You read that correctly! Don’t worry there’s no way a man obsessed with his own fame, with no political experience and a past full of controversy will ever be president…right? Kanye West made this bombshell announcement on his Twitter this past July 4th.
“We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” West, 43, wrote on Twitter. “I am running for president of the United States! #2020 Vision”
The response was as you may have expected. West dominated the news cycle for 24 hours and celebrities definitely chimed in. Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied to Kanye’s announcement on Twitter by saying “You have my support!”.
Comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish copied Kanye’s announcement by tweeting that she and Dave Chappelle were also running.
Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban even said that he’d take Kanye over Trump.
Kanye has not been shy about this claim. In 2015 at the MTV Music Video Awards while accepting the Video Vanguard Award, gave a colorful speech making this announcement back then. “It’s about ideas, bro. New ideas. People with ideas. People who believe in truth,” West said. “And, yes, as you probably could have guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for president.”
“When I run for president in 2024, we would’ve created so many jobs that I’m not going to run, I’m going to walk,” he said. Kanye did move his Yeezy factory to America to create jobs here and he has publicly championed this cause before.
So what does Kanye’s friend and current President running for re-election, Donald Trump think of this? While we haven’t heard an official statement from Trump or his administration, One might think Trump would actually be very happy about this.
Let’s say Kanye actually went through with this plan and ran for president. He is too late to file as an independent candidate for most states including Indiana, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Texas and New Mexico. But he’s not too late to file Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Arizona. All are crucial battleground states that if the African American vote is taken away from Democratic candidate Joe Biden enough, could absolutely lead to victories for Trump.
Also it’s worth noting that Kanye’s company Yeezy LLC received a “small business” loan from Trump as part of his stimulus package for somewhere between $2-$5 million. Kanye said this loan saved 160 jobs. This loan is especially curious not just because of West’s personal friendship with Trump but because Kanye’s sneaker company reportedly made $1.5 billion last year.
Kanye West is a visionary and once in a lifetime genius in music, fashion and design. Becoming President would give the world a Kanye we couldn’t even fathom right now. Should one man have all that power?
