Kanye is out (UPDATE: Kanye is in again)

[Hammy]

Congratulations Trump on reelection, the election's over.

[Hammy]

Congratulations Trump on reelection, the election's over.

Are you being serious?!?

White "progressive" voters handed Trump the election and now they have somebody to latch onto to hand him reelection.

[Hammy]

Congratulations Trump on reelection, the election's over.

Are you being serious?!?

White "progressive" voters handed Trump the election and now they have somebody to latch onto to hand him reelection.

Why Kanye? He was a Trump supporter.

The people that would break off and vote for him are the same BOTH SIDES people that looked at Trump and figured he'd make things better because he wasn't the establishment that think they're making a statement by voting third party when in reality they're just further enabling the erosion of human rights.

[Hammy]

Bruh could he be trolling us?

If he is, it's certainly working.

I'm not sure if the amount of Chicken Littleing going on for what's 90% likely to be an album release is funny or sad

It shows how much PTSD Democrats about losing have especially after 2016.

No, it's how dangerous Trump is to the lives of Americans.

[Hammy]

Bruh could he be trolling us?

If he is, it's certainly working.

I'm not sure if the amount of Chicken Littleing going on for what's 90% likely to be an album release is funny or sad

It shows how much PTSD Democrats about losing have especially after 2016.

That and a seemingly lack of faith in Biden as a candidate

It's the people of this country I lack faith in.

[Hammy]

Damn, he sent out that tweet an hour ago and he's already got like 3 threads

This is a political forum after all.

[Hammy]

Damn, he sent out that tweet an hour ago and he's already got like 3 threads

This is a political forum after all.

True that. I just think the reaction is a bit overblown. Then again, it's been nothing but 4 years of Chicken Little here. The reason to this "story" being particularly hysterical

Just remember most people thought Trump was joking when he declared.

[Hammy]

I'd argue that people are not taking this seriously enough. Sure, there is very good reason to believe that this will crash and brun very fast and amount to nothing. But if he actually succeeds in putting together a team and get on the ballot in most states, then he could be a serious spoiler candidate and make no mistake about it, the candidate that he would hurt would be Joe Biden. Having said that, I do believe that after four years of the disaster that has been the Trump presidency, there is very little appetite for another dimwit narcissistic celebrity candidate.

Setting aside the fact that it is now implausible in most states for him to get on the ballot, what evidence do you have that 'the candidate that he would hurt would be Joe Biden'?

To be fair, polling data indicates that Democrats are hurt by independent candidates far more than Republicans. One wouldn't think that Justin Amash would hurt Ds more than Rs, but he absolutely would have. I'm sure it's the same with Kanye West.

The real issue here is that there is no feasible chance of him getting on even a handful of state ballots, and that's assuming he was actually serious about this and willing to invest tens of millions of dollars which he almost certainly isn't. I read that he just released the first single for his new album a couple days ago, so this is probably either a publicity stunt for his album or a manic episode.

I'll have to strongly disagree with the bold--Amash was bound to hurt Biden more than Trump because Biden is leading partly on the backs of centrist voters and disaffected Republicans--many of who would rather vote for somebody closer to the center (from their standpoint) than a Democrat.

[Hammy]

I'd wait until we find out whether this is legit or a temporary publicity stunt before making apocalyptic remarks about Kanye costing Biden the election. Even IF he's running, he'll probably get 1-3% in most states, mostly from voters who were not at all on Biden's side anyways. I wouldn't worry too much.

Making apocalyptic remarks about the election is Atlas tradition.

[Hammy]

Why is this obvious joke from a joke "candidate" any serious attention? Even if he tries to run, he will go nowhere. Let alone obstacles to get on the ballot in a significant number of states, especially within a very short period of time.

It's getting serious attention from folks who think any independent candidate that joins the race who is <50 and/or non-white means Trump automatically wins re-election.

