Kanye West announced he intended to run for president in the 2020 election on the Fourth of July — despite not filling out any official paperwork to make it happen.
Nearly two weeks later, ‘Ye has now filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and was cleared to run as an independent presidential candidate on Oklahoma’s General Election ballot.
With that presidential vision in mind, the eccentric rapper has now added himself to Mount Rushmore. On Friday (July 17), Kanye tweeted a photoshopped version of the South Dakota monument with his face on it.
He left a simple “2020” in the caption.
2020 pic.twitter.com/STFPIFuthm
— ye (@kanyewest) July 17, 2020
Much like Ye’s public support for Donald Trump, his presidential aspirations have once again polarized his fans — and his recent interview with Forbes didn’t necessarily help either. During the conversation, he claimed he was running as part of “The Birthday Party” because “when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday.”
According to the New York Daily News, his statement of candidacy filing indeed states he’s affiliated with the “BDY,” which is short for “The Birthday Party.”
But perhaps the most compelling aspect of the Forbes “ramblings,” as the interview was described, was Kanye’s willingness to finally discard the Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat, which has become a symbol of racism and divisiveness since Trump adopted the phrase.
“It looks like one big mess to me,” he said. “I don’t like that I caught wind that he hid in the bunker … I am taking the red hat off, with this interview.”
Kanye West Disavows Donald Trump: ‘I Am Taking The Red Hat Off’
Kanye’s commitment to running in the 2020 election comes after Steve Kramer, an outside political adviser for the Hip Hop billionaire, said earlier this week he wouldn’t be running for president after all.
But, as Ye presses on, it’s unlikely he’d qualify for any debates or see any time on a national stage. His run is simply too late to qualify for general election ballots in a number of states, including Florida and New Mexico. Democratic hopeful Joe Biden and Trump are expected to go head-to-head in the first general election debate on September 29.