The same goes for his unabashedly anti-abortion views. At a time when social conservatism is mostly an unedifying series of non-debates about the flag and kneeling and whether #MeToo (remember that?) has gone too far, Kanye sounds like Pat Buchanan in 1992, arguing for prayer in public schools and insisting that “We have to stop doing things that make God mad.” He has been open about his pro-life views for some time and has spoken more forcefully about the issue than the vast majority of Republican politicians.

With his typical marketing savvy, Kanye seems to have intuited that the kind of people who care the most about outlawing abortion in 2020 are also more likely to be concerned about toxic ingredients in common household products than with marginal tax rates (“I haven’t done enough research on that yet. I will research that with the strongest experts that serve God and come back with the best solution”). The real audience for his presidential bid — and for records like last year’s Jesus is King, released suspiciously close to the traditional Catholic feast of that name — are crunchy church-going homeschooling moms.