Kanye West announced on Twitter Tuesday that he was taking a break from politics, after being tied to a “Blexit” campaign encouraging black voters to leave the Democratic Party. But his “break” from politics was as short-lived as his dalliance with Republican activists; Thursday, the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that ‘Ye cut a second check — this time for $126,000 — to a Chicago mayoral candidate who identifies as a “Democratic Socialist.”
On Monday, Kanye West announced on his Twitter feed that he’d donated $73,000 to Amara Enyia, a “little known” Chicago mayoral candidate backed by his friend and fellow artist (and Chicago native), Chance the Rapper.
— ye (@kanyewest) October 23, 2018
Thursday morning, the Chicago Sun-Times announced that Kanye had cut an additional $126,000 check to Enyia, bringing his total donation to just shy of $200,000.
“Kanye has an interest in investing in Chicago, his hometown, and is welcome to act on those interests at any time. We think it is valuable that he is able to focus his efforts on his creative work and on supporting the platform that he believes will help move our city in the right direction,” Enyia’s campaign spokesperson told the Sun-Times, crediting Kanye and Chance with elevating Enyia’s upstart candidacy by giving it national exposure.
Kanye West could argue that there are no “conservative” options available in the race to replace outgoing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel — after all, any Republican operation within the city is anemic, at best, and no member of the GOP has ever been considered a serious contender for Chicago’s top office.
But if ‘Ye wanted to support a Republican-like candidate, there are options, and they aren’t Enyia. In fact, among Democratic contenders, Enyia is among the furthest left — a “Democratic socialist,” though she may hate being described as such.
Enyia’s platform includes “nationalizing” banks that operate within Chicago city limits, promoting “collective ownership” of businesses, scaling back the police budget in favor of “block clubs,” raising taxes, creating an “office of equity” to monitor wealth inequality among Chicago residents, and replacing an appointed school board — which operates independently from teachers’ unions — with an “elected” school board, which would quickly be filled with union lackeys.
When Enyia accepted Kanye’s first check, opponents criticized her for implicitly approving Kanye’s connection to Donald Trump, but she took the donation as evidence that Kanye supports and believes in her agenda.
“He’s talked about stop-and-frisk. He’s talked about criminal justice reform. He talked about extending mental health services in communities. He has talked about the need to invest economically in communities. He has talked about bringing some of his companies back to Chicago to create jobs,” she said.
Unfortunately for Enyia, West and Chance the Rapper are pretty much her only donors.
