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Reuters
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West are among the richest celebrities in the world
American rapper Kanye West has said he is running for president, possibly pitting him against a man he says he admires, Donald Trump.
“Now we must deliver on America’s promise by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” he tweeted. “I am running for President of the United States!”
His wife Kim Kardashian West and businessman Elon Musk backed him up.
But it is not clear if West is really running.
He does not appear to have registered his name with the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC) for the November elections. The closest name shown by the FEC database is a candidate named “Kanye Deez Nutz West”, who submitted his documents to the Green Party in 2015 under the address “1977 Golddigger Avenue, Suite Yeezus” and appears to have raised no money. .
Nor is it the first time West has claimed to be running for the White House.
At the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, he said he had decided to run for president in 2020.
But last November he pushed the date back, saying he would actually race in the 2024 contest.
“What are you laughing at?” he asked the crowd at the Fast Company Innovation Festival.
“We would have created so many jobs that I’m not going to run, I’m going to walk,” he said, adding that he was considering changing his name for the race to “Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West.”
In his Saturday tweet on United States Independence Day, West, 43, did not say whether his alleged career would be affiliated with a particular political party.
In any case, challenging the nomination of one of the main parties would be impossible at this stage, with the election only four months away.
To appear on the ballot as an independent candidate, West would have to collect a certain number of signatures and register with the states before a particular deadline. The deadline has passed in some important states, but the music star technically still would have time to present it in many others.
This year’s contest is likely to be a direct battle between Republican President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.
In 2018, West made a strange appearance at the White House with President Trump during which he wore a Make America Great Again hat and made a ranting tirade that Trump described as “quite a thing.”
“I love this guy here,” said West, walking behind the desk to hug the sitting president, who said, “That’s really nice.”
The rapper also rejected the idea that African-Americans are overwhelmingly Democratic Party voters, saying, “People expect that if you’re black, you have to be a Democrat.”
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Kim Kardashian West retweeted her husband’s statement about the presidential campaign with an American flag.
In recent years, he has become an important voice in the American movement for criminal justice reform and has successfully lobbied President Trump to release several prisoners.
