Mashup by Tom Compagnoni
Last August, Kanye West got up at the MTV awards and said he was going to run for President of the United States in 2020. We're wondering if that's still in his plans.
It was August 2015 -- man, that seems like a long time ago now, doesn't it? -- when West took the microphone at the Video Music Awards and, amid a long rambling speech where he talked about baseball and grocery shopping and Taylor Swift, he said he'd be going for the nation's top job in the year 2020. When it happened, we all laughed. A loud, brash, outrageous celebrity with a hot temper and no experience couldn't possibly be elected leader of the free world, right?
But we've been thinking about it, and for some reason, we've recently come around to the idea that Kanye's controversial background and experience (or lack thereof) might not actually be a barrier to the presidency. It's just a feeling we get.
Kanye has never held elected office. He has zero political experience. But is that really such a big factor? We're not so sure.
Kanye is well-known for being a loudmouth. He's bold, brash, a bit of a loose cannon; he doesn't mind getting into ugly public feuds with people he doesn't like; he's never been one to shy away from a slanging match; and has used his popular Twitter account to broadcast his unpopular opinions, criticisms, insults and attacks to millions of followers.
Kanye has had a string of high-profile relationships, and several of them have ended badly. But is that still a disqualification from becoming president? Maybe not.
Kanye once said he was $53 million in debt. But should such personal financial troubles stop someone from becoming president?
But Kanye is best known for being an entertainer, a pop culture figure. He couldn't be president, right? That sort of person would have no credibility, if their biggest claim to fame was simply being an entertainer. Again, we're not so sure.
So look, at this point, we're really not sure. Could Kanye become president? Will he even run? But like we said, for some reason, we just get the feeling that a lot of the criticisms that people had about a Kanye political run might just have evaporated recently....
