Kanye West once said he was running for President of the United States in 2020 and it looks like he’s sticking to his word. Today, July 4th, Kanye tweeted that he would be running for President in the upcoming 2020 election, writing: “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”
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1279575273365594112
Kanye’s announcement immediately sent Twitter into a frenzy as people wondered whether the announcement was true and began to share their takes on it. For some, it was a cause for rejoicing, while others wondered whether the whole thing was a plot to help Trump, who Kanye considers a friend and stumped for all throughout 2018 with a “Make America Great Again” cap despite backlash from both fans and peers. Kanye hasn’t explained whether this means he’ll be running against Trump and as of press date, Trump has yet to respond. Kanye can count among his supporters Elon Musk, who tweeted that the rapper has his full support. However, the filing deadlines for a number of states has already passed, so it seems unlikely Kanye will actually appear on very many ballots — unless he already filed, and just waited til now to make the announcement.
Kanye first said he wanted to run in 2020 at the 2015 MTV VMAs, where during an acceptance speech, he said, “I don’t know what I finna lose after this. It don’t matter, though; It’s not about me. It’s about ideas. New ideas. People with ideas. People who believe in truth. And yes, as you probably could’ve guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for President.”
He later explained his statement in an interview with BBC Radio 1: “We are numb, we’re numb to 500 kids getting killed in Chicago a year, we’re numb to the fact that it was seven police shootings in the beginning of July… we’re numb to places on the Earth that we don’t live – like our life is okay but it’s okay for other people’s lives to not be okay. When I talk about the idea of being president, I’m not saying I have any political views, I don’t have views on politics, I just have a view on humanity, on people, on the truth. If there is anything that I can do with my time and my day, to somehow make a difference while I’m alive I’m going to try to do it.”
See Kanye’s announcement above.
