Kanye West dropped one doozy of a bomb when he declared his 2020 candidacy for president during a bizarre speech at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards. But as crazy as president Kanye sounds, it's not impossible.
"As you probably could have guessed by this moment, in 2020 I have decided to run for president," West told the stunned audience as he accepted the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. While most political pundits believe West would have better luck getting hit by lightning on a sunny Los Angeles day, they also acknowledge that the rules of the game have changed.
"Bill Clinton really lowered the bar when it comes to acceptable behavior in the Oval Office," professor of government at California's Claremont McKenna College, John Pitney, told TheWrap Monday.
Celebrities vying for the highest office in the land is not unheard of — Ronald Reagan did it. But West, experts say, is not a person that people associate with politics. At least not yet.
"He needs to show that he's serious," Pitney said. "Arnold Schwarzenegger was a big star but he'd been involved in Republican politics since the 1980s… Same goes for Ronald Reagan. Unless there's something I'm not aware of, Kanye West has done none of those things."
It's unclear how serious West is about his presidential aspirations, especially considering he admitted to rolling "up a little something" to knock "the edge off" right before taking the stage. But that hasn't stopped reputable news sites like MarketWatch from asking, "If Donald Trump can do it, why not Kanye West?"
