Kanye West 2020: I’m Running for President!

Despite years and years of Kanye West's unhinged behavior, the man still manages to catch people off guard.

On Independence Day, Kanye decided to announce that he is running to be President of the United States.

Right now. This year.

Back up for a moment to 2015, when West was awarded the Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs. This meant that he was allowed to speak to the audience, and he did - and threatend to run for President in 2020.

At the time, this sounded farcial. Now, Kanye is making that mostly forgotten joke into a horrifying new reality.

Kanye West tweet running for president 2020 july 4

"We must now realize the promise of America," Kanye, 43, tweeted on the evening of Saturday, July 4, 2020.

He wrote that this promise can be realized "by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future."

"I am running for president of the United States," he threatens, sending a chill down the spines of millions.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian for Versace

In case anyone was wondering if any other members of the Insufferable Rich Clown Squad are also Team Kanye, the answer is yes.

D-list supervillain Elon Musk, who was hanging out with Kanye just a few days ago, immediately tweeted his support.

"You have my full support!" he tweeted as if that were a reasonable, non-embarrassing thing to say.

Elon Musk tweet supports Kanye West 2020 of course

Naturally, Twitter was immediately filled with countless tweets roasting Kanye.

While there is a lot to be said about the ethics of making fun of an unmedicated man who appears to be surrounded by enablers ...

... We should remember that Kanye is still accountable for much of his behavior and poor choices.

Mr. MAGA

A few people decided to make memes joking about supporting Kanye, which seems to be in very poor taste.

Others are taking his threat to run for President very seriously, warning that it may be a ploy to divide voters.

Honestly? He may mean it seriously, but many are unsure if Kanye is sufficiently grounded in the real world to predict this outcome.

Hello There, Wife

Some are asking -- or even hoping -- that Kanye is already past the deadline for a Presidential run.

The answer is complicated.

There is no formal federal deadline for running, but each state has their own ballot access laws for registering to appear on the ballot.

Kanye Actually Smiles

Some people immediately expressed their hopes that Kanye is just joking.

He may eventually say that he was joking, just has he recently claimed that his Trump support was just a ploy.

But if he is joking right now, then Kim is playing along with him, as evidenced by her quote-tweet.

Kim Kardashian tweet american flag emoji support for Kanye

The amount of time that passed between his tweet and hers is raising some eyebrows.

Usually, people announcing their candidacy have a lengthy talk with their loved ones first, as well as meeting with campaign managers.

Their announcement is then carefully planned. Whether or not anything like that happened for Kanye, or whether Kim even knew, is unclear.

Kimye is Cute

So aside from his general lack of impulse control and tendency to make statements that do not reflect reality, what is the issue with Kanye running?

For one thing, Kanye's infamous meeting with Donald Trump is still a fixture in the minds of many Americans.

He can claim anything that he likes about his motives for the photo op, but the damage from that meeting was done.

Kanye in the White House

Additionally, Kanye has had many gaffes, including his comments about slavery having been a "choice."

Slavery was not, for the record, a choice in any sense - choosing a job is literally antithetical to slavery.

Kanye can offer up all of the explanations that he likes, but nothing can ever make that an okay thing to have said.

Kimye Shares a Moment

Much more recently, Kanye did a lengthy interview in which he announced plans to change his name to Christian Genius Billionaire.

During that interview, he raved about many irrational topics, at one point claiming that doctors had given him drugs to "silence" him.

Seriously.

Kanye West as a Guest

He even accused medical professionals of prescribing medications that caused him to gain weight "on purpose."

You can't make this stuff up.

In any case, if anyone out there had "Kanye runs for President" on their 2020 apocalypse bingo sheet, you may as well go ahead and mark that one off. But will he actually follow through?

Kimye: 6 Years!

We do not know - no one knows - if Kanye will actually follow make a concerted Presidential run or if he just enjoys the attention such bold proclamations will garner him in the short run.

And if he does run, it is unclear whether he will run as Ye, Kanye, Mr. Kim Kardashian or Christian Genius Billionaire.

So many choices.