Kanye West did not sound happy that the New York Times contacted him about a private meeting he had this weekend with Jared Kushner, senior adviser to President Donald Trump.
The controversial presidential candidate tweeted a challenge Tuesday night to do a live interview with the Times. In acknowledging the meeting with the president’s son-in-law, he insisted that they focus on discussing a book on black empowerment called “Powernomics.”
I’m ready to do a live interview with the New York Time about my meeting with Jared where we discussed Dr. Claude Anderson’s book Powernomics
– jim (@kanyewest) August 12, 2020
In his tweet, the rapper did not raise questions by Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Danny Hakim about his meeting with Kushner, who was traveling in Colorado with his wife Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter. Apparently the meeting took place in Telluride, Colorado.
West is also on vacation in Colorado with his wife, Kim Kardashian. She was not present at the meeting, although she developed a close bond with Kushner and Ivanka Trump through her work with the Trump administration on criminal justice reform. Kardashian also has dinner at the couple’s Washington DC home.
West faces growing questions about election fraud and reports that he is enlisting the help of Republican and pro-Trump operatives to run a spoiler campaign aimed at sifting through the votes of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. According to Kardashian and others close to him, West is also struggling with an episode of bipolar disorder.
After West released his tweet Tuesday night, he appeared in a brief follow-up interview with the Times, in which he refused to elaborate on his meeting with Kushner and Ivanka Trump. “He instead spoke out angrily about abortion levels among Black women and said he did not reflexively support Democrats,” the story said.
The book West References – “Powernomics” – states that it “analyzes the complex web of racial monopolies and the unusual behavioral patterns of Black America that bring it into a permanent status of underclass.”
A report Wednesday by Forbes says West and Kushner have been talking regularly since West announced his candidacy on July 4th. The report, cited by four sources close to both men, also suggests that Kushner may be exploiting West’s bipolar disorder to get him to continue his bizarre campaign.
“One thing that particularly humiliates those close to the Yeezy sneaker mogul … is his apparent delusion about his chances of winning,” Forbes editor Randall Lane reported. Kushner can feed these offenses, Lane added.
“Jared is scared and does not want me to run because he knows I can win,” West told a number of associates after his talks with Kushner, Lane reported. Kushner serves as the de facto head of Trump’s reelection campaign.
West has filed a petition to enter 10 states on Nov. 10, Vanity Fair reported. But so far he has only managed to secure a spot on the Oklahoma ballot. Other petitions in other states are being considered.
West managed to meet submission deadlines for Illinois and New Jersey, but the two states questioned its suitability after both announced that the majority of the signatures submitted as part of its petition were invalid, Vanity Fair reported.
In Wisconsin, Democrats have challenged West’s petition, citing allegations he has filed and the fact that some signatures have false names, such as “Mickey Mouse” and “Bernie Sanders,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The complaint also includes confirmations from some citizens who said they were misled about the reasons they signed the petition.
This story has been updated to reflect that the New York Times reported that Kanye West only met Jared Kushner in Colorado, even though Ivanka Trump was traveling with her husband. The story was also updated Wednesday night to include information from a Forbes report, which said West and Kushner have been in regular contact since July.
