The Kanye West Stand-Up Comedy Show

In the few weeks since Kanye West announced his presidential campaign, it has been a wild ride. The media had first reported that West did not file the proper forms of registration to run for the nation’s top office with the Federal Election Committee (FEC). Records now show that he did, in fact, register under “The Birthday Party,” a party of his creation. West stated that the party was named as such, “Because when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday.” Initially garnering support on Twitter from the support of his wife, Kim Kardashian-West, and the CEO of Tesla and Space-X, Elon Musk, the announcement seemed like another publicity stunt to promote his new album “Donda: With Child” (previously titled “God’s Country”). However, the most bizarre part of the West 2020 campaign occurred just over a week ago, on July 19th. Kanye hosted the first campaign in North Charleston, South Carolina; doing so dressed in a black collared shirt, khakis, a tactical vest, and “2020” shaved into the back of his head. West spoke for the better part of an hour on subjects ranging from abortion to slavery, making controversial statements on the work of Harriett Tubman and even broke down in front of the crowd about how he wanted to abort his oldest daughter, North.

Above, Kanye's rally in North Charleston (via the Associated Press on YouTube)

Jack Hastings, a rising college freshman from Charleston, attended the event on a whim, not even knowing that West had an event until about three hours before the doors opened. When asked about his thoughts on West’s policies, Hastings said, “Walking into it, I really could’ve cared less about what he had to say politically. I was there for Kanye, as a lot of people were... I [felt] like if he's coming to town, I had to see him.”

Max Richter, another attendee from Fayetteville, NC, said he went to the rally for fun, believing that the notoriously tardy rapper wouldn’t even show up. Richter described the atmosphere as “very high energy and a lot of fun… it was like the Kanye West stand up comedy show.” Richter also stated that he didn’t learn much from West, “He made ridiculous statements like every woman that has a child should get $1 million dollars… (He was) ill-informed on most subjects brought up to him.”

Below, Max Richter and Kanye dap each other up on stage (via @jesusisking on Instagram)

It is clear that much of West’s support is meta-ironic at best. Most of the crowd were people who attended his rally for fun and those who spoke to the media have said that they still aren’t quite sure what his message is. That, coupled with West having said he is “running for president” so many times (at least 5 times since 2015), it is hard to believe that this political push isn’t just an elaborate PR campaign for a new album.

If I can finish this article on a personal note, I would have this to say. Many people, including myself, consider Kanye their favorite artist, but that doesn’t mean he is the most qualified candidate in the 2020 Presidential race. Kanye has spoken openly about his bipolar disorder diagnosis, and it is clear he is experiencing a severe manic episode and we should be supporting him by offering him mental health assistance. Please do not vote for Kanye, ironically or not.