Hip-hop superstar Kanye West apparently wasn't kidding when he made a seemingly spontaneous presidential announcement at the 2015 Video Music Awards in August.
He told Vanity Fair in a new interview that not only is he "definitely" considering running for the White House in 2020, but suggested that he also plans to reinvent the entire campaign system.
"I want everyone to win. When I run for president, I'd prefer not to run against someone. I would be like, 'I want to work with you,'" West said.
"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."
And while West and his wife Kim Kardashian took selfies with and were thought to be supporters of 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, in the Vanity Fair interview, West name-dropped Republican candidate Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, saying he is the "most brilliant guy."
"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.
Carson is one of three political outsiders in the GOP field with absolutely no prior experience in public office, and interestingly enough, all three are leading the pack of more experienced, traditional candidates.
West, however, seems to have pitched himself as the ultimate outsider. "I hate politics. I'm not a politician at all. I care about the truth and I just care about human beings. I just want everyone to win, that's all I can say, and I think we can," he told Vanity Fair.
West also spoke of the VMA audience's reaction to his announcement and how it further convinced him that he should run for office.
"As soon as I said that, it was like, 'Wait a second, we would really be into that, because actually if you think about it, he's extremely thoughtful," he said. "Every time he's ever gotten in trouble, he was really jumping in front of a bullet for someone else. He's probably the most honest celebrity that we have.' I didn't approach that because I thought it would be fun. It wasn't like, Oh, let's go rent some jet skis in Hawaii. No, the exact opposite. 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."
