Nope, I never even think about him. This presidential campaigning stunt is just another attention-grab.
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So, Trump’s announcement that he would be running for president was initially a social media stunt because he was pissed that NBC was paying Gwen Stefani more for her reality show than they were paying him. Look how that turned out.
And?
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A) If West is or were truly serious about running, it’s much too late for him to do so in the 2020 election, which means that Trump himself would not be and could not be his contender, because Trump is the incumbent. If West wants to go for the year 2024, that might be an option, but two things would have to take place in order for him to go up against Trump in that year: Trump would have to be defeated in 2020, Trump would have to campaign again in 2024, at the age of 78.
B) Far more qualified people than West have already thrown their hats into the ring and subsequently withdrawn those hats. West does not have the political savvy to be a viable candidate, and like you mentioned about how fun it would be to see him in a debate, its entertainment value is likely all that would come from it. Even if he does participate in any debate, Trump probably won’t be on any lectern on the same stage.
C) West might have the money needed to campaign and or maybe even the money to win, but he’s much more of a long shot than Trump ever was. Far too few serious voters will or would vote for West in order to garner a win, and beyond the popular vote, that’s especially true at the Electoral College.
D) The vast differences between Trump’s rise to the presidency and West’s probability of it ever happening are far too great to assume that the American voters, stung once by Trump’s win, would stoop to allowing a fringe entertainment figure take the highest office again. I was just as surprised as many people that Trump prevailed in 2016, a year that I have often characterized as the voters being left with facing the lesser of two evils. I was so assured that Clinton had seized the presidency that I stopped watching the news of election coverage quite early that evening before any real vote counts had been tabulated. I turned off all TV and radio and online sources, so I awoke the next morning to one of the biggest shocks of my adult life.
E) West would surely pick up a high percentage of the black vote, a good portion of the other minorities’ votes and other liberals, left-wingers and Democrats in general, sure. The question is whether or not the entire voter block would accept him to the point that he could beat any opponent.
That’s what I mean by classifying it a mere attention-grab.
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This post was edited by Randy D at July 7, 2020 5:51 AM MDT
I know that’s all you want, my Dear, I know.
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(to too late)
That only applies if West doesn’t run on a Democrat ticket. You’ve brought up a great point, though, because until reading it here from you, it didn’t occur to me which platform from which West might run. He doesn’t specify in his tweet.
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People switch political parties all the time, even if or when they have been in a particular party for many years or for decades. There’s no way to predict today what West might do in the future as far as which party he may decide.
A majority of black people might turn their noses up at West if he runs as a Republican. Quoting and agreeing with someone today could flipflop tomorrow.
A majority of conservatives might turn their noses up at West if he runs as a Democrat.
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