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Kanye West's campaign has spent millions trying to get his name on ballots from a bunch of states -- and most of the loot has gone to companies specializing in just that ... but which also have tangential ties to President Trump.

Ye's campaign filed its first financial report Friday with the FEC, and if you tally up his disbursements (what he/his campaign have spent personally) ... it comes to just under $6 million. If you go into the raw data, you can see exactly what he's spent and on what.

Between July and August, Ye and co. spent a little over $4 million on ballot access services -- sending hundreds of thousands to a handful of orgs that ... well, help someone get on a ballot (and quickly). There are three main LLCs he's gone to repeatedly, and some are headed up by guys that either used to work for Trump's campaign ... or were trying to.

One of the ballot companies Kanye hired is Fortified Consulting -- which, according to the Washington Post, has the same address of a consulting firm called the Lincoln Strategy Group ... run by a dude named Nathan Sproul, who worked on DT's 2016 campaign.

Here's another ... Ye dished out about a mil to a company called Atlas Strategy Group -- which is led by another guy named Gregg Keller ... who interviewed to be Trump's campaign manager in 2016. Interestingly, one other BAS company he used was one recently used by Pete Buttigieg ... Millennial Strategies based out of NYC. So ... not total bad optics, right???

Fact is, the money trail appears to lend at least some credence to the theory Kanye has allowed his campaign to be infiltrated by GOP operatives ... Trump ones, at that.

It's not a wonderful day in Mister Rogers' neighborhood, at least not when Donald Trump's in it ... so says his widow, who's got some choice of words for the President.

Joanne Rogers ripped Trump a new one after he decided to host his latest rally in Fred's hometown of Latrobe, PA -- which reportedly broke COVID-19 protocols by hosting more people than the legal limit set at 250 ... instead, the crowd was 7,000 strong.

She tells the Daily Beast she thinks Trump's a "horrible person," adding that she'd probably go into mourning if he's re-elected come November. Joanne says Trump's such a liar she can't trust anything he says, even the smallest thing.

Then comes a scathing line ... "This man is pathologically ill. Mentally ill." BTW, Joanne is a big Biden fan -- saying he's not too old at age 77 (she's 92), adding any gaffes Biden makes while speaking in public are probably a result of a stuttering issue he had when he was younger, rather than any mental ineptitude, as the Trump campaign has often suggested.

Kanye West's bid to appear on the ballot for president in Kentucky and Mississippi is in the works ... but he's not reached the finish line just yet.

The Kentucky Secretary of State's Office says Kanye submitted petitions Friday to get on the ballot as an independent candidate for prez.

State elections officials say they're still reviewing around 19,000 petition signatures submitted by Kanye, to determine if he qualifies to appear on the ballot. Ye needs 5,000 signatures from registered Kentucky voters.

Kanye also filed paperwork Friday to get on the ballot as an independent in Mississippi, according to the Secretary of State's Office in the Magnolia State, which says a decision on whether or not his petition is accepted or denied won't be finalized until Tuesday.

BTW ... Kentucky has 8 electoral votes and Mississippi has 6 electoral votes.

Kanye's attempts to get on the ballots in KY and MS come on the heels of a Thursday ruling from a judge in Arizona, barring him from appearing on the ballot in the swing state despite spending a fortune collecting signatures.

Donald Trump is denying that he declined to visit a military cemetery because he reportedly said, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers."

Trump blasted The Atlantic for its story, claiming Trump made repeated disparaging remarks about soldiers who were killed or injured during battle.

The mag also claimed Trump called the 1,800 soldiers who died during a famous WWI battle "suckers" for getting killed.

Trump claims the reason he skipped a visit to the military cemetery was because his helicopter couldn't fly because of bad weather and the Secret Service didn't feel it was safe to drive there.

As you know, Trump had incredibly harsh words for Senator and military hero John McCain, saying he wasn't a war hero because he was captured during the Vietnam War.

Trump had harsh words for McCain even after the Senator died of brain cancer.

President Trump says cops who use deadly force and shoot someone are exactly like nervous golfers who can't sink the last shot ... seriously, he compared the two.

DT sat down for an interview with FOX News' Laura Ingraham Monday night, and while discussing high-profile police incidents lately -- especially with Black men -- Trump brought up Jacob Blake ... saying the officer who fired 7 times might as well have been Tiger Woods on a bad day.

It was so outrageous and tone-deaf, even Ingraham tried to steer him away, but Trump stuck to his guns ... and said cops who use lethal force are like golfers who "choke."

Trump did question whether the Kenosha officer, Rusten Sheskey, could've done something else other than shoot -- like tackling him -- but the comparison he made is still shocking and utterly lacking in empathy. As you know, Blake is paralyzed from the waist down.

