July has not been a kind month to Kanye West, who announced his presidential candidacy and had a subsequent breakdown at a campaign rally — all while dealing with very public mental-health issues that stem from his bipolar disorder. Elon Musk, that Cybertruck scion, was the instigator of one of those things. In a new interview with the New York Times, Musk admitted that he encouraged West to run for president, even though he thinks his buddy doesn’t have “his stuff together†for the job. “I’ve known him for at least ten years, maybe longer,†Musk explained. “I’ve done my best to convince him that 2024 would be better than 2020.†Musk also said that he reached out to West after his campaign rally on July 19, where West, among other things, questioned the influence of Harriet Tubman and admitted that he tried to make Kim Kardashian West get an abortion while pregnant with their first child.
“When he was about a third of the way through the tweet rampage, just to see if he was doing okay, I sent him a text saying, ‘You know, just checking on you, a lot of people are worried, just wondering if you’re okay,’†Musk explained. “And he called me back and he actually seemed fine. He video FaceTimed me and he was in Wyoming with a bunch of friends. He seemed fine on the call. But it sounds like things are, you know, not fine. There seem to be a lot of issues.†As Kardashian West put it earlier this week, West needs “compassion and empathy†right now amid his mental-health struggles.