Judging by his website, presidential candidate Kanye West’s campaign is narrowly focused on an obscure gathering of libertarians set to take place in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the weekend of October 10.
At the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night, while accepting the Video Vanguard Award, West joked, “and yes, as you probably could’ve guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for president.”
Internet vultures wasted no time capitalizing on West’s announcement.
At 10:54 p.m., Ian Cioffi, a libertarian activist, took to Facebook, where he describes his political views as “Not boxed in,” to announce that he is now the “Proud owner of KanyeWest2020.com.”
Follow the link to the site, and you’re redirected to lfnyc.com, the website for LibertyFest NYC, “a yearly event that brings together speakers from many different political backgrounds. From Republicans, to Democrats, to Libertarians & even Anarchists.”
This year’s speakers include former New Mexico governor, presidential candidate and marijuana evangelist Gary Johnson, and Jimmy McMillan, who ran for president in 2012 as the self-appointed leader of “The Rent Is Too Damn High” party.
“I knew it would be a traffic generator,” Cioffi told me via Facebook chat. His goal, he said, was to bring attention to Liberty Fest.
Asked if he likes Kanye West, Cioffi said, “His music, yes. I wouldn’t vote for him. Although if Trump can do this well, he might have a chance.”
Cioffi’s right. Given that the current front-runner for the Republican nomination is a former reality television star, there is no reason why West couldn’t run himself. Not even being a college dropout could reflect poorly on candidate-Kanye: Scott Walker, who is polling in 5th place in the primary, didn’t finish college either.
But should West decide to actually mount a campaign in 2020, he may have difficulty settling on a domain name. Unfortunately for him, not only is KanyeWest2020.com already taken, but so is Kanye2020.com and KanyeForPresident.com.
JimmyKimmelFaceMotherFucker2020.com is available, however.
