Kanye is out (UPDATE: Kanye is in again)

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

I remember when Howard Schultz was going to be the independent who was a real serious threat who was going to throw the election to Trump.

Maybe he'll be Kanye's running mate to create the ultimate ticket of doom.

[Camaro33]

In the unlikely event he makes the ballot, especially in key states, it is actually a relatively big deal. People who are younger are far more likely to vote third party, and presumably for an independent celebrity from their era. Old people aren't going to the polls to vote for Kanye. Since younger people in a two party ballot where you must choose one are solidly Democratic, I expect it to have an impact...again, in the 2% chance he is serious and makes it.

[The Mikado]

That platform is most appealing to non voting conspiracy theorists and fringe fundamentalist Christians.

Yeah, I was gonna say. None of the stuff he is running on would actually appeal to the voters he could reasonably win over (younger, disillusioned people who don't like Biden or Trump).

Right. Somehow I find it hart to see any soft  Biden supporters abandoning him for an anti abortion, anti vax candidate with no tax or foreign policy plan who says God told him to run. Not to mention his answer on police brutality was also very Trumpy.

Many conservative African American voters will vote for a religious candidate.

LOL at the idea of the fire and brimstone black Southern Baptist preachers and the three foot hat church ladies in the congregation giving a second thought to Kanye West. That portion of black America didn't like Kanye West when he was a musician, why are they suddenly gonna like him now?

Conservative religious black people are, as a general rule, not huge fans of rappers, especially ones married to Kim Kardashian. I don't know why that's such a hard concept to grasp.

[RI]

Says ... that Planned Parenthoods were placed in black neighborhoods to "do the devil's work".

Endorsed.

[BlueSwan]

Can someone tell me why the hell Elon Musk is supporting this trainwreck?

[Storr]

Can someone tell me why the hell Elon Musk is supporting this trainwreck?

Other than attention? ....Yeah, it's just for attention.

[Oryxslayer]

Can someone tell me why the hell Elon Musk is supporting this trainwreck?

Other than attention? ....Yeah, it's just for attention.

I think Musk's decision to support it is a sign that Kanye actually isn't going to try anything and this is just a popularity stunt. Musk and Telsa keep courting California democrats both in the state and Washington in order to avoid the eventual retribution and crackdown via regulations. Musk furthers this goal by marketing/courting young voters, so as to ensure the progressive radicals never realize they are making friends with a libertarian. So if Musk has decided to further the marketing scheme here, he knows Kanye won't electorally move against the democrats and therefore leave him on the outside.

[Escape Pod Zero]

This is how the election will turn out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEFpvT9d-w8

[Bomster]

So he’s not being serious... right?

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

So he’s not being serious... right?

I take it you haven't gotten your good night of sleep yet?

Honestly, at this point, the whole discussion around this story seems less of a board-wide freakout and more of another chance for folks to yell about how stupid young people are for even considering the option to vote for him (Which is still anecdotal evidence, at best)

[emailking]

He doesn't even have a campaign website. He's not running, at least not in any meaningful way.

[Ferguson97]

Can someone tell me why the hell Elon Musk is supporting this trainwreck?

Because Elon Musk is also an idiot

[Hammy]

This is how the election will turn out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEFpvT9d-w8

I'm convinced this is a comedy/satire channel at this point.

[Progressive Pessimist]

So it appears that since I last posted Kanye's would-be campaign is more of a troll attempt. I can't say that doesn't still make me feel uneasy though. I feared Vermin Supreme getting the Libertarian nomination for exactly that reason. I just can't get past my distrust of the American voting populace and how they respond positively to celebrity and/or irony.

I just want this maniac to go away forever. I never want to hear another one of his overrated f***ing songs ever again either. And I will flip a s*** if he fulfills my fears, as paranoid as they may be, and singlehandedly ruins this election.

Can someone tell me why the hell Elon Musk is supporting this trainwreck?

Because Elon Musk is also an idiot

He really is. I never understood why anyone ever gave this credibility on anything. He's another bird of a feather with Kanye and Trump.

[Morning in Atlas]

Very amusing how Debra Messing and other #Resistance libs are only worried about Kanye's effect on the black vote.

Even more amusing is how most of the people spewing out this braindead take and ignoring Kanye's effect on low-information middle-class white dudes are also white.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Very amusing how Debra Messing and other #Resistance libs are only worried about Kanye's effect on the black vote.

