- Kanye West announced on July 4 that he planned to run for president of the United States.
- He missed a bunch of Federal Election Commission deadlines.
- Now, his advisor says Kanye's out.
Update, 7/15:
Political advisor Steve Kramer just told New York Magazine's The Intelligencer that Kanye West's no longer running for president. "He's out," Kramer said.
Kanye apparently hired Kramer to help get him on the ballot through signature gathering in a couple states, though as we reported before, he had already missed a bunch of key FEC deadlines.
Original, 7/5:
In news you didn’t expect (or want, let’s be honest), Kanye West announced in a tweet on July 4 that he’s apparently running for president of the United States.
"We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future," he tweeted. "I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION" Elon Musk even replied saying, "You have my full support!"
The tweet is obviously receiving a lot of attention, having already earned almost one million likes and 500,000 retweets. One of those retweets is from Kanye's wife, Kim Kardashian. Kardashian added an American flag emoji showing her support. This declaration comes with a lot of questions: Is he really going to start a campaign? Could Kim Kardashian be our first lady? While both of those things are unlikely—it's, um, certainly interesting to imagine a world where Keeping Up with the Kardashians could be filmed in the White House.
Let's not forget that this isn't Kanye's first time making political statements. At the 2015 Video Music Awards, he announced that he would run in 2020. Then, he later showed his support for Trump at a White House visit in 2018.
During the visit, West made some interesting remarks. "They tried to scare me to not wear this hat, my own friends, but this hat it gives me, it gives me power," he explained. "You know, my dad and my mom separated, so I didn't have a lot of male energy in my home. And also, I'm married to a family that, you know–not a lot of male energy going on. It's beautiful though."
Well. There you go.
