Rapper and left-field presidential candidate Kanye West has dropped the first advertisement for his campaign, just 22 days out from the the election on November 3.
West shared the video on Twitter yesterday afternoon to his nearly 40 million followers. In it he discusses how Americans should focus on strengthening their faith to improve the country interspersed with plenty of black and white harmony images.
Within an hour, the video had received over one million views, some 3500 comments, 20,000 retweets and 50,000 likes.
“America. What is America’s destiny? What is best for our nation? Our people? What is just? True justice?” the 43-year-old asks. “We have to think about all these things together as a people. To contemplate our future, to live up to our dream, we must have vision. We as a people will revive our nation’s commitment to faith, to what our constitution calls the free exercise of religion, including, of course, prayer. Through prayer, faith can be restored.”
The video ends with an “I am Kanye West and I approve this message” endorsement and text urging people to write him in on the ballot.
No one seriously thinks Kayne will end up in the White House and many have questioned his motive to run in the first place. That said, he’s reportedly spent $US6.8 million ($A9.4 million) thus far on his electioneering, so he clearly thinks there’s some value in it (perhaps a concerted full tilt in 2024?)
It’s expected that he may possibly siphon some votes away from either Trump or Biden, acting as a third-party spoiler.
Others have speculated that the whole thing is just one long PR stunt.
The rapper – who’s already heavily invested in the fashion business – has been selling caps and T-shirts with his “Kanye 2020 Vision” logo. A Trump MAGA cap will set you back $US30 ($A41), Kanye’s is twice that price.