Even more amusing is how most of the people spewing out this braindead take and ignoring Kanye's effect on low-information middle-class white dudes are also white.

Trump is too far behind for AA to abandon Biden, if it was a pre Covid 19 environment,  yea, Dems would be worried

[tonyreyes89]

Kanye 2024 is def the real run, I think this is just for show

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

This thread gets funnier and sadder by the day.

It's an ad campaign for his new album! Christ, I don't even think he's a write-in candidate out here yet.

[AltWorlder]

Indeed. There's nothing to argue about because all of your posturing has been guided by contrarian platitudes and assumptions about me and a whole generation of voters.

You can't claim to be the representative of any generation anymore than I can, and a platitude being contrarian does not negate its validity. Your data is inconclusive and incomplete.

Finally, Millennials ("Obama youth") aren't kids. Most are at, around, or over 30 at this point. Zoomers weren't even mentioned in the original post, so you are just adding and reinterpreting as you go.

The point is that generation after generation, election after election, youth voters are often unexcited about the party nominees, as reflected in youth turnout numbers. Nothing you have said disagrees with that.

I move we table this discussion until after the election. If you're right, then you're right. Until then, you're just playing mailbox baseball and calling them grand slams.

[Mike Thick]

Well, we had a good run

Later that day, I talked to Steve Kramer. He is a get-out-the-vote specialist who runs a firm that also helps candidates get on the ballot. Kramer, who has worked mostly for Democratic candidates but has also had some Republican clients, told me that he had been hired to help West get on the ballot in Florida and South Carolina. He added that his understanding was that West’s team was “working over weekend there, formalizing the FEC and other things that they’ve got to do when you have a lot of corporate lawyers involved.”

...

This all seemed real enough, and I reached out to West’s publicist for a response. The initial response was to loop in another spokesperson on the email. West’s team then went dark. As I waited for a response, I followed up with Kramer who told me, “He’s out.”

I asked what happened. “I’ll let you know what I know once I get all our stuff canceled. We had over 180 people out there today,” Kramer said.

[Ronnie]

Well, we had a good run

Later that day, I talked to Steve Kramer. He is a get-out-the-vote specialist who runs a firm that also helps candidates get on the ballot. Kramer, who has worked mostly for Democratic candidates but has also had some Republican clients, told me that he had been hired to help West get on the ballot in Florida and South Carolina. He added that his understanding was that West’s team was “working over weekend there, formalizing the FEC and other things that they’ve got to do when you have a lot of corporate lawyers involved.”

...

This all seemed real enough, and I reached out to West’s publicist for a response. The initial response was to loop in another spokesperson on the email. West’s team then went dark. As I waited for a response, I followed up with Kramer who told me, “He’s out.”

I asked what happened. “I’ll let you know what I know once I get all our stuff canceled. We had over 180 people out there today,” Kramer said.

I love how we engaged in over a week of hand-wringing across 14 pages, only for it to lead to this inevitable outcome.  Good going, Atlas.

[Alben Barkley]

Well, we had a good run

Later that day, I talked to Steve Kramer. He is a get-out-the-vote specialist who runs a firm that also helps candidates get on the ballot. Kramer, who has worked mostly for Democratic candidates but has also had some Republican clients, told me that he had been hired to help West get on the ballot in Florida and South Carolina. He added that his understanding was that West’s team was “working over weekend there, formalizing the FEC and other things that they’ve got to do when you have a lot of corporate lawyers involved.”

...

This all seemed real enough, and I reached out to West’s publicist for a response. The initial response was to loop in another spokesperson on the email. West’s team then went dark. As I waited for a response, I followed up with Kramer who told me, “He’s out.”

I asked what happened. “I’ll let you know what I know once I get all our stuff canceled. We had over 180 people out there today,” Kramer said.

I love how we engaged in over a week of hand-wringing across 14 pages, only for it to lead to this inevitable outcome.  Good going, Atlas.

I guess everyone’s a little too scarred over 2016. Wouldn’t have surprised anyone at the time if a couple weeks after Trump announced it all turned out to be a publicity stunt and he was never gonna actually run.

[DINGO Joe]

Kanye West Likes Fish Sticks

[DrScholl]

The man has mental health issues and is supposedly manic right now so no one should have really taken him seriously.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Kanye?

I guess he couldn't this time.