Kanye West Says He's Running For President, Will people support him?
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Kanye West Says He's Running For President |
Kanye West said that in his view to
launch a late, long-shot bid for the presidency, a run that would ditch him
against President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
It's not the 1st time “Ye has said he wants to take a shot at the biggest
office in the land”, but his July 4 tweet shown to be his more serious effort
yet to throw his Maga hat into the ring.
Said Ye in Independence Day announcement: “Now we
realize the guarantee of America by trusting God, consolidate our aim
and building our bright future”.
The attempt is idiosyncratic still given the fact that West
has ardently voiced his bigmouthed support for Trump in the past and proudly worn
his red Make American Great again cap. There's also the not- inconsequential
detail that his entry into the race comes at a late stage in the more than
year-long thinning of the large herd that was the republican hopeful.
"It's certainly the latest I can remember ... because
third-party campaigner usually try to get in early and get on the ballot in all
the states," Robert Y. Shapiro, Wallace S. Sayre Professor of
Government and Professor of International and Public Affairs in the Columbia
University Department of Political Science, tell Billboard about Ye's late registration.
Suddenly the rapper's entry also raise a number of questions
for Shapiro about encouragement. There's distrustfulness that it could be a
public relations act to draw attention to the artist in the absence of any
stated political agenda or cause that West wishes to help.
More important thing , Ye --- who has not revealed details
about what, if any, political organizing he's done to launch his command for
office -- has missed the filing deadline to appear on the ballot as an
independent candidate in at least six states, according to Ballotpedia. Among those are such acute states as
New York and Texas, as well as North Carolina, Maine, New Mexico and Indiana.
There are also deadlines in the next few weeks to make it on
the vote in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Ye's home state
of Illinois, his choosed third home state of Wyoming, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas,
Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Utah, Pennsylvania and a handful of others.
"If West were momentous about this, he would have had to
have started a long time ago," says John Mark Hansen, political science
professor at the University of Chicago, nothing the missed and pending
deadlines to get on VOT’s. “Some allow payment of a tabulate fee, but most
require petitions, which can involve numbers of signatures”. That’s a lot of
door to door, shopping center and parking lots. He would better get busy!"
Shapiro said that, apparently, it's not a dreadful time for a
Black loose jump into a race while the country is in the middle of the current
state of protest and turbulence loose by
the police killing of George Floyd. With a built-in in front of audience and
high name recognition among a younger, urban demographic, West makes up in
visibility and reach what he deficiency in public policies or rules and
political experience, a profile that is not unlike his friend Donald Trump's
pre-presidency.
That said, Shapiro conjecture “this is not an important bid”.
But he said that even if it's an act, there are some political entanglement if
it's a near the elections, and Kanye is able to siphon off votes from either higher
party applicants and disrupt their political work. Typically, Shapiro says,
third-party applicants know they have little possibility of winning, but they
run in an attempt to draw
awareness if not to themselves, then to a cause they trust
in.
Shapiro says:
“To that extent that voters will vote for third-party
candidates, given that this is perceived as an important election, even
disgruntled voters might not be willing to throw their vote away”.
Mike Muse, host
of The Mike Muse Show on SiriusXM and co-host of Sway
in the Morning, called the West run back in 2015 when he wrote a piece for
CNBC titled “Kanye For President? If Trump can do it…..” In it,
he argued that America's disdain for the same-old, same-old generic politicians
and a thirst for candidates who are “raw and uncensored” could make for the
perfect lane for Ye's non-traditional candidacy.
A spokesperson for West had not returned requests for comment
at press time.
With a new single "Wash Us in the Blood" from the as-yet-unscheduled
album God's Country, a collab with Ty Dolla Sign ("Ego Death") and a newly announced deal with The Gap, Muse speculates that West
certainly has a lot to promote, even if he lacks the governmental, military or
higher-education bona fides most candidates have brought to the game pre-Trump.
"There was a time when someone with a background like
Kanye or Trump would have been dismissed, or just put in gossip magazine
columns, but times have changed and Americans are open to considering
alternatives," Muse tells Billboard. He also pointed out that
even political commentary has taken on a glossier entertainment sheen to keep
up expectations in the fast-paced, clapback-focused social media environment.
"The thing about Kanye is you never know what the point is of what he's
doing until it becomes realized."
And, keep in mind, Muse says, a lot of people were dismissive
of former reality star and real estate magnate Trump, who had no political or
military experience before his surprise 2016 win. "Kanye is a mirror to
society of what they are frustrated with and the change we want," he says.
"For me, the lesson is not so much, 'Is this candidacy real or not?'
but rather, 'What is it saying about America that we are even giving this a
thought?'"
Even if America still seems to be looking for a
non-traditional candidate to shake things up, Muse says from a practical
perspective, West doesn't appear to have any infrastructure in place to make
his run a success, including staff, a public get-on-the-ballot push or even an
announced party affiliation. That said, if West is serious, Muse says it's
possible he could latch on to a smaller third party that already has a slot on
the ballot and get permission to run on their ticket.
"Even if we disagree with the manner or the person
delivering the [statement], they can get their point out to a larger audience
and add their version of political discourse to the conversation," says
Muse. "In the end, it's not about whether Kanye's campaign is valid or if
it's a stunt, but about what it says about the broader narrative that we are
even giving it our consideration."
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