Kanye West says he wasn't joking at last month's MTV Video Music Awards when he announced he was
running for president in 2020.
"I sit in clubs and I'm like, 'Wow, I've got five years before I go and run for office and I've got a lot of research to do, I've got a lot of growing up to do,'" West told
Vanity Fair in a just-published interview.
He also said he would prefer not to "run against someone," but would prefer to work with someone.
The one candidate from the current field he singled out as admiring is Republican Ben Carson, the famed neurosurgeon.
"As soon as I heard [Ben] Carson speak, I tried for three weeks to get on the phone with him. I was like, 'this is the most brilliant guy,'" West said.
"And I think all the people running right now have something that each of the others needs. But the idea of this separation and this gladiator battle takes away from the main focus that the world needs help and the world needs all the people in a position of power or influence to come together."
West's official announcement came at the end of a rambling speech after he accepted MTV's Video Vanguard Award. At the beginning of the speech he admitted he had "rolled up a little something" beforehand to knock the edge off.
He ended by saying, "It's about ideas, bro. New ideas. People with ideas. People who believe in truth. And yes, as you probably could have guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for president."
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