Kanye West withdraws support for Trump, blames response to COVID-19

Kanye West has withdrawn support for President Donald Trump ahead of the coming election in November.

Back in April, the rapper endorsed Trump for re-election as US president, crediting the politician for a booming real estate market.

On Sunday, Kanye announced that he would be running for the same seat, not in 2024 but in 2020 — a decision that was backed by Elon Musk, Tesla CEO.

Speaking with Forbes in a soliloquy spanning several topics, Kanye revealed that he was taking off his MAGA (Trump’s slogan) hat, blaming Trump’s response to the pandemic.

“There was something about putting this hat on that made me feel like Superman. Let’s stop worrying about the future, all we have is today. Trump is on his hero’s journey right now,” he said.

“He might not have thought he’d have a crazy mother-f***r like me (supporting him). I’m not saying Trump’s in my way, he may be a part of my way. And Joe Biden?

“Like come on man, please. You know. Obama’s special. Trump’s special. We say Kanye West is special. America needs special people that lead. Bill Clinton? Special. Joe Biden’s not special.”

Admitting he contracted the virus and recounting his COVID-19 struggle, Kanye said he lost confidence in Trump, having caught wind that the latter hid “under the bunkers” in recent times.

“It looks like one big mess to me. I don’t like that I caught wind that he hid in the bunker,” he said, maintaining that the February encounter had nothing to do with his thoughts on running this year.

“One of the main reasons I wore the red hat as a protest to the segregation of votes in the black community. Also, other than the fact that I like Trump hotels and the saxophones in the lobby.”

There have been mixed reactions about how the Trump administration has handled the COVID-19 pandemic in the US.

Trump accused the World Health Organisation (WHO) of helping China hide the severity of the pandemic and withdrew funding to the organisation.