Kanye Disavowed Trump, But He Also Said A Lot Of Other Problematic Things
When Kanye West announced on July 4 that he would be running for president, many questions arose. Mainly, was he serious about his presidential bid? And, why would he run against Donald Trump, a candidate he once supported? Well, West had since made it clear he no longer backs the current U.S. President. That being said Kanye West's quotes disavowing Trump did little to ease fan concerns over his presidential bid.
In a lengthy phone interview with Forbes on July 7, West addressed his decision to run for office. He also revealed why he's lost confidence in the President. “It looks like one big mess to me. I don’t like that I caught wind that he hid in the bunker," he said, addressing Trump's decision to hide when anti-racism protests broke out near the White House in May.
“One of the main reasons I wore the red hat as a protest to the segregation of votes in the Black community. Also, other than the fact that I like Trump hotels and the saxophones in the lobby," he added.
The remarks come after West publicly supported Trump for years, often wearing his MAGA hat, and even meeting with the President at the Oval Office.
West didn't have much more criticism for the President, and, instead, turned his focus to democratic candidate Joe Biden.
“I’m not saying Trump’s in my way, he may be a part of my way. And Joe Biden? Like come on man, please. You know? Obama’s special. Trump’s special. We say Kanye West is special. America needs special people that lead. Bill Clinton? Special. Joe Biden’s not special," he said.
His quotes added to concern that his presidential run will deflect attention (and possibly votes) away from Biden's candidacy, resulting in a second term win for Trump. It's something West isn;t concerned about: "I’m not denying [I could siphen off votes from the Democratic nominee], I just told you. To say that the Black vote is Democratic is a form of racism and white supremacy," he said.
On top of the general concern about Kanye possibly siphening votes from the Democratic candidate, people are also concerned about his views on vaccines. "It’s so many of our children that are being vaccinated and paralyzed… So when they say the way we’re going to fix Covid is with a vaccine, I’m extremely cautious," West said, going on to call vaccines the "mark of the best" and suggesting they "want to put chips inside of us... to make it where we can;t cross the gates of Heaven."
The interview went live just after Trump shared a few words of his own about West's candidacy. In an interview with RealClearPolitics on July 7, he said West will “have to view it as a trial run” for 2024.
West is hardly concerned he's late to the game when it comes to pulling a campaign together for this year's election. When speaking on the the ballots he might have missed in key states, he said, “I’m speaking with experts, I’m going to speak with Jared Kushner, the White House, with Biden," he said.
West has a lot stacked against him, but lack of determination isn't one of them.