I don't know what it says about them, their faith in Biden coalescing both demographics or their awareness of Kanye West in the last decade

It's more a matter of name recognition and pretty much anybody to the left of Trump, as Trump's voters are pretty much baked in and wont go for anybody else unless they think he's not going far enough.

[Hammy]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2020/07/08/kanye-west-says-hes-done-with-trump-opens-up-about-white-house-bid-damaging-biden-and-everything-in-between/#225ea1db47aa

Apparently he is running under the "Birthday Party" with help from Elon Musk and a VP already picked out.

Barely attacks Trump, unloads on Biden.

Says he is suspicious of Coronavirus and that Planned Parenthoods were placed in black neighborhoods to "do the devil's work".

So he admits he's running with the intention of getting Trump reelected? And funny how he's "done with Trump" yet essentially and bizarrely using white nationalist rhetoric.

[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.

[Hammy]

Wouldn't surprise me if he backed out of running only to change his mind because he's mentally ill.

I’m not saying you’re doing it but I feel like there’s been a lot of ridicule towards Kanye because of his mental condition and it don’t feel right to me.

I am bipolar and while mine is 'lesser' so to speak (I have Bipolar II, the manic phases are MUCH more subdued--'hypomania', Kanye more than likely has BP I) I can safely say even with this that it can lead to making planning decisions that you have neither the sustained mental energy or stability to actually carry out--my house is a perpetual mess because of all the cleaning projects I start and never finish--hypermanic phases can amplify this beyond exponentially.

[Hammy]

https://twitter.com/OKelections/status/1283516745630781440

This sounds more serious than I thought, actually.

(Especially considering that Oklahoma is apparently the strictest state when it comes to third party qualifying for the ballot: the Democrat and the Republican were the only people on the ballot in 2004, 2008 and 2012)

Oklahoma is the easiest state to get on the ballot. All it takes is a $35,000 fee and a statement that your running.

So why are third parties so scarce on Oklahoma presidential ballots? Is it because they cannot or do not want pay thirty-five thousand dollars?

This is the most likely reason. A lot of smaller parties might have enough grassroots support to make signature requirements but lack the funds to purchase ballot access.

[Hammy]

Is this going to hurt Biden?

I should think so. The deadline may have passed in Florida but there's still plenty of time for him to get on the ballot in Arizona and Wisconsin, in which case it's game over for Uncle Joe.

Why would an additional candidate who was openly a Trump supporter and whose platform is based upon being anti-abortion and anti-gay draw hurt Biden?

Because people here have a racist view of things and assume Kanye will get a large enough section of the black vote that it will hurt Biden.

Or because a lot of Biden's supporters aren't too keen on the guy, just want to beat Trump and might be willing to vote for Kanye West if he could convince enough people his candidacy was viable.

More importantly, because Trump is closer to his absolute floor right now than Biden is. That means it's easier (in theory) for a semi-credible third party to poach Democratic votes than Republican ones.

On the flip side of this, this is why the fact that a lot of people voting Against Trump rather than For Biden is important--it means they're less likely to flip if they find somebody else to vote for, as defeating Trump is a priority rather than having a like-minded candidate.

[Hammy]

idk why people were saying he was "out." All he did was cease operations in Florida because it wasn't possible. He continued to file paperwork after Florida and now he's on Oklahoma's ballot. He's not giving up yet imo

Atlas has a bad habit of completely denying reality if it isn't something favorable to them--look how completely hostile people were to the mere idea of even discussing this topic when it came up.

[Hammy]

idk why people were saying he was "out." All he did was cease operations in Florida because it wasn't possible. He continued to file paperwork after Florida and now he's on Oklahoma's ballot. He's not giving up yet imo

Atlas has a bad habit of completely denying reality if it isn't something favorable to them--look how completely hostile people were to the mere idea of even discussing this topic when it came up.

No, people were annoyed that 10+ threads on Kayne were made in under 24 hours.

I'll give you that, but there were also people getting pushy in this thread for posters to quit talking about him as if he'd just vanish if they did.