A month ago, Forbes published their exclusive interview with Kanye West where he talked about politics and his 2020 “presidential run.” I barely engaged with that interview because as soon as I saw a handful of highlights, I knew that Kanye was in the middle of another manic episode. The Forbes piece felt massively exploitative of Kanye’s unwell mind. Also exploitative? The fact that Trump-supporting political operatives are working on Kanye’s campaign and working to get him on various state ballots because they think Kanye will siphon voters from Joe Biden. In the Forbes piece last month, Kanye basically admitted that he was perfectly fine with being used by the Trump campaign too. So Forbes contacted him yesterday by text to see if he had anything new to say. Keep in mind that Kanye is currently in some kind of “fortress” in the Caribbean, supposedly working on his marriage:
Amid various reports that Republican and Trump-affiliated political operatives are trying to get Kanye West onto various state ballots for November’s presidential election, the billionaire rap superstar indicated, in an interview by text today, that he was in fact running to siphon votes from the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.
Asked about that directly, West said that rather than running for president, he was “walking,” quickly adding that he was “walking . . . to win.” When it was pointed out that he actually can’t win in 2020—that he won’t be on enough ballots to yield 270 electoral votes, and that a write-in campaign isn’t feasible—and thus was serving as a spoiler, West replied: “I’m not going to argue with you. Jesus is King.”
West rebuffed various attempts to clarify who was driving his ballot access or strategy and whether it’s being coordinated by or with Republican-affiliated officials. He does, however, appear to have a continuing relationship with the Trump White House. West says that he’s “designing a school within the next month” and that “I’m meeting with Betsy DeVos about the post-Covid curriculum.” (The Secretary of Education’s press office hadn’t responded to a request for comment by the time we published.)
“I like Kanye very much,” President Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday. “No, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot. We’ll have to see what happens.”
West did not respond when asked whether he feels he’s being used. When I pointed out to West that the slapdash operation to get him on the ballot, which includes one operative previously arrested for voter fraud and multiple West “electors” from the same address, didn’t feel like a Kanye West production, West replied that it was a “God production.”
There is no good or generous reading here. We could say “poor Kanye is being used by these unhinged Trump operatives,” but I don’t even think that’s all that’s happening. I think Kanye made a deal with the Trump campaign to “run,” and he’s just sitting back and letting the Trumpers do all of the work. It’s beyond an ego trip – it’s just plain campaign fraud, exploitation and about a dozen other problematic things.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.
Kanye knows exactly what he is doing and they are definitely working together. Kanye is a prime example that you can be mentally ill AND an a$$hole. The two aren’t mutually exclusive
Word. And now people with mental illness are saddled with this as an image. Like they are not dealing with enough
Exactly. The people out there saying we shouldn’t be harsh on Kanye because he is sick forget that he is in it to help destroy lives and democracy. He does mean what he says, he knows what he is doing, he will be enabled by the Kardashians and his fans. He is a piece of shit.
Well said!! Very well said indeed
Totally agree.
One hundred percent agreed sister.
100% agree!!!
Total agreement….all these young people who are enamored by the K’s and don’t really pay attention to the news will go vote for this dumb f#$K because all the Kool kids say to do so.
I have a brother that is his equally evil twin. They have no conscience and care about NO ONE. What gets me through is knowing people like them will one day have to answer for their actions. In the meantime, hold on because it’s only going to get uglier before it gets even a little better. If I didn’t have my faith to lean on, I doubt I would be alive rn. Praying for everyone, including the ones possessed by demons. God please save us all from ourselves.
I don’t really like to think of this as something positive, but young people, despite all of the noise about registering young voters, still vote less than any other age group. This has been so for at least 40 years. People vote in greater numbers the older they get, with seniors voting the most.
http://www.electproject.org/home/voter-turnout/demographics
He might be taking votes from Trump too.
Young guys who don’t feel comfortable about Trump anymore because he looks too dumb, but would never vote liberal anyway.
Plus, they will use it for bonus “not racist” points because they voted for Kanye.
Exactly. I don’t think his “candidacy” will affect anything, but why even take the chance? This is a deadly serious election and he is fcuking around with it. I have nothing but contempt for him.
Yup. This definitely answered my initial question about to what extent Kanye was a dupe and to what extent a willing Trump puppet. Nothing like dishonestly “running” for an office you can’t win, and using the name of God to do it.
Yeah, that way he responds to questions with “Jesus is king” or “God told me to run” like that makes him immune from criticism
Kanye is a POS in my opinion. Any black man who aligns with what Trump is serving up – bad news.
There is absolutely no defense for this. It is election fraud. It is an insult to our electoral process. And no, his mental illness is no excuse. He made the decision to do this. He could stop it at any time. How anyone can support this horrible excuse for a man is beyond me.