Kanye West says claims the President or the GOP are paying him to run a spoiler campaign are laughable, because he's already wealthier than Donald Trump!

Ye recently sat down with Nick Cannon to do a segment on his podcast, "Cannon's Class," and it looks like they got to talking about controversy they've both been embroiled in recently -- Nick's anti-Semitic remarks and Kanye's presidential run.

Nick says folks have accused Kanye of being a mere puppet of the Republican Party -- and some have even speculated they're shelling out big dough to keep Ye's political ship afloat. Well, he had a perfect comeback for that ... and it came at the expense of his pal, Donald.

You'll have to watch yourself to see how Kanye worded it, 'cause it definitely got a laugh out of Nick (us too, frankly). Bottom line though ... Ye says he's virtually un-bribable.

Nick gets to another point -- which will be explored more when the full episode comes out Tuesday -- and it touches on whether Kanye believes he can actually win this thing ... and whether it's reasonable for him to be running at all. In response, another zinger from Ye.

President Trump's trip to hurricane-ravaged Louisiana capped off with an unseemly sight -- him handing out his autograph to city officials ... telling them to sell it for $10k a pop.

DT flew down to Lake Charles Saturday -- which was just torn through by Hurricane Laura -- and after holding a news conference with some FEMA officials on hand, 45 stuck around to give his John Hancock to fans, notably ... LC officials.

He's done it before, but this time it looks terrible for 2 reasons. First, there are people who lost everything in the storm, so jokes not appreciated. Second, the idea that the President is signing autographs and telling recipients to sell it on eBay ... well, as they say, it is what it is.

A white man wearing blackface pissed off protesters in D.C. and got sucker-punched as cops were leading him away ... which sparked a wild police chase on foot.

A crowd of mostly Black Lives Matter and anti-Trump protesters gathered near the White House late Thursday night after President Trump accepted the presidential nomination to close the Republican National Convention.

However, one guy in blackface stood out like a sore thumb, angering some of the protesters who shouted he was racist and loudly encouraged him to get the hell outta Dodge.

As a few cops were intervening, a man recording the incident shouts "Blackface!" as another man came from behind and punched the guy in blackface.

The officers took off running after the attacker, and caught him on the street after a short pursuit -- but it was a crazy scene as they tried to nab him.

It's unclear if he was arrested, or what happened to the white guy in blackface. We've reached out to law enforcement.

Jacob Blake's father arrived to the "Commitment March" locked armed with supporters ... telling TMZ his son's fighting for his life.

We got Jacob Blake Sr. marching at the 'Get Your Knee Off Our Necks' event Friday at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and he said his brothers -- and the event itself -- are holding him up.

Jacob's family -- along with the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor -- will be joined by thousands expected to show up for this march. It comes on the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech.

As you can see in the pics and video ... most attendees are socially distancing and wearing face coverings.

Martin Luther King III -- who was just 5 years old when he attended his father's speech -- and Rev. Al Sharpton are attending the event to push for an end to police violence, systemic racism and advocate for voting rights. All eerily similar goals to the historic 1963 march.

The event is that much more poignant as it comes on the heels of yet another Black man, Jacob Blake, who was shot in the back 7 times at point-blank range by police in Kenosha -- and Friday's march was organized after the funeral for George Floyd.

Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery's families are also expected to attend.

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, is out and about visiting cornfields and assessing damage from storms ... just days after reports claiming he's on his death bed.

The dictator held an ear of corn and spoke with officials Thursday following Typhoon Bavi hitting the South Hwanghae Province this week ... and the photos obviously fly in the face of claims he's in a coma.

Of course, it's hard to know what to believe when it comes to North Korea and KJU, so it's anyone's guess.

As we reported ... Chang Song-min -- a former aide to the late S. Korean President Kim Dae-jung -- told South Korean media Kim was in a coma and close to death based on intel he'd received.

This news came shortly after N. Korea's own National Intelligence Service said that Kim would be gradually transferring some authority to his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, to "ease stress."

So, the coma theory could be plausible ... but it might also just be a bunch of corny nonsense.

Jacob Blake's dad says he spoke to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for a full hour and he found it comforting because it felt like he was talking to family.

Blake's father, who's also named Jacob, says he and Blake's mother's were nervous at first to talk with the Democrats' Presidential ticket ... but says Biden and Harris calmed them down. The elder Jacob said, "I don't think people understand the worry of a mother. That's her baby."

He revealed how the conversation went down Friday morning on CNN's "New Day" ... saying it felt "like I was speaking to my uncle and one of my sisters -- literally, literally." Jacob's father added, "It felt like they knew what was going on. And, they didn't act like they were in a hurry to go anywhere. They spent time with us."

