Though he may have stopped supporting President Donald Trump, Kanye West has revealed what got him aboard the MAGA train in the first place. In an interview with Forbes, the entrepreneur and massive stimulus recipient spoke about his apparent political ambitions.
“One of the main reasons I wore the red hat as a protest to the segregation of votes in the Black community,” West explained. “Also, other than the fact that I like Trump hotels and the saxophones in the lobby.” He went on to talk about the discussions he had with Trump officials during his trips to the White House during his pro-Trump phase. “One time I talked to Jared Kushner, who was saying we don’t have Black leaders, we just have hustlers. Why? Because they killed all the Black leaders.”
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It appears that West didn’t elaborate on the last point, and the outlet itself noted that neither Kushner nor The White House returned their request for comment. However, the rapper did go on to explain in some detail why he decided to run for president in 2020, which he announced via tweet on Saturday. He said that the idea came when he was offered the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at MTV.
“I remember being at my mom’s house, my mother-in-law, because my house was being worked on, she calls me ‘son’ and I call her ‘mom,’ I was in the shower thinking, I write raps in the shower,” West said. “It hit me to say, ‘you’re going to run for president’ and I started laughing hysterically, I was like this is the best, I’m going to go out there and they’re going to think I’m going to do these songs and do this for entertainment, how rigged awards shows are, and then say I’m president. And I just laughed in the shower, I don’t know for how long, but that’s the moment it hit me.”
On Saturday, West’s announcement that he was running for president made good on his promise he’d made to himself back in 2015. “We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States,” West tweeted, adding the hashtag “2020 Vision.” The tweet quickly went viral and earned an endorsement from Elon Musk. “You have my full support,” he replied just minutes after West posted his tweet.