I read that the petitions signed in New Jersey (to get him in the ballot) had so many obviously fake signatures, they didn’t meet the minimum threshold for candidacy there. I hope other states examine those petitions closely and shut this down.
Wisconsin’s signatures too (which would have been more damaging since it’s a tossup state). He did get on the ballot on Colorado but I think it’s one of a few states that lets you just buy your line on the ballot, no signatures needed.
I just can’t with him anymore, I’m sorry. All the sympathy I had for him or even Kim right now has dissipated into the ether
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but in the words of Pete Davidson: ‘Being mentally ill is not an excuse to act like a jackass’.
Guys, if Kanye is our Jill Stein this year we’re going to be okay. Give black voters more credit than that.
The same way we gave white women credit to vote for Hilary. Nope, nope, and nope. Kanye needs to be shut down like yesterday.
Black people aren’t white women. Karen voting for a racist benefits her, Chad and their kids.
We aren’t the ones consistently fucking up the vote. That’s white people.
Give black people more credit than that.
Lanie is 100% correct
I’m worried it’s going to be youth vote he’ll be attracting. Young white men.
But maybe those are young white men that would never bote liberal.
It would be funny if he would take away votes from Trump
I’m not all that worried that Kanye West will split the left, especially if this is supposed to appeal to Black voters. I am extremely worried about what this kind of blatant manipulation means for our democratic institutions and the overall fairness of our electoral system.
It’s not black voters I’m worried about. (Black voters are smarter than that, definitely.) It’s all the people who recognized Trump is unfit but can’t bring themselves to vote for a democrat. Kanye absolves them of any culpability in this. “Well, *I* didn’t vote for Trump!”
THAT’s who I’m worried about.
Thank you @Lanie I’m so sick of the way Black voters are talked down to, as if we haven’t been practically the only ones saving elections since we were legally allowed to vote because we do vote for our best interest which really ends up being basic civil rights that should already be in place but of course, Amerikkka… We are not voting for this dangerous misogynist fool. There should be more concern about young white voters voting for him given the great influence of fame/music, but that would split their vote from the current horror so I don’t see that happening either.
It’s not specifically the vote from one race or another that worries me, it is the gullible, celebrity worshippers out there that bow to these people as if they are almighty because they are rich and famous. They come in all forms. And they are not just the young either. Geezus, just saw nick cannon pledging his vote.
WTF is wrong with these people!
Can his album just come out already so he can go back into whatever mansion he usually hides in?
Once people see the connection, this charade will burn the Kardashian brand to the ground. By association. There will be nothing left.
It is what it is, Kris.
I doubt the average Kardashian fan votes.
At this point, that family is just using him for the headlines (remember the quote: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”) and Tangerine Twitler will do ANYTHING and USE ANYONE to keep his orange ass out of SDNY’s grasp in January (it’s a forgone conclusion Mother’s Boy will pass out Federal pardons by the dozens for Twitler, Daughter-Wife, and Botox-Boy son in law).
Kayne needs to be hospitalized now. He needs his moods and meds stabilized. It really *should* be a crime to use a mentally ill person like this.
Is there any way to stop this BEFORE the election if it is blatant fraud?
I don’t feel remotely generous towards Kanye. I feel enraged, though. And kinda sick.
Same, same.
It also enrages me that he continues to attribute these decisions to God.
It also enrages me how companies still work with him ! He has said some God awful things about slavery and female reproduction rights and yet he seems to be making more and more money. Gap can go eff themselves !
Enough wit ths mental illness bs!!!!
Can we talk about Izalea Banks comments on him? I think she 100% right!!!
“He constantly does dumb shit just for attention”
Very concerning. This has been most pro Kim and there is a bunch of people ready to remind us that Kanye us suck,that we need to understand. But hey…even Kim letter was saying about he has a dream,he is a genius…basically covering him with me at illness blanket and stating he has all the right.
Which he does- or would have if he was on meds. Bottom line, what people are forgetting is that bipolar episodes comes and goes. A furry years old man must be responsible enough when not on an episode to understand he has to take his meds. You do not tell somebody with epilepsy to drive a car if he is feeling okay- the same with the presidency.
Kanye is to blame. He knows he is sick, dies not take his meds and that is on him. Period. He should have learned by now instead he self medicates on Maga and Jesus.
Disgusting.
Just had to say that I love the autocorrect typos. They so eerily make sense. I have thought for a long time that Autocorrect has become sentient and is using us to communicate…
It’s so shameful Kanye is allowing himself to be used like this. He’s so far removed from the Kanye that said Bush doesn’t care about black people during that Hurricane Katrina special. It seems neither does he. What a good little puppet he’s become. SMH
Of course he’s in for the fix and I know no one who took him seriously. Trying to push his way into the race, he missed several key dates for registration and he knows he’s Jill Stein 2.0.
