Kanye West has returned to Twitter with a vengeance. Over the course of the last week, hip-hop's premiere provocateur has used the social media platform to announce the upcoming release of new music, double down on his support for Donald Trump, and unleash a steady flow of philosophical musings. But it's a cryptic tweet posted on Tuesday night that's causing the biggest uproar. The tweet in question, which read simply "2024," has some thinking that West has aspirations for the White House.
This wouldn't be the first time that West has showed interest in the presidency. In 2015, the rapper hinted at a 2020 run at the White House during a speech at the MTV Video Music Awards. Considering West's aforementioned support of Trump, he may have bumped his run to make way for the current president's potential second term.
If West does decide to run, he may have already found his base. By praising right-wing pundit Candace Owens in an earlier tweet, West has seemingly ingratiated himself with the conservative movement. After 2024 presidential campaign posters for the rapper emerged in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, in which the the slogan "Keep America Great" was written underneath a photo of West's face, right-wing street artists claimed responsibility, citing West's support of Owen's and calling it a "watershed moment" for the country, The Fader reports.
Kanye eventually caught wind of the posters and tweeted photos of them alongside a thinking emoji. The tweets were later deleted. Despite artists taking responsibility for the posters, it's still not entirely clear whether the images of the posters are indeed real, or the work of Photoshop.
Kanye's potential run for office may seem like a long shot considering his lack of political expertise, but recent history suggests experience doesn't matter. On Wednesday, West continued to lean into the idea of a presidential run with a series of tweets.
It also appears as though West wants to have the first ever presidency by committee, with Q-Tip as a potential co-president. And since Air Force One has Nike connotations, the Adidas company man has plans for that, too.
While West seems naturally confident about his political ascension, his right-wing political leanings are not sitting well with his fan base.
Meanwhile, conservative pundits like Bill O'Reilly and Alex Jones have embraced West with open arms for his right-wing about face. Is he just trolling everyone as a way to drum up publicity ahead of his dual album release? Or does he really plan on running for office? There's one thing we know for sure: The 2024 election is six years away and it's already exhausting.
