Kanye West says God told him to run for president

Kanye West(Photo: ABC)

Kanye West says God told him to run for president and he's chosen a Christian life coach as his running mate. 

The Grammy Award-winning rapper told Forbes magazine that "God just gave me the clarity and said it's time."

The decision follows his highly publicized conversion to Christianity last year, which sparked a new music project called Sunday Service that went nationwide, and some chart-topping gospel albums

The rapper told Forbes he believes God "appoints" the president and that it may come this time round for him or at the next ballot in 2024. 

"Let's see if the appointing is at 2020 or if it's 2024 — because God appoints the president," he said.

"If I win in 2020 then it was God's appointment. If I win in 2024 then that was God's appointment."

West then backtracked on his support for President Trump, hinting that he doesn't think much of his performance in office. 

"It looks like one big mess to me," he said, although he spoke positively of Trump's commitment to faith groups. 

"Trump is the closest president we've had in years to allowing God to still be part of the conversation," he said. 

He then said both Trump and Democratic contender Joe Biden should quit the presidential race. 

He went on: "It's God's country, we are doing everything in service to God, nobody but God no more. I am in service of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and I put everything I get on the line to serve God.

"Reinstate in God's state, in God's country, the fear and love of God in all schools and organizations and you chill the fear and love of everything else.

"So that was a plan by the Devil — to have our kids committing suicide at an all-time high by removing God, to have murders in Chicago at an all-time high because the human beings working for the Devil removed God and prayer from the schools. That means more drugs, more murders, more suicide."

The rapper was also open about his opposition to abortion, describing himself as "pro-life because I'm following the word of the Bible". 

His pro-life views extend to capital punishment too. 

He quoted the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" and said he was "against the death penalty". 

When he was asked about George Floyd's death and the wave of Black Lives Matter protests, he said it was time for "praying and kneeling".

For his running mate, West is reported to have chosen Michelle Tidball, who runs a Christian life-coaching organization called Abundant Ministries.