Kanye’s campaign is this year’s most dangerous distraction

Illustration by Roe

The Kanye West campaign is simply an attempt to take votes from Joe Biden. A vote for him will utterly diminish your voice and give Trump an advantage.

In his exclusive interview with Forbes, Kanye West allocated the outcome to the presidential race as the sole responsibility of God. He also perceived Trump’s current position as God’s work, ignoring all of the president’s offensive and lethal actions during his presidency. West’s support of Trump supposedly ended, but he continued to call Trump “special.”

Kanye has made evident his contempt for Democrats and how they have manipulated Black Americans in particular for decades. It’s clear that West wishes for a type of voter awakening among his people.

Now, West dives into the middle of a contest between two deeply flawed political pillars. Over the last five months, there has been anger surrounding Trump’s deadly COVID-19 inaction and his antagonizing comments toward the Black Lives Matter movement, which he has described as a “symbol of hate” in early June. Calls for police reform have been handled with little care, and defunding the police under his watch is absolutely out of the question. 

Biden’s promise of winning the 2020 election is a bogus “return to normalcy.” He claimed voters weren’t Black if they did not vote for him. His staunch support of the war on drugs and the 1994 crime bill, should raise eyebrows as it led to the mass incarceration of primarily Black people and other people of color.

Though Kanye will not be on every state ballot, he predicted he would steal Black votes to hurt Biden’s campaign in the Forbes interview. Reports say he is pulling in 2%’s worth of support from Black voters, which is 2% too many. 

In 2018, he said American slavery was a choice that Black people made. He even undermined the legacy of Harriet Tubman during his campaign rally rant this year, making the “woefully uninformed” claim that she “never actually freed the slaves.”

Whether West wants to admit it or not, his presence in the race is merely an attempt to divert votes, specifically the Black vote, from Biden and reap whatever benefits he can while having the country’s attention. This may be obvious to voters, but influential celebrities have endorsed his candidacy. They and many others see West as the “pure” candidate. 

Both Biden and Trump have documented accusations of sexual assault and a history of racism spanning several decades.

Currently, West is not facing any rape allegations or accusations of being seriously racist despite troubling comments on the Black community and is immensely influential in the world of music and fashion.

Still, not being an alleged rapist or a racist should be the bare minimum of criteria needed to become president.

People have suffered under Trump, and they will continue to suffer to varying degrees if Biden is victorious as he is no savior. But championing Kanye West is simply amplifying the game he is playing with the media.

Again, the Kanye West campaign is simply an attempt to take votes from Joe Biden. Make the wiser choice in the presidential election.