Kanye West is running for president. He probably won’t win – not in 2020, anyway – but he says he’s going to give it a shot. Kanye still doesn’t seem to have a plan for how to go about winning, and he hasn’t even filed the necessary paperwork with the FEC to run, but he’s determined to do so. “Like anything I’ve ever done in my life, I’m doing to win,” the entertainer turned presidential hopeful told Forbes.
Can Kanye West run for president in 2020? Yes, in all but about 12 states, where he has already missed filing deadlines. Even then, he could be a write-in for those states that allow it. He’ll certainly put on one hell of a show and quite likely cost prospective Democrat contender Joe Biden more than just a few of those anti-Trump votes.
2020 for the Win – or 2024, Whatever God Wants
Should we have seen this coming? Probably. He did say back in 2015 that he was going to run for president in 2020. And there’s that 2015 filing for the Green Party candidate by the name of “Kanye Deez Nutz West,” who has raised exactly $0 and most likely isn’t the real Kanye anyway.
Since that announcement, West has periodically teased a run in 2020 and – after deciding that Trump should get two terms – 2024. More recently, Kanye has bumped it back up to 2020 and said he’s done with Trump, who – along with Biden – should bow out gracefully. Ultimately, however, it’s up to God who becomes the president. “Let’s see if the appointing is at 2020 or 2024 – because God appoints the president,” he explained in the Forbes interview. “If I win in 2020, then it was God’s appointment. If I win in 2024, then that was God’s appointment.” Either way, he seems sure that God has set an appointment for him. Who knows? Perhaps He has.
One interesting fact about his “break” with Trump is that West still seems to support him somewhat, calling him special and the closest thing we have had so far to a president who considers God’s word in running the country. For Trump’s part, he seems interested – perhaps amused, even – at the prospect, and points out a novel concept, given the timing: “If he did it, he would have to view this as a trial run for what’s going to happen in four years.” Could West be running just to test the waters for that big shot at 2024?
Bad News for Biden
So who would a third-party – The Birthday Party, West says it will be called (because when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday, of course) – hurt worse, Trump or Biden? Well, as entertaining as the story is from the very beginning, this is where it gets interesting from a political perspective. Normally, one might think a third candidate would take votes away from the major party candidate with the most similar beliefs. There’s some truth to that here, as West’s pro-life “because I’m following the word of the Bible” stance, amongst his other views, isn’t likely to draw many true progressives.
But then this election is about so much more than actual political views. It’s largely about voting for Trump or voting against him. It has oft been said of this election cycle that too many of Biden’s supporters are voting against Trump, not for Uncle Joe. Sadly for the Democrat, West entering the game gives the anti-Trumpers who aren’t so crazy about being stuck with the godfather of gaffe somewhere else to pin their votes.
Then there is the black factor. West points out how racist it is for anyone who isn’t white to be stuffed into the Democratic Party box, even noting how messed up it is that an old white man can tell black people they aren’t black if they don’t vote for him. West won’t get many if any of those true-blue progressive votes – but he might take a good portion of the black conservatives who won’t vote Republican because they’ve been told the GOP hates them.
America by Yeezy
As president, West would work to end police brutality. He’s anti-abortion and he’s against the death penalty, too. Pro-life for the whole life, as the Democrats for Life of America would say. West wants to do away with Black History Month because it’s “torture porn,” and envisions the future America like Wakanda, the fictional kingdom from Marvel’s Black Panther.
“When I’m president, let’s also have some fun,” West said. “Let’s get past all the racism conversation, let’s empower people with 40 acres and a mule, let’s give some land, that’s the plan.” He doesn’t know what his foreign policy will be, other than to protect the U.S. first. We’ve got to take care of our own problems, he believes. But he loves China. Taxes? He doesn’t know. But, unlike most politicians, he was humble enough to say he would research it with experts who follow God – which is how he plans to handle all of the many aspects of governance with which he is unfamiliar. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see America by Yeezy in 2024, perhaps even with a Trump endorsement.
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Read more from James Fite.
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