Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t be weirder, rapper Kanye West declared his candidacy for President of the United States.
The unlikely challenger to Donald Trump, of whom he has been a vocal advocate, and Joe Biden, chose American Independence Day to make the surprise announcement on Twitter, triggering a storm on social media.
“Now we must deliver on America’s promise by trusting God, unifying our vision, and building our future,” West wrote. “I am running for President of the United States.”
We must now fulfill America’s promise 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
The post was accompanied by a stars and stripes flag, an exclamation point, and “# 2020VISION”. His wife, Kim Kardashian West, responded to the tweet with an American flag.
With only four months to go before the vote day on November 3, it was unclear whether West’s tweet would have been more appropriate for April Fool’s Day than America’s Independence Day.
It was also unclear whether the 43-year-old man had submitted official documents to appear on state ballots. The deadline for adding independent candidates to the ballot has not yet passed in many states.
But after businessman and reality TV star Trump won the White House in 2016, perhaps Kim Kardashian’s idea as first lady could be written to the stars as America’s destiny.
And West, a 21-time Grammy award winner, received immediate endorsement from Elon Musk, the CEO of electric car maker Tesla and another celebrity known for his eccentric outbursts, who tweeted in response: “You have my full support!”
A West-Musk ticket is not what anyone expected in an election that has already generated a lot of the unexpected.
West and his wife visited Trump at the White House to discuss prison reform. At a strange gathering in 2018, West was wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap and uttered words like “motherfucker” and “infinite amounts of universe.” He said Trump made him feel like Superman, hugged him and declared, “I love this guy here.”
When asked if West could be a future presidential candidate, Trump replied, “It very well could be.”
West replied, “Only after 2024. Let’s stop worrying about the future. All we really have is today. We just had today. “
In fact, the rapper has raised the idea of running for president before. In January of last year, a tweet that simply said “2024” was interpreted as a sign that he would run for the White House that year.
West came under fire last week after declaring: “I am very proud of my beautiful wife Kim Kardashian West for officially becoming a billionaire.” She had sold a stake in her beauty brand for $ 200 million. But he also received praise for releasing a single on racism and religion.
If he ran, West would follow a long tradition of independent or third-party campaigning that defied Democratic and Republican dominance. In 1992 Ross Perot, an eccentric Texan billionaire, got 19% of the vote. In 2000, Ralph Nader’s Green Party took less than 3%, but was widely blamed for costing Democrat Al Gore his presidency.
