own right, appearing in internet memes that placed his response beneath increasingly absurd fictional messages.
There is an important distinction, however: the original presidential reply was genuine, while many screenshots subsequently circulated using the same response were edited for humour.
Looking back at the exchange, the most revealing part is not necessarily the strange metaphor that made the headlines. It is the contrast between West's insistence that personal affection should transcend political disagreement and the clarification he felt compelled to issue almost immediately afterwards.
Whatever West intended by "dragon energy", the April 2018 exchange remains a particularly memorable example of celebrity culture and presidential politics colliding in full public view.
