Kanye West 2020 Must Be Destroyed

As COVID continues to ravage the nation, our political parties are attempting to push the most decrepit and mentally unfit white men they could possibly find to head the nation. A recent poll even showed that voters in a few key swing states feel that both Joe Biden and Donald Trump were both not mentally up for the job. But just when you didn’t think things could make you even more cynical, just when you thought that the bar for potential candidates couldn’t get any lower, Kanye West decided to rise to the occasion and show America just what his dark twisted fantasy is really all about. Yes, Kanye West 2020 is a real thing and his campaign is in full swing. Does he really think he has a chance of winning the presidency in 2020? Is this new, lame Christian rapper Kanye officially here to stay? Or is he just making an attempt to siphon votes from Biden to help Trump’s reelection chances? Whatever the answers and whatever his intent, one thing is for sure – Kanye West must be destroyed.

Celebrities In Politics

If Trump’s presidency has taught us anything, it’s that just because people like and vibe with a celebrity’s public image does not mean they are capable of, say, leading a nation. I think many people were, and still are, swooned by the idea of Trump as the ‘tough guy’ that isn’t afraid to be hated and will fire someone with no shame in his game as portrayed by his television and public persona. But the obvious truth is that being the star of a show as vapid as The Apprentice is not a prerequisite to leading the free world. The same as being an amazing hip hop producer and arguably decent rapper doesn’t mean you should be president of a country.

Even Ronald Reagan, the Republican party’s savior, who spent years as a Hollywood actor prior to his foray into politics, had to build experience in the field before running. He was governor of California from 1967 to 75 before becoming the 40th president of the United States. Say what you will about Reagan and his politics, at the very least he and his constituency at the time saw the value in him having some level of hands on experience in politics, and I assume voters saw that gave him a line of credibility.

But in 2016, and now 2020, that concept has become mute. Trump has had literally no experience in politics whatsoever, yet many would say that is apart of his appeal. So if he hasn’t demonstrated any kind of understand for the position he ran for, how did he get elected? It’s still a mystery to me, but Kanye West seems to have it figured out…. or does he?

Kanye In Politics

My first memory of Kanye being involved in political discourse was right after he released his classic album Late Registration – he was on live television, alongside Mike Meyers of Austin Powers fame, during a telethon to raise money for the destruction left by Hurricane Katrina. Out of nowhere, he broke script and went on a bit of a political rant before memorably stating, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”. It was a sentiment a lot of African Americans felt at the time because many places hit the hardest by the hurricane were communities of color, and Bush’s response was pretty abysmal. It was pretty much the equivalent to Trump throwing rolls of paper towels to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico back in 2018.

Moments like those along with lyrics like “I treat the cash the way the government treats AIDs / I wont be satisfied ’till all my niggas get it, get it?” (from the song “Gorgeous”) would almost lead you to believe that his political views would lean left, but the past few years have shown a different, darker side to Kanye West. He has always been known to say whatever he wants, whenever he wants, but as his career has aged, his attitude and behavior has gotten, well, shitty. Everyone will always remember him bum rushing the stage during Taylor Swift’s 2009 VMAs acceptance speech. And course that time he told the wonderful journalists at TMZ that slavery was a choice.

Those are just two examples of a long list of Kanye-isms that would have shamed just about any other celebrity out of existence, but very, very similar Trump, Ye and the people around him and fans of his work continue to make excuses for him. And above all, his wife’s recent admission of Kanye having bipolar disorder seems to have somehow made him into more of a entertainment spectacle then he was before. It’s all a bit disturbing to watch, and yet the American people seem to continue to get a kick out of it.

So it almost makes perfect sense how Kanye and Trump see eye to eye – they are pretty much the same people. Ye clearly identifies with Trump’s shamelessness and the backlash he gets from the media and public whenever they “speak their mind”. And Kanye’s new emergence as a christian rapper brings about another level they can relate – they are both horribly hypocritical and contradictory when it comes to their alleged faith. But do the political views of the guy that wrote songs about police brutality in the black community now believe that anyone that thinks racism is systemic has “drank the kool-aid” as Trump told Bob Woodward?

Kanye West 2020

All of this has somehow led us to 2020, where Yeezy, seemingly out of nowhere, decided to run in the upcoming election. He held an oddly hysterical, yet difficult to watch campaign announcement, where he donned a Kevlar vest, had KANYE 2020 etched in his hair and he cried hysterically about almost aborting his daughter. With a presentation like this, you would almost think even he doesn’t take himself seriously. But here’s where it all gets really confusing – there is absolutely no way he can win. His decision came too little, too late, most states having past the deadline to get on the ballot. So far he has managed to snake his way onto ballots in 9 states, he has personally contributed $6.8 million to his campaign while only being able to raise $11,500, and his campaign has been accused of forging signatures to get on the ballot in some states.

So this all begs the pertinent question – what is the point? What exactly is his end game? Clearly he has absolutely no chance of winning in 2020, and he stands to spend a lot of money on a campaign that seems dead on arrival. But something is in the works, with reports of the Republican Party assisting Ye’s campaign, despite the fact that he claims to be running as an independent. Because him and Trump are butt buddies, some believe Trump is using him to draw votes away from Joe Biden, a move that honestly sounds very plausibly Trump-esque. An interesting piece from The Atlantic explores the idea that Kanye honestly believes his sowing political discourse in the election will teach voters and fans the lessons he’s been pushing for years, most notably the idea that the Democratic party has hijacked the black vote. While I see their merits and think both play some sort of role in why he’s running, I happen to have an alternative perspective.

Kanye Thinks He’s God

I have been a long time Kanye fan, and it doesn’t excite me to say all this. I strongly believe he will go down in hip hop history as one of the best producers of all time. His catalog has been so on point (up until his Christian rap thing), but as the years go by it has been more difficult to justify his shitty behavior. I can let go that we don’t see eye to eye politically but the things he says and the way he goes about saying them are pretty disgusting. All of these things fall in line with Trump’s character (or lack there of) and I just don’t find it at all entertaining or admirable. While I think he’s a great musician, that by no means makes me think he would be a great leader. And his lack of any experience only further complicates that.

Kanye has been pushing this idea that he is God, or God-like, through his music for sometime now. So it comes as no surprise that a big part of all of this is fueled by ego. Similar to Trump, he doubles down even when proven wrong, and somehow always manages to get away with things others cannot. So while I think his candidacy does serve to help the right while harming the left, above all I think he is actively emulating Trump.

Trump has immortalized the idea of the celebrity president – someone that has absolutely no experience, yet is liked by the public and rich enough, so they get what they want. This idea of the guy that “just tells it like it is” and doesn’t take the form of the boring and fake president that we’ve come to expect, has become the new appeal. I believe Kanye is jumping on a big trend that we will see take shape in the next few elections – famous people running for president on nothing but their fame alone. Ask yourself WHY celebrities like The Rock are entertaining the same idea. What makes them think they are qualified? Because people seem to really like him? Because he has a shit load of twitter followers? None of these things are relevant but I believe they will begin to be the new prerequisites to running for president here in ‘Murica.

At a time when black Americans are working like hell to have serious, open discourse about issues that plague our communities, and the tribal nature of politics has sent the social fabric into a world of chaos, Kanye West is the last person we need to be taken seriously by the public. He is going to start a trend that will further decay our political system. If you think you don’t like Trump, you sure as hell won’t like a president Yeezy, and this is why Kanye West and his candidacy must be destroyed.