Meet the Republican Who Launched the ‘Ready for Kanye’ PAC
Following Kanye West‘s VMAs declaration that he wants to run for president in 2020, 24-year-old Baltimore-native Eugene Craig on Monday registered ReadyForKanye.net and filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to register the Ready for Kanye political action committee.
Craig, whose favorite Kanye album is My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, spoke to Rolling Stone about his reasons for starting the PAC and how he’s preparing the world for President West.
Why did you file the FEC paperwork? Do you feel like you’re making a statement?
I think it is a statement. It’s a couple of things going on. First, it’s an opportunity to reach voters who ordinarily would not be in tune to the process, who are apathetic to the process. The second part of this is that a party that can openly accept Donald Trump has room for Kanye West. Donald Trump is shrinking the party — I’m a member of the Republican Party — and Kanye West brought us an opportunity to actually grow it. Thirdly, we have a gentleman in Mr. West who 1) stands for small business and entrepreneurship, has spoke out against corporatism; 2) is a school choicer, and has spoken about the racial disparities in regards to public school systems; and 3) has openly spoken out against the war on drugs and the pipeline that the war on drugs provides to the private prison systems. I think if you were to put those issues on a piece of paper and say, “What kind of candidate is that?” that sounds like a Republican candidate to me. And barring — and this is very important, I hope you quote this — barring a sitting Republican president — because that’s the only way I will support this, is if there’s no sitting Republican president — if Kanye is going to run in 2020, I would love to see him run in a Republican primary. He brings a lot to the discussion that’s missing.
How much money do you plan to raise for West’s campaign?
Right now, we haven’t discussed it. We’re not necessarily looking to raise money for Kanye, but I do think that if there’s no sitting Republican president and he decides to run, it would be nice to have some data mined and voters reached.
Why did you decide to do this now, when the 2016 election is still over a year away?
If we’re going to grab people who are interested, it’s best to strike when the iron is hot.
What do you think Kanye West can bring to the United States?
He brings an interesting foreign policy. He’s not for occupying every country in the Middle East. That’s a discussion that needs to take place right now.
Would you say that’s the platform West should run on?
I think it would be a great platform for him to run on.
Who should be his running mate?
I have no idea.