>> As we all know, Kanye West wants to be president.
And so to make his case he went on the most popular podcast, that's Joe Rogan's podcast
to make his case.
And so there were some moments from the interview that really stood out, but I wanna before
we play the videos just highlight why Joe Rogan's podcast is valuable.
Because it's not this overproduced, hyperproduced situation, it gives people this I think false
sense of confidence so they can speak for three hours straight without making any mistakes.
Or really showing that they are not prepared for what they claim their prepared for, or
that they're really not as great as they claim they are.
And I think that this interview was a perfect example of it.
So let's take a look at the first clip.
>> What if China takes over Taiwan, what if they invade Taiwan?
What if something happens with Syria?
What if something happens with Iran?
What if something happens with Russia and you have to make decisions about military
action?
Have you thought about this?
>> Yes I would.
>> So that's the video that you might have seen go viral on Twitter.
That was the first video I saw of the interaction.
But to be fair he did give an answer after that long pause.
So let's be fair, let's play it in some more context, and then we can have a discussion
about it.
Watch.
>> You have to make decisions about military action.
Have you thought about this?
>> Yes I would.
I have to say again, like COVID, I'm a civilian.
And people could have all their perspectives that they could have of what they would do
in that situation.
But I would have the greatest professionals on the planet.
The most skilled people that have all the experience that would present the information.
And I would make the most sound rational decisions, and I would follow God's will in my approach,
To, To dealing with these other countries, to dealing with these other leaders.
>> Okay, so there's more context for people who are ready to jump at us for not providing
a lengthier video of Kanye's answer.
But my take on it is that it still disastrous as I expected it to be, because Kanye West
is not an expert on foreign policy.
Kanye West hasn't really cared much about foreign policy, or at least not to the extent
that's necessary for someone who's going to be commander-in-chief.
I don't know how serious Kanye West has been about actually running for president.
But what I do know is that there is a certain portion of the country, tiny, tiny portion.
I wouldn't think that it's enough to really influence the election in one way or the other
who think that he's a genius.
>> Yeah.
>> They think that he has what it takes to be president.
And look, this is not an indictment on Kanye West.
This is an indictment on a lot of people who don't realize what the responsibility of that
job is.
To be a president is to be the ultimate public servant.
That is the point of being president.
It is meant to put your ego aside.
It's meant to put your own needs, your own businesses aside, in order to serve as a public
servant.
And we've moved so far away from that notion.
It's become a giant vanity project now for celebrities, for I mean reality show hosts
like Donald Trump, and we see what that's led to in this country.
Its lead to division, hostilities between Americans, its lead to economic crashes, its
lead to complete and utter disaster.
And it's not a joke, that's the thing that frustrates me the most about this whole situation.
That people see it as a joke, as like a fun little vanity project.
And look, Kanye West has some mental health stuff and I don't really wanna go there, and
I know that this is a story about Kanye West.
But I really wanna use this interaction to make a bigger point about how the presidency
of the United States shouldn't be seen as a fun little joke.
And I feel like people are treating it as such.
>> Okay, yeah I'll go there, I'll go there easily and often.
So if Kanye West has mental health issues and he just wants to sit in a studio and he
wants to make albums and, And lead his private life.
What am I gonna get in the guy's business for?
I'm a progressive.
Let's get him some help, it's all good.
But if you wanna run for president in the most consequential race of our lifetimes,
and this is a rare case when that's not hyperbole.
And you wanna try to skew it in favor of Donald Trump by taking votes away from the Democratic
candidate, when you have literally mathematically a 0% chance of winning.
I don't mean polling.
I mean he's not, he can't win enough states to become president cuz the idiot started
too late so he couldn't get on the ballot in most of the states.
He's on in a couple of swing states, and I guess the hope is he takes enough votes away
from Biden to help Trump win.
Cuz that's the only rational thing that could possibly, I mean, he literally cannot be president.
He's not in enough ballots.
He can't win enough Electoral College votes.
So you wanna say to me, hey, Kanye West is mentally ill.
Okay, then get him some help and don't put him on a ballot, etc.
Is everybody around him massively guilty of putting a mentally ill guy on TV, on podcasts,
and on ballots most importantly?
Yeah, I guess so, I guess they're all monsters.
But if we're pretending that he's not mentally ill, because that's what everybody's pretending,
right?
Kanye's smart, I hear people telling me Kanye's a genius.
If you're gonna tell me Kanye's a genius, then I'm gonna tell you Kanye is one of the
dumbest guys in the country.
Did you see that answer?
We didn't stop the tape.
He would actually go like this.
For two, three seconds before answering, cuz there's nothing up there.
Now, look guys, again, if he just wants to be a musician.
Well, what do I care?
And it's possible that you could be smart in some things and dumb in other things.
It's not just possible, it's definitely the case that our brains are structured in different
ways where you have different expertise, etc.
But think about how arrogant and elitist and entitled it is to say, even though I don't
know anything about policy or politics, I wanna be president.
Why?
Because I'm rich and I'm a genius.
And I do sneakers for a billion dollars or whatever he charges.
And I do white shirts for $250 that don't have any designs on them cuz I'm a genius.
I mean, I don't know who's dumber, Kanye West or the people who buy a white T-shirt for
$250 because Kanye, the genius, made it white.
Okay, so I mean this guy has been an idiot for a long, long time in things other than
music.
And if you can't see that, okay.
So but think about the arrogance, he hasn't thought about one foreign policy issue.
It's like me saying, hey, you know what, I'm gonna be a brain surgeon.
Cenk, would you operate on the brain?
I would hire the best experts and leave it to God's will.
No, no, you get a job, you get someone for that job, you get a brain surgeon.
You would never have someone operate on somebody's brain who says, I'll get other experts and
I don't know a thing about it, right?
But when it comes to politics and the President of the United States actually is not one person's
life on the line, as we've seen with coronavirus and countless other examples, the Iraq war
and almost every decision they make, literally millions of lives are on the line.
And Kanye, the arrogant prick that he is, goes around going, I don't know anything,
I'm gonna run anyway, I wanna be famous.
I wanna be more famous.
I want more money.
Remember when he ran out of money and then he went and begged Zuckerberg?
I'm a genius, you should give me more money cuz I took all the millions of dollars that
I had, just like Donald Trump, and I flushed it down the toilet like an idiot.
So now give me more money.
You owe it to me.
For what?
He owes the money for what?
So for all the Kanye apologists, go piss off.
And I don't care how much, I don't like you anymore.
Cuz I like Kanye's music, that's why I think you should help destroy the country.
I got no interest in you.
So look, I agree with Anna, Rogan does some public service here.
Cuz they trust him, they come on, he asked them honestly simple questions.
I mean, what would you do if China invaded Taiwan?
Is a tough question for a dentist.
For a person running for office, let alone president, that's a super simple question.
That's one of the first things that you would study up on, on foreign policy.
And Kanye's answer is.
So this has nothing to do with him being a rapper.
There's a rapper I'd love to have run for office, maybe even president.
His name is Killer Mike, okay?
You wanna see someone who's an actual genius?
Who's actually smart?
Who can actually talk politics and policy.
Go to Killer Mike.
You wanna bring an idiot like Kanye to do a show to try to get votes away from Biden
so Trump can win, go enjoy that, Show.