Kanye is out (UPDATE: Kanye is in again)

[Mike Thick]

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1279575273365594112?s=20

Welp

[Mike Thick]

Either he walks it back or the "campaign" is just sporadically tweeting that people should write him in without ever actually filing

[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.

[Mike Thick]

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.

Telling Atlas not to endlessly hand-wring is like telling a fish not to swim

[Mike Thick]

https://twitter.com/juddlegum/status/1283460850184052741?s=21

This was also tweeted by his publicist. Seems like he’s in for real this time.

[Mike Thick]

https://twitter.com/populismupdates/status/1283469163520909312?s=21

[Mike Thick]

I think it’s a tough situation. This is a huge decision with potentially massive consequences for the future of the country, and he shouldn’t get a pass for making an awful choice because he’s mentally ill. That said I really feel bad for him and hope he gets the help he needs