Kanye goes West with this trick

Just when you think the world cannot get any crazier, Kanye West announces he’s running for US president – running against Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Running Trump straight back into the Oval Office. Thanks Kanye.

For how could it be any other way with this wacky wannabe candidate, who will split not Trump’s support base, but Biden’s
– the black vote, the far-left vote?

And then our own Elon Musk throws his support behind Kanye.

I swear… some people just want to watch the world burn. Or maybe this is just a deeply cynical manifestation of Kanye’s previous support for the current incumbent.

Or maybe some people have such bloated egos that they really think they can fix things, when it’s actually the US system that’s
broken – utterly winner-takesall, where pragmatic votes are the only ones that ultimately count, because votes from the heart
merely serve that which the voter is kicking against.

In America, they even call it the “spoiler” candidate. This is how it has worked in the past: in 1992, the Texan billionaire Ross Perot likely lost George Bush Snr his crack at a second term, taking 19% of the vote – 19% that would no doubt have gone to
conservative Bush.

In 2000, Ralph Nader took 3% as a Green Party candidate, granting George W Bush his narrow win over Al Gore – for that 3% was certainly left-leaning.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton was close, but was stalled in two key states, likely by the idealistic presidential bid of Jill Stein from the
Green Party. In Michigan, Hillary needed just 0.4% more votes to beat Trump; Stein took 1.1%.

And on it goes…

The only hope is that Kanye has not filed the paperwork. He’s too late for several states, with deadlines looming for the rest.

Also, in many states “ballot access” laws mean he won’t be allowed to add his name to the ballot sheet there, unless he has
the signed support of a minimum number of registered voters in the state. That requires legwork and commitment.

Kanye’s out of time.

Or is he? Because if he’s about to release a new album, then this is the biggest Kardashian-West publicity stunt yet.

Nice one, Kanye.

And I bought into it.

Jennie Ridyard

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