Controversial opinion, but I dont think Kanye is as manic as he seems. I never have. Which is the reason I don’t believe Kim will ever divorce him. Im not saying anything negative about mental illness, I’ve just never really bought into Kanye’s episodes. They almost seem strategic. Which, if you look at this campaign, plus his latest rant….. a whole lot of it makes more sense. The stuff about aborting North but begging Kim not too…..hmmm hmmm sounds MAGA to me.
Maybe we can stop carrying water for Kim as well, they are clearly in this together.
I can believe Kanye was pressuring Kim to abort, but not that Kim wanted to do so. That oopsie was planned and welcomed. She didn’t realize pregnancy would be so uncomfortable, though, since her older sister seemed to breeze right through it. But she wanted that baby even though she outsourced all the caregiving and so for the first year and a half, the kid had a “who are you?” response to Kim during photo ops. She eventually learned to spend enough time with progeny for bonding to occur.
I think he’s bipolar but also a malignant narcissist.
Which is why you get the manic mood swings but it all seems very calculated.
People don’t understand that mental illness DOES NOT mean the person is stupid, diminished, lesser in fact a lot of times we are extremely intelligent.
So you can be off the rails but still intelligent and calculating the ideas just might be more off sometimes (but not always!)
So I think both are true, he has the mania and all that goes with it PLUS he is a malignant narcissist AND an asshole.
I’m bipolar and I have relatives that are both Malignant NPD and bipolar. It looks very similar to Kanye
Boycott!
What he and the Trump campaign are doing is a crime. This needs to be investigated by all the states in which he will be on the ballot as well as the House. It’s like, Can our elected officials just do their damn job??
I live in Milwaukee. If the jackass “Sheriff” David Clark could get elected, and re-elected, in a minority majority county, then this jackass can siphon votes from Biden.
@babamatcha
I agree.
Sadly MKE isn’t smart. I know many who saw David Clark and said oh he’s black I’ll vote For him. They never once asked more or knew his views. P*S Clark was able to coast for many elections on skinfolk logic vs kinfolk logic.
Had he not overplayed his hand with MAGA mainstream MKE wouldn’t have ever known.
Yet sadly the same people who might vote for Kanye (burn anything to ground that had anything to do with Obama) will also be the same who have been rolled off the registers due to voter suppression. So all this GOP work could be for naught, as someone whose made sure they are able to vote wouldn’t waste it on the birthday party.
Also my aunt had one come to her door and she asked whose the candidate they would not say Kanye. She played along and as she was about to sign she said this is for Kanye right? No response she wrote FU on the form.
Your aunt sounds awesome
Kanye, take your fucking meds, for God’s sake. Stop this madness. Stop running for president. Just stop.
We already have a mental problem in the WH. why would anyone vote for another one. Vote blue!!! Kanye needs to get back on his meds. and Trump needs to be in a mental facility!!
I think the Trump campaign is laundering multi-millions through Kanye. They steal votes and he gets to be a billionaire. This scam has been running for years. Remember this tweet?
I wanted to meet with Trump today to discuss multicultural issues.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) December 13, 2016
Hmmm…good point
I’m hoping to see some catchy memes showing Kanye as Trump’s puppet, better yet, a dummy sat on Trump’s lap. Don’t disappoint me, meme artists!
I live in Chicago. Before Kanye was successful he was an a**hole. After fame he became a bigger one. Never cared for him and don’t understand why the hip hop community still support his projects.
Same. I called it years ago but even people I (used to) trust would dog me out for saying so. Even have a friend who posted support for him on IG after his horrible comments about Sojourner Truth and it’s tearing me apart because I love her but I can’t wrap my mind around how she can support him especially after that.
His family, attorneys, business reps, etc. cannot force him into treatment, but they *could* do something about the people around him who are enabling and perpetuating this travesty. It’s not too surprising (to me anyway) that Kim and her family aren’t doing what they actually can do to address the situation. They just can’t bring themselves to turn away from the publicity and the drama.
This guy is a fraud and has always been. I used to work in VIP clubs in Paris back in 2008/9 when he started making a name for himself outside being a rapper. I can’t forget how he was using Amber Rose to entertain rich guys (mostly those in fashion) and he wasn’t shy himself if the target was gay.
He’s very mean, narcissist and self obsessed. No wonder he likes Trump they have the same kind of cynical personality that will do anything to succeed or get what they want.
The guy married his wife because she became famous with a sextape and he admires her for that. He’s not crazy he’s a sociopath.
IMPHO, Kanye is not fully mentally distorted–I believe that he knows exactly what he is doing this in order to still stay relevant to his fanbase and the public. Most celebs have their people working around the clock to keep them in the news and the spotlight, continuing their brand to survive. Now, that a good number of Americans (POCs–AAs in particular) know what Kanye and the Kar-Trashians (this would be a strange singing group name, LOL) are only in peoples’ faces for the notoriety and the cash!
What does operative mean?