After the debacle of the 2016 Presidential election resulting in the victory of reality television star and shady real estate magnate Donald Trump, anything is possible for 2020, but even so, Kanye West as the 46th President of the United States is a bit far-fetched.
Nevertheless, the man behind Jesus Walks and Stronger vowed to run against Trump in the 2020 election at one of his concerts in San Jose, California.
Throughout the show, West made a number of political statements in between songs, the biggest of which being his plans to try for the White House after Trump's four-year term is up.
West didn't vote in the election
As good a political campaign opener as any, West began by saying, “I told y’all I didn’t vote, right?” A Presidential candidate who doesn’t vote seems a bit crazy, but then again so does a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic megalomaniac being elected into the Oval Office. West then said that if he did vote, he “would’ve voted for Trump.” Kanye West is an American citizen, by the way, so if he wanted to vote for Trump, he could have.
He elaborated on not voting by claiming to have done something for the election even greater than voting: he said he used “nonpolitical methods to speaking that I like, that I feel were very futuristic.” Hmm.
West referred to Trump’s approach to his campaign as “absolutely genius,” because “it f*cking worked.” He said that Trump’s politically incorrect way of speaking and presenting himself and his views and his policies (if you can call them that) “has proven it can beat a politically correct way.” However, the chances are high that Trump will run for reelection in 2020, and West makes it seem like he is going to imitate Trump’s strategies in order to get himself elected, but The Donald himself has a better chance of swaying the same voters who voted him in this year than a rapper with no political background trying to copy Trump’s methods.
He has ideas for Trump's America
West then went on to make some recommendations for Trump’s White House that proved he doesn’t know very much about politics (something a world leader should probably know a fair bit about). He recommended that Trump should bring Hillary Clinton (his mortal enemy) and Barack Obama onto his staff in a consulting role. West thinks a White House staff made up of opposing parties would be a good idea. “Everyone that ran that had an idea that people agreed with, should be the collective ideas that are used to run the country.” The thing with that, though, is that the vast majority of those ideas would conflict, making it a terrible way to run the country.
Some fans became irate at these breaks, particularly at how long they were, as they came to hear his Music, not his thoughts on the U.S.
political system. Some even took to throwing things at the stage. This may have been because they didn’t agree with his pro-Trump ideologies. West said he “loved the debates. I loved his approach.” This was an approach that inspired bigots everywhere, and the crowd started to boo, at which point West joked, “I guess we’re not going to sell out the rest of the tour now.”
West believes Trump will bring change
West said, to those who do not believe Trump will be a good President (almost everyone), “Sometimes things you might think are bad have to happen in order for change to f*cking happen.” This could indicate that he believes Trump will create change (which is a given, but the question is will it be good change?) or that he intends to be the one to bring that change in 2020.
Either way, this is all assuming there is even going to be a 2020, given how it is theorized that Nostradamus has predicted Donald Trump will cause World War III next year.