Amid speculation as to whether Kanye West will really pursue a presidential bid for the 2020 election, President Trump says he thinks the rapper will always have his back.
West announced that he was going to run for president this year over the weekend, expressing opposition for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and retracting his former support for Trump.
“Well, I like his voice being heard, but he’s always going to be for us … and his wife is going to be for us,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Thursday.
West currently hasn’t yet filed his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, and several states have already closed their filing windows for independent candidates to gain ballot access.
“That’s the problem, he’s missed some states, little thing like that,” Trump said. “He’s missed a few states, like about 12. So you have to do that, but he’s a very good guy. He is a person that I get along with very well, and in the end, I think he would support us over anyone else.”
The president recently called West’s potential White House bid an opportunity for a “trial run” for a 2024 candidacy. The president added that he believes the rapper has a “real voice.”
West told Forbes that he was taking off his Make America Great Again hat, which he formerly sported in support of Trump. The rapper is also married to reality TV star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian, who has gotten Trump to help push criminal justice reform. West also said if Trump weren’t on the ticket already as a Republican, he would run as one, but will instead plan to run as an independent.
