Perhaps it was last weekend’s conjunction of the Moon and Mars that prompted some very weird public shenanigans. The political tides carry the sharks that must constantly keep swimming in order to survive, lurking just beneath the surface as they plot their campaigns. First-time winners have to undertake the wrenching change of mindset from predator to prey. Soon-to-be former Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler recently gave us a glimpse of his dorsal fin, savaging the governor’s tepid response to the vandalism that marred weeks of racial justice protests in Denver. Consider this complaint as an early marker placed in the 2022 governor’s contest by a man still gasping for breath after being swept under the Blue Wave of 2018 in the Colorado attorney general’s race.

A puff piece appearing in the local media last week, profiling recently retired CEO Kent Thiry at national dialysis giant DaVita, reports the ambitious billionaire has abandoned any personal political aspirations in favor of building community strength. Could he be persuaded to reverse course and rescue state government at a time of profound crisis? Almost certainly. Jared Polis, of course, remains alive and well. But it’s not unreasonable to suspect our governor will be either unelectable or unbeatable in two years, depending on his success in navigating the COVID-19 rapids immediately ahead of him. His challenge is more than one of saving lives and propping up our health-care system.

Restoring Colorado’s first-in-the-nation economy, while adequately supporting our unemployed, our uninsured and the soon-to-be evicted will prove equally daunting. To date, Polis has curbed his libertarian instincts and complied with the science. Economist and columnist Paul Krugman accurately pointed out that the anti-maskers define, “What they call ‘freedom’ (as) … the right to act selfishly even when it hurts others.” If Polis should trip, stumble or sprawl, prospective opponents, including a few Democrats, will pounce on his poor performance. By contrast, if he succeeds in steering the ship of state without significant damage, as we should all hope he manages, rumored candidates will slink away behind assertions they were never considering a challenge in the first place. Gov. Polis is smart, so there’s ample reason for optimism. His political future remains, nonetheless, largely at the mercy of a virus that doesn’t give a whit who serves as Colorado’s governor.

Even stranger than these premature candidacies is the presidential campaign of Kanye West, who recently secured a place on Colorado’s November ballot. It isn’t every aspirant who frames his announcement with an admission his spouse recently considered committing him for mental problems. Kanye’s ambitions are being aided and abetted mostly by Republican campaign operatives. Whatever West is striving to achieve, his enablers seem to think he will peel voters away from Joe Biden. That could be a serious miscalculation.

Where are the Biden voters willing to risk another four years of the Tangerine Terror in favor of Kim and Kanye’s residency in the White House? Surely not black voters. As former Colorado Senate Minority Leader Regis Groff observed to me after millions of white voters helped elect Barack Obama, “Obama’s election cuts two ways in my community. Next time black voters won’t feel they have to vote for you, just because you’re black.” There may be a fraction of fans eager to cast a ballot for West, but they are likely few in number and probably weren’t planning to vote otherwise. Few will be converts traveling from Biