Kanye West spent his Fourth of July announcing a presidential run later this year against the incumbent he previously endorsed, President Trump, and presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden.
“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,” West tweeted on Saturday evening.
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) July 5, 2020
The hip-hop music rapper and producer has yet to officially file with the Federal Election Commission but he was met with some support online.
Immediately after West tweeted his ambitious run, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said he had his “full support.”
You have my full support!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2020
While the announcement was somewhat surprising, the Hollywood Reporter reports that West has previously vocalized his political ambitions on more than one occasion:
Having leaned more into politics in recent years, including a handful of meetings with Donald Trump, the announcement follows numerous statements by West in the past about his intentions to run for the highest office in the land — most recently last November at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival. The difference with that announcement was his presidential sights were set on a 2024 bid.
“When I run for President in 2024,” West began, interrupted by an outbreak of laughter in the audience. “What y’all laughing at? We would create so many jobs! I’m not going to run, I’m going to walk. When you see headlines saying Kanye’s crazy — one in three African Americans are in jail and all the celebrities are in jail also because they can’t say nothing, they got no opinion, they’re so scared!”
— Advertisement — West stunned viewers during the 2015 MTV VMAs when he announced a potential 2020 run after receiving the Video Vanguard Award from Taylor Swift. Later that year, he emphasized his intentions to run while at New York Fashion Week debuting the second season of his Yeezy clothing line.
Politico reports the tweet was well received, going semi-viral overnight: “As of early Sunday morning, the 43-year-old musician’s announcement had more than 416,000 retweets or quote tweets and 830,000 likes on Twitter.”
Here’s how some other people responded to the announcement:
Kanye West says he's running for President. He had previously said he was going to run in 2020, but then said he'd postpone his run to 2024 https://t.co/7WZZFlF5K1
— Christopher Donato (@chrisdonato04) July 5, 2020
Is Kanye a Democrat or Republican?
— Jeff Benjamin (@Jeff__Benjamin) July 5, 2020
If Kanye runs in 2020 (which I’m doubtful he will), he’d only take away votes from Joe Biden. Young people are already unenthusiastic enough as is about Biden’s candidacy but he’d also chip away at Biden’s black support.
Trump voters are TRUMP voters. His base remains unchanged.
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) July 5, 2020
Kanye West isn’t really gonna run for President, but his next album will be called Presidential Dropout
— David Gardner (@byDavidGardner) July 5, 2020
FYI to anyone jumping into the 2020 race at this point: it's too late to get on the ballot as an independent candidate for president in the states of Indiana, Maine, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Texas, per Ballotpedia
— Hunter Schwarz (@hunterschwarz) July 5, 2020
The thing is, he is too late and can't get on most ballots. I work with an independent candidate and he has missed several deadlines.
— Dr. SEC (@thedrsec) July 5, 2020
Imagine if Biden picks Kanye for his VP lmao. 2020 can no longer surprise me so just putting that out there.
— Omar Sakr (@OmarjSakr) July 5, 2020
Kanye West went from endorsing Trump to claiming he’d run against him —an announcement that benefits the president to the degree it spotlights Biden’s need for black voters & his potential weakness with young voters https://t.co/0m4PUO6s6a
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) July 5, 2020
Kanye West is… what? pic.twitter.com/EFomCKoTNj
— Khalid El Khatib (@kmelkhat) July 5, 2020
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