Kanye West Signals His 2020 Bid Is Really About Peeling Votes From Biden
On Thursday, rap artist Kanye West hinted at the true motive driving his futile bid for the presidency: sabotaging President Donald Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
West, an outspoken Trump supporter, told Forbes editor Randall Lane he was “walking…to win” when asked if him running for president was an effort to peel votes from Biden.
“I’m not going to argue with you,” the rapper said when Lane noted that his bid could only be a spoiler campaign given that too many state ballots won’t be including him in November, making victory impossible.
West refused to say whether GOP operatives were coordinating with his campaign, as multiple outlets have reported.
In fact, a former general counsel for the Wisconsin GOP named Lane Ruhland rushed to the Elections Commission’s office in Madison on Thursday evening to personally file West’s nomination papers. However, Ruhland delivered the documents right after the office’s 5 P.M. deadline, so the rapper may not appear on the ballot in the key swing state.
On Wednesday, Trump said he liked West “very much” but claimed he had “nothing to do” with getting the rap artist on state ballots.
In July, West told Forbes that he was “not denying” that he approves of his campaign potentially taking away votes from Biden.
Several days after that interview, Trump tweeted that it “shouldn’t be hard” for West to do so.