It's not the first time Kanye has announced he's running for America's top job. Photo / Getty Images
It's not the first time Kanye has announced he's running for America's top job. Photo / Getty Images
Kanye West's public declaration over the weekend that he is running for president of the United States surprised many – but it seems he has the support of his wife, Kim Kardashian.
"We must now realise the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future," Kanye announced via Twitter yesterday. "I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION."
Kim retweeted the announcement, adding an American flag emoji.
While Kanye's arguably been better known for his impulsive social media outbursts than for his music in recent years, this apparent presidential bid – coming just four months before the US election is set to take place – may not be a spur-of-the-moment Twitter joke.
"Kanye has been planning this for years and Kim has known about his aspirations and has been supportive," a source told Us Weekly. "Kanye is passionate about arts and education and wants to support in any way he can."
That's all well and good, but …
If Kanye has been "planning this for years", it seems he hasn't done a very good job. The BBC reports that he has not yet registered his name with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) ahead of the November election.
The Republican and Democratic presidential candidates have been locked in for months now – Trump and Joe Biden respectively – meaning West would have to run as an Independent candidate.
But as BallotPedia reports, even that would be a struggle this late in the game. An independent presidential candidate "must petition for placement on the general election ballot in all 50 states as well as Washington DC." As Yahoo News' Hunter Walker tweeted, there are "at least nine states where it's already too late for an independent candidate to get on the ballot."
"The states where Kanye is already too late to get on the ballot include Texas, New York, and Illinois, three of the top six in terms of electoral college votes. There are several other deadlines coming up in the next couple weeks," Walker tweeted.
While few are taking West's bid seriously, if he does get on the ballot in available states, he could possibly still have an impact on what's already expected to be one of the most dramatic elections in US history.
This isn't the first time Kanye has declared he's keen on America's top job.
West was making public pronouncements about his desire to run for president as far back as the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. In November last year, he made headlines again when he declared he'd run for president in 2024.
It's not the first time Kanye has announced he's running for America's top job. Photo / Getty Images
The announcement – made onstage at the Fast Company Innovation Festival – was met with laughter from those present.
"When I run for president in 2024, we're going to definitely — yo, whatchu all laughing at? When I run for president in 2024, we would've created so many jobs that, in fact, I'm going to walk," he said.
"What I'm saying is, when y'all read the headlines, 'Kanye's crazy,' this and that, this and that, it's like one in three African-Americans are in jail and all of the celebrities are in jail also because they can't say nothing [sic]! They've got no opinion! They're so scared!"
And Kanye has been a surprisingly frequent fixture in Trump's presidency, with regular, surreal visits to the Oval Office.
"I love this guy," West declared of Trump during a 2018 meeting. "Trump is on his hero's journey right now. And he might not have expected to have a crazy motherf***er like Kanye West run up and support, but best believe we are going to make America great."
