Kanye West announced he is running for president. The musician and entrepreneur made the announcement on the 4th of July via his social media channels. While West has floated ideas in the past of running for president, an interview with Forbes Magazine a few days later confirmed he is serious about Kanye 2020, although he still has 30 days to make a definitive decision about his announcement.
We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States ! #2020VISION
— ye (@kanyewest) July 5, 2020
“It’s God’s country, we are doing everything in service to God, nobody but God no more. I am in service of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and I put everything I get on the line to serve God,” West told Forbes’ Chief Content Officer, Randall Lane.
The Lead Up to Kanye 2020
The rapper, whose most recent musical projects have included his Gospel-music-inspired Sunday Service performances, is making his newfound faith a core part of his campaign. In 2019, West had a conversion experience in which he was “radically saved.” West started a Bible study, led by Pastor Adam Tyson, and started taking his Sunday Service on the road. In 2019, West and his choir traveled to churches and other venues (including an Easter performance at Coachella) to perform his new music.
In 2015 while accepting an award during an MTV award program, West said he would run for president in 2020. At the time, few people took him seriously, perhaps due to the fact that he said he had smoked something before his speech. This year, however, he already has people backing his run, including his friend Elon Musk of Tesla and his wife, Kim Kardashian.
West has been vocal in his support of President Trump, but in a recent interview, the rapper intimated that he’d lost faith in the president. “It looks like one big mess to me,” he said. He also indicated he didn’t appreciate hearing about Trump reportedly hiding in a bunker during the recent protests that have rocked the nation.
Although he says he doesn’t back Trump anymore, West insists his run for president is not a convoluted effort to siphon votes (especially votes among black people) away from Joe Biden, as some have speculated. Still, West doesn’t have anything good to say about Biden or the Democratic party. “Joe Biden? Like come on man, please. You know? Obama’s special. Trump’s special. We say Kanye West is special. America needs special people that lead. Bill Clinton? Special. Joe Biden’s not special.”
Additionally, West indicates he wouldn’t be at all upset if the only thing he managed to do is siphon off votes from Biden and the Democratic Party:
That is a form of racism and white supremacy and white control to say that all Black people need to be Democrat and to assume that me running is me splitting the vote. All of that information is being charged up on social media platforms by Democrats. And Democrats used to tell me, the same Democrats have threatened me. . . . The reason why this is the first day I registered to vote is because I was scared. I was told that if I voted on Trump my music career would be over. I was threatened into being in one party. I was threatened as a celebrity into being in one party. I was threatened as a Black man into the Democratic party. And that’s what the Democrats are doing, emotionally, to my people. Threatening them to the point where this white man can tell a Black man if you don’t vote for me, you’re not Black.
In that quote above, West is alluding to Biden’s comment during an interview in May with The Breakfast Club. Biden said: “Well I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” Afterward, the presidential candidate expressed regret for being so “cavalier” with his words.
Kanye 2020: The Rapper’s Platform
West plans to run as an Independent come election time. He said, “I would run as a Republican if Trump wasn’t there. I will run as an independent if Trump is there.” And the name of his party? The Birthday Party. Yes, the Birthday Party. According to West, “Because when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday.”