When asked if President Trump has reached out, Jacob said, "That's a negative." Trump also never mentioned Jacob Blake's name during his RNC nomination acceptance speech.

Jacob's father, who referred to Biden and Harris as President and Vice President, also touched on his son's leg being shackled to his hospital bed.

As we reported ... Blake's dad was furious after finding out his son was handcuffed to his hospital bed during a Wednesday visit. He questioned why that was even necessary since Jacob's paralyzed from the waist down after taking 7 shots to the back from a cop. Jacob's father said his son asked, "Why did they shoot me so many times?"

Jacob's dad pointed out ... "He can't go anywhere. Why do you have him cuffed to the bed?"

Kanye West is going after the top election official in Ohio for allegedly going out of his way to keep Ye off the presidential ballot ... according to a new lawsuit.

Kanye's suing the state's Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose days after the election head rejected nearly 15,000 signatures and other paperwork submitted by Kanye's campaign, which deemed him unqualified as an independent candidate for Prez.

LaRose cited mismatched info on the documents as the reason for tossing them out, but according to Kanye's suit ... he didn't have the right to do that in the first place.

Kanye's lawyers claim it's LaRose's duty to accept any petition for an independent candidate as long as there is no protest filed and it doesn't break any Ohio laws.

The emergency filing to get Kanye on Ohio's ballot comes as his presidential bid is reeling -- he was booted off the crucial Wisconsin ballot last week, along with coming up short in Montana.

He was also removed from the ballot in his home state of Illinois -- even after dropping at least $30k to get on it -- because election officials said more than half his submitted signatures were invalid.

President Trump's MAGA hats are trenched in the right-wing of the Republic Party ... but Hollywood's flipping that script with one helluva twist.

A bunch of celebs are proudly wearing their own version of MAGA hats ... whether it's Ashton Kutcher, Miley Cyrus or Nev Schulman looking to change it up with Make America Gay Again or Jermaine Dupri craving better taste in music with his Make Hip Hop Great Again.

Check out the pics ... Lakers superstar LeBron James had the best MAGA hat remix when he demanded justice for Breonna Taylor by wearing a fake MAGA hat that reads, "Make America Arrest the Cops Who Killed Breonna Taylor" with the words "Great Again" crossed out.

Pete Buttigieg says he was floored to see President Trump use the military as prop to help him get re-elected.

We talked to the former Democratic presidential candidate Wednesday on "TMZ Live" and he talked about how hurtful it was for him -- an Afghanistan war vet -- to see the 2 military men open the doors for Trump during what some are calling a stunt -- swearing people in as American citizens as part of the show.

A White House official skirted the issue, saying the campaign only capitalized on what was already a planned WH event. But, this wasn't on Trump's public schedule, so ...

Mayor Pete had some props for Melania Trump and her speech ... problem is, according to PB, she could not have been talking about her husband.

Kinda funny ... he says he'd like to meet the guy Melania was talking about.

Kanye West is pulling out all the stops to get on the ballot in a crucial swing state that he sorta needs to have half a chance at this thing ... and it's home to the Grand Canyon!

Sources tell TMZ ... Ye and his campaign are doing a full blitz to get his name in front Arizona voters' eyes come November, and a big part of that will lie in what KW and co. are willing to spend to get it done. Brace yourself ... we hear they'll drop half a mil if needed.

The devil's in the details ... we're told the 3rd-party petitioning group Ye has hired to gather signatures, Let the Voters Decide, is sending upwards of 100 people into the Copper State over the next week to try and gather 37,769 names ... the required number to get in.

Our sources say petitioners on the ground are getting paid $8 for every signature collected, so if you do the math ... that adds up quick. Ye's got money to blow though, obviously. Fact is ... Kanye needs Arizona considering he's been booted off nearly as many ballots he's on.

If you've been keeping counts ... Ye has qualified to appear on November ballots in eight states thus far, and he's been nixed from seven others. Arizona's a major swing state, so he's gotta lock this down if he seriously wants to contend. He's almost breaking even here.

Bette Midler is under fire for making xenophobic comments during Melania Trump's RNC speech, tweeting, "Get that illegal alien off the stage!" and "Oh, God. She still can't speak English."

The First Lady gave her speech in the rose garden of The White House, something that has never been done before. There has always been a figurative wall between 1600 Pennsylvania and campaign speeches. President Trump also appeared during the broadcast in The White House, and he drew fire dragging the military into the campaign. Two members of the military opened the doors as Trump made his entrance.

As for Midler's comments ... she is in fact an American citizen. As some pointed out in reacting to Midler ... Mrs. Trump speaks 5 languages, Slovenian, English, German, French and Italian.