Kanye West announces 'Birthday Party' for presidential bid

Kanye West has now confirmed he has registered as an independent presidential candidate for the US 2020 election as part of a new political party he has founded named the ‘Birthday Party’.

In an interview Forbes magazine Kanye's revealed he chose the name “because when we win, it's everybody's birthday.”

He also confirmed his running mate is a preacher from Wyoming named Michelle Tidball, and the pair's campaign slogan is simply: “YES!”

West, who has been at his Wyoming home with family for most of the quarantine according to wife Kim Kardashian’s Instagram, also revealed he had coronavirus in late February but didn’t mention how he might have contracted it.

The rapper and Yeezy designer gave credit to God for helping him overcome the virus, and deciding to run for president.

“We pray. We pray for the freedom,” he told the publication. “It’s all about God. We need to stop doing things that make God mad.

“God just gave me the clarity and said it’s time. Now it’s time. And we’re not going crazy, we’re going Yeezy, it’s a whole ’notha level now.”

Kanye West responde preguntas durante un servicio en la iglesia Lakewood en Houston. (AP Foto/Michael Wyke, Archivo)
Kanye is running under the 'Birthday party'. Photo: AP

And although West doesn’t have many plans in terms of policy, saying, “I don’t know if I would use the word policy for the way I would approach things,” he cited the Wakanda model of management that he hopes to implement in the White House.

“A lot of Africans do not like the movie [Black Panther] and representation of themselves in…Wakanda. But I’m gonna use the framework of Wakanda right now because it’s the best explanation of what our design group is going to feel like in the White House,” he explained.

“That is a positive idea: you got Kanye West, one of the most powerful humans — I’m not saying the most because you got a lot of alien level superpowers and it’s only collectively that we can set it free.”

The foundation of the model he explained is innovation and collaboration. “We are going to work, innovate, together,” he concluded. “There is going to be a mix of big pharma and holistic.”

West revealed other plans like reinstating prayer in schools, being against the death penalty and being pro-life. He also explained how his campaign slogan “YES!” was inspired by one of his songs.

“Well my second album is called Late Registration. I got a rap … The other thing is, my campaign is Kanye West YES, not YEP, not YEAH. YES. YES. YES,” he shared.

“When I’m president, let’s also have some fun. Let’s get past all the racism conversation, let’s empower people with 40 acres and a mule, let’s give some land, that’s the plan.”

Additional reporting by Kerry Justich and Bang Showbiz.

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