October 29, 2020

"And while Trump had to mount a (successful) hostile takeover of the Republican Party, [Kanye] West’s run indicates a far less difficult path as an independent candidate for any celebrity..."

"... willing to spend the money and actually do a little bit of work. There’s no reason to think that it won’t happen in the future, and West has shown the path. Without lifting a finger to campaign or formulating a single discernible policy, he will receive tens of thousands of votes in November. If, in 2024, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson or Oprah Winfrey or even Kanye’s wife, Kim Kardashian, decides to mount a bid for the White House, there is a road map. With a little bit of foresight and the same investment of over $10 million that West has made in his campaign, there’s no obstacle to getting on the ballot in a majority of the states. And if the candidate decides to actually campaign, articulate some basic policy goals, and maybe even raise some money, then that person could become a political force to be reckoned with. After all, unlike more obscure third-party candidates, there is no need to build name ID or desperately solicit media attention....  This all may seem far-fetched, but this type of celebrity politics has already taken root across the globe and simply represents a natural extension of what has already happened in the U.S. with Trump and the lines between political allegiance and stan culture growing increasingly blurry. These trends will only accelerate and, for all his megalomaniacal pretensions, Yeezus may just be the John the Baptist of this new age in politics, a prophet who heralds the coming of a celebrity candidate who could actually blow up American politics."































"St. John the Baptist Preaching," c. 1665, by Mattia Preti.

53 comments:

Mr Wibble said...

Yeah, considering the quality of our current crop of elected leaders, I'm not so sure Kanye could do any worse.

MikeR said...

"he will receive tens of thousands of votes in November." Made that up. No one has a clue.

jnseward said...

I almost voted for him. I will definitely vote for him in 2024. Check out his Joe Rogan interview on youtube.

Kay said...

You could do a lot worse this election than voting for Kanye. By “worse” I mean voting for the dem or gop candidate who both suck.

Kate said...

A "John the Baptist"? Yikes, dude. Get some Christian friends.

The Left still doesn't understand what's happening. It's not "stan" culture leading us to look at alternative candidates. We're looking for someone with the clout, experience, and money to take on the Deep State.

5M - Eckstine said...

While Kanye is much smarter than me he is also more unstable. But if Adam Schiff can achieve national office so can Kanye.

Rick said...

The key essence of a road map is getting you where you want to be. It's pretty foolish to claim tens of thousands of votes proves the map exists unless tens of thousands of votes is your goal. Does anyone believe that?

50,000 votes is less than .0008 of the votes Trump received in 2016.

In fact Trump's run - (a) within a party (b) against no clear front runner and (c) with a popular issue everyone else running opposes - is the road map.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Love the painting-- chiaroscuro. Thought it was Caravaggio at first, but that's 'cause I'm a chump and a deplorable.

daskol said...

I sure hope so. Better than a politician is a low standard.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

We've already had celebrity Presidents, this is nothing new at all.

Washington
Adams
Jefferson
Grant
TR
Eisenhower

Grant and Eisenhower are the purest examples - war winners who then became political figures. Sure, they weren't media celebrities, but that's just a modern twist on an old story.

Part of Trump's genius is realizing that politics is entertainment now, and love him or hate him you cannot avoid him. Rather like the Kardashians.

Michael K said...

More mush from the wimps.

Wince said...

Never mind the "celebrity," show me the politician who can combine Trump's adroit niche positioning on the issues that avoided the "free everything for everyone" retreat, along with the courage that most celebrities and politicians find hard to muster when confronted by the establishment or the mob.

wendybar said...

We have him Kate....Trump!!

robother said...

"Stan culture"? Is there some "Stan the Man" cult I've never heard of taking over our politics? Is it somehow related to the Poor Boys? Can Trump call on them to stand down, or at least stand by?

Birkel said...

"Hostile takeover of the Republican Party"

Translates to:

"Was approved by a majority of Republican shareholders in a proxy fight because previous management had done a terrible job investing political capital"

stever said...

Ross Perot's vanity got us the full Clinton era (currently active) so I'm not expecting anything good. After all, its politics.

mikee said...

I have been told for four years now that TRUMP is the celebrity candidate, already arrived, announced, elected, inaugurated, and resisted. This presentation of Kanye as a presidential candidate seems like a bit of a bait and switch, from the successful celebrity candidate TRUMP to the Pat Paulson, Ralph Nader, Angela Davis, H. Ross Perot joke candidacies of my youth.

Like the times on Rick & Morty, South Park, Family Guy, and other shows, when the characters break the fourth wall and declare that The Simpsons already did a show about some wacky idea, this presentation is trying to sell us on the future occurrence of an already fully realized event.

And suggesting Kanye might get tens of thousands of votes is simply a subtle attempt at drawing votes away from Trump, because every vote is sacred, every vote is great, and if Trump should lose one, thank God, it may swing the state.

tcrosse said...

It reminds me of Jesse Ventura running for Governor of Minnesota and beating the unsatisfactory candidates of both major parties. But when it came time to govern, he had to face the implacable hostility of the partisans in the state legislature. An independent president would face the same sort of thing in Congress.

Birkel said...

Kay comes here to pretend to be ambivalent.
Moby elsewhere, Kay.

CJinPA said...

Trump's celebrity helped, but it was his unique stance on policy and cultural issues that made him a legitimate candidate. If West or any celeb doesn't have that, it won't make a dent.

Rory said...

"After all, unlike more obscure third-party candidates, there is no need to build name ID or desperately solicit media attention...."

Someone should have told this to Hillary in 2015. She might not have promoted Trump as a credible candidate if she knew that Trump had other advantages that arose from being a household name.

Mal said...

In the future, everyone will be a Presidential candidate for 15 minutes.

WK said...

Kanye has 4 years to organize and the money to get on the ballot in all states. Interesting to see if he could orchestrate a third party in that time period that actually promoted viable senate and house candidates. Having a third party as president isnt as interesting as also having a few in congress as well. Senator Oprah from IL. Senator Moore from MI. Senator Rogan from TX. A 42-45-13 senate mix of parties would be entertaining. Actually have to compromise on things. I listened to some of his interview on Rogans podcast. Like to see him try out some of his ideas as governor of California first before giving him a run at president.

LA_Bob said...

What on earth is "stan" culture?

First hit on Google:

"According to Merriam Webster's dictionary, the term “stan” is defined as, “an extremely or excessively enthusiastic or devoted fan,”...

Odd, since the word "fan" is short for "fanatic". So a stan is a super fanatic?

Great! Do we really need a "Stantifa"?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Wow how far does the analogy go? Will the Real Candidate to come be West’s cousin? Will West be imprisoned for telling his story? Will the killer dance moves of a jealous celebrity really convince the ruling party to behead Yeezy? Politics is about to get fucking real y’all.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

We're looking for someone with the clout, experience, and money to take on the Deep State.

The elimination of the "to the victor goes the spoils" civil service system was a mistake. Replacing the federal bureaucracy every four to eight years kept the government from accruing to much power.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I'd rather have Kanye that the parade of corrupt democrat party dried up old family-grifting money whores that make up the elite Pelosi-Biden-Clinton-CNN-Dorsey democratic party.

Just some rando on the interwebz said...

If you keep offering people a choice of two shit sandwiches but maybe one of the shit sandwiches is on artisanal bread with heirloom tomatoes don't be surprised if people start going to a different sub shop. Personally I think any celebrity that goes independent is still going to be just a spoiler but things have been getting weirder and weirder in politics lately so who knows.

Howard said...

George Clooney

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Kanye doesn't take this seriously. A candidate that doesn't campaign and ask for my vote isn't worth my vote. He's just on a vanity journey. Go away, Kanye.

DavidD said...

What is “stan culture“?

Joe Smith said...

Trump mounted the Republican party? I knew he was a rapist.

Schwarzenegger did it first and he was a terrible governor.

Looks like a Caravaggio to me...

bleh said...

Didn't Ross Perot "show the way" first w/r/t mounting a third-party campaign? He had some name recognition in 1992, he spent millions of his own money on infomercials, he managed to get his name on every state's ballot, and he polled well enough to get on the debate stage with Clinton and Bush. He got nearly 20 million votes.

jaydub said...

Puts a whole new perspective on "Keeping up the the Kardashians." Kim would make a great secretary of state, though, and maybe Kanye could entice Cardi B to perform a patriotic version of "Wet Ass Pussy" at the inauguration. That should pack the mall.

NCMoss said...

At least Hillary and Bloomberg's failure is somewhat proof that you can't buy your way into the presidency. Heaven help us if google and social media provide the tipping point for 2020.

traditionalguy said...

Kanye’s talent in communication is near the top of the human race. So speculating that if he can do it, then so can anyone is moron level analysis.

Whiskeybum said...

Without lifting a finger to campaign or formulating a single discernible policy...

If, in 2024, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson or Oprah Winfrey or even Kanye’s wife, Kim Kardashian, decides to mount a bid for the White House, there is a road map.


Do either of these statements cause any concern for anyone?

Here we go again, looking to Hollywood/Nashville for leadership. Why would we trust the running of the country to someone blustering in a Joe Rogan interview? Kanye can state whatever wonderful sounding ideas he has, because he knows he's not going to win the presidency and have to actually implement any of them.

Trump was also one of the celebrity candidate back in 2016 - that's why so many of us were very concerned at the time when he was winning the Republican primaries. However, he did at least have the experience of a successful business manager, so we listened to what he had to say. And overall, we agreed with him: having pride in America, embracing many traditional conservative values, and wanting to start pulling back from the deep state. And most importantly, he said out loud what he would do to get there. I don't hear the same level of clarity coming from the Kanye/Oprah sides of the conversation.

tim maguire said...

Trump paves the way, but Jacobs really really doesn't want to credit Trump with anything, so he writes about Kanye. Except Kanye hasn't done anything politically and it all doesn't work. So he writes a thumb-sucking piece pretending to be a think piece and wastes an opportunity because he's too petty to give credit where credit is due.

Kay said...

Birkel said...
Kay comes here to pretend to be ambivalent.
Moby elsewhere, Kay.
10/29/20, 11:06 AM


Lol, fuck off.

pacwest said...

There will never be another President who isn't a celebrity of some sort. Media presence is the new standard. The unfortunate side effect of this is that the permanent beauracacy will be the true rulers.

Jon Ericson said...

Stan

Rick said...

Whiskeybum said...
Without lifting a finger to campaign or formulating a single discernible policy...


Wait a minute, did they switch to talking about Biden?

Readering said...

If Biden wins he will also be an influencer. A candidate who is very well known because of decades in the public eye does not have to campaign relentlessly in a way that might deter a celebrity used to no longer having to grind it out every day. (Although they probably did in their youth. No one was more disciplined than the young Arnold.)

Banjo said...

"It reminds me of Jesse Ventura running for Governor of Minnesota and beating the unsatisfactory candidates of both major parties. But when it came time to govern, he had to face the implacable hostility of the partisans in the state legislature. An independent president would face the same sort of thing in Congress."

The same thing happened to Arnie in California. They bent him and then broke him. Pitiful story.

Joe Smith said...

"Kim would make a great secretary of state, though..."

Kim would be the head of new department named 'Huge, disgusting, freakish, fake ass that no sane person wants to see, yet is constantly being exhibited for our approval.'

So we'll have the DHS, HHS, ATF, etc., and add HDFFATNSPWTSYICBEFOA (to make it convenient to say).

Ye likes big butts and he does not lie...

Jupiter said...

"This all may seem far-fetched ..."

More than just a seeming, I wot.

Kate said...

stan = stalker + fan

Reasonable, respectable ppl, like those on the Left, would never stan.

Birkel said...

No, Kay.
Just telling me to fuck off won't make your Moby act more convincing.

Literally nobody believes you.
Not even - and especially - Kay.

Birkel said...

No, Kay.
Just telling me to fuck off won't make your Moby act more convincing.

Literally nobody believes you.
Not even - and especially - Kay.

D.D. Driver said...

Literally nobody believes you.
Not even - and especially - Kay.


I believe Kay.

narciso said...

ah Ben Jacobs, thats the one who was pounded into the ground, by gianforte, back around the time of the special election, he's now running for governor of montana,

Narayanan said...

Did these authors bother to compare the intelligence of Kanye West with foolishness of Carli Fiorina and Meg Whitman in California spending personal fortunes without attempting any grass roots at all? or to Mike Bloomberg from New York?

Tom T. said...

"Stan" comes from an Eminem song by that title, about a deranged super fan.