Yes, Kanye West is "definitely" giving his 2020 presidential run some thought, but the way he wants to run for president is drastically different from how our political-campaign system is currently set up. He spoke about all of this during a recent interview with Vanity Fair.
"When I run for president, I'd prefer not to run against someone," West described. "I would be like, ‘I want to work with you,' " he continued, meaning, instead of running a campaign parallel to those of his opponents, he would want to work with the other candidates.
"I think all the people running right now have something that each of the others needs. But the idea of this separation and this gladiator battle takes away from the main focus that the world needs help and the world needs all the people in a position of power or influence to come together," West explained.
It's a beautiful kumbaya idea, but I'm not sure how the presidency would work if we put all the candidates in a position of power. Or how West is planning to merge all of their ideas into one so that there isn't "this separation." Plus, one candidate has to win—the U.S. Constitution doesn't allow for a multioccupancy presidency.
But that's probably why West doesn't like the current arrangement and why he doesn't consider himself status quo.
"I hate politics. I'm not a politician at all. I care about the truth and I just care about human beings," West said.
Oh, and West is loving one of the candidates in the current Republican campaiagn a bit more than the others: former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the only African American in that bunch.
"As soon as I heard Carson speak, I tried for three weeks to get on the phone with him. I was like, this is the most brilliant guy," he said.
West didn't say what he liked about Carson's agenda specifically, but he went on to say that if you took a bit of what each candidate wants to offer the country and put it all together, it would be a good combination. I pray he isn't talking about the current group of GOP candidates.
West said that he's not at all surprised that people took so well to the idea that he wants to run for president.
"As soon as I said that, it was like, 'Wait a second, we would really be into that, because actually, if you think about it, he's extremely thoughtful. Every time he's ever gotten in trouble, he was really jumping in front of a bullet for someone else. He's probably the most honest celebrity that we have.' "
West is taking his campaign very seriously and has already mapped out a plan for how he'd wage his campaign. He thinks it would be a full-circle moment, since his parents were intellectuals and cared deeply about social issues. (His mother, Donda West, died in 2007.)
"I sit in clubs and I'm like, 'Wow, I've got five years before I go and run for office, and I've got a lot of research to do, I've got a lot of growing up to do.' My dad has two master's degrees. My mom has a Ph.D.; she used to work at Operation PUSH. Somehow, the more and more creative I get, the closer and closer I get to who I was as a child. When I was a child, I was holding my mom's hand at Operation PUSH. I think it's time."
West 2020 is coming—just in case you thought it was a fluke.
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Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.