“It’s something God put on my heart in 2015. A few days before the MTV awards it hit me in the shower.”
As Kanye recounted the moment that led to his presidential run in an interview on the “Joe Rogan Experience”, a popular podcast that attracted millions of listeners on both Spotify and Youtube, he further painted a picture of what this fateful moment looked like during the 2015 MTV awards. “As you probably could’ve guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for President.” With the utterance of these words, Kanye left the audience of the 2015 VMAs stupefied. Most of the world regarded this statement as a joke. But as years went by, the 2016 election of Donald Trump proved that any person, regardless of their qualifications, could run in (and win) the election. Four years later, on July 4th, 2020, Kanye officially announced his candidacy. On July 15, he filed as a write-in candidate for the 2020 election. As the election date creeps closer, Kanye is currently featured on the ballots of 12 states, while having been rejected by 9 states and is absent from the ballots of 29 other states. Despite all the crazy events of 2020, Kanye’s campaign announcement has to be at the top of the list. Critics of Kanye point to his past bipolar episodes as indicators of how he may be unfit for office. Critics (mostly associated with Democrats) also believe that a vote for Kanye will discredit millennial votes for Joe Biden. Many fear a potential repeat of the 2016 electoral debacle as Hilary lost key swing state votes to third-party candidates. To be quite frank, Kanye is not going to be president. But many of the ideas that he offers to his millennial and faith-based demographic are quite interesting to say the least. But first, we need a little background on Kanye.
The past couple of years have been pivotal in Kanye’s final decision to run for office. In 2018, Kanye made it publicly known that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Instead of seeking sympathy for his recent diagnosis, he proclaimed the disorder as his “superpower”, further seeking creative outlets other than rap to discover his purpose. As the years have passed, Kanye has begun a new path in his career, where instead of rapping about stereotypical topics like cars and girls, he has found a rekindled connection with his faith in Christianity. In the past two years, Kanye has believed that he has become “God’s instrument” in delivering peace within the United States, promoting his own unique twist on gospel music in church by organizing Sunday service gatherings across the world. In a recent appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience”, West stated that his, “calling is to be the leader of the free world”, further describing that it was his duty to take this challenge despite his popularity as a rapper and inexperience in politics. Kanye believes that he will combine his experience from his many backgrounds to restore ideals of love and faith in society.
Kanye’s main policy platform is located at the bottom of his kanye2020.country website. A typical visitor would need to scroll through all the campaign videos and generically branded “VOTE KANYE” merchandise to finally discover a series of ten propositions, a subtle biblical parallel to the Ten Commandments. A supporting verse from the Bible acts as a pillar of reason behind each proposition. The first decree Kanye proposed is certainly the most controversial ideal. He describes that in order to restore faith and revive the “commitment for freedom of religion”, he will restore prayer in the “classroom including spiritual foundations”. The extent to which kind of “prayer” varies, but in a general sense, it is clear that Kanye wants to mandate some kind of prayer regarding any religion in public schools. Although this statement contains no ill-intentions, it is fundamentally hypocritical to describe the revival of freedom of religion while also including mandatory prayer of some sort in public schools. This very argument had been abandoned since Engel v. Citale, the 1962 Supreme Court case that abolished this very practice in public schools in New York, which then followed precedent in schools across the country. The Establishment Clause written in the first amendment of the Constitution exclusively states that,”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Therefore, it seems as if Kanye’s plan to institute this policy would pose quite significant legal complications. However, support for this kind of policy is still considerably popular. According to a 2014 Gallup Poll, at least 61% of Americans favor this sort of policy in the classroom. So far, it appears that Kanye appeals to the majority of faith-based voters in his policy making decisions.
When further dissecting Kanye’s policy plan, it’s clear that he begins to incorporate elements of both liberal and conservative ideals. For example, in proposition seven, Kanye advocates for prioritizing renewable energy sources in order to combat climate change, while also maintaining a strong national defense (found in proposition four). With this policy plan, Kanye is attempting to capture voters who represent the middle ground between Republicans and Democrats, while backing his principles through religion and spirituality.
As the election date draws nearer and nearer, voters can only speculate as to what impact Kanye’s run for presidency will have on Biden and Trump’s vote count. Will it be similar to 2016? One thing to certainly remember is that if 2020 has taught the world any lessons, it’s that whatever happens will definitely be interesting.
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Written by Thomas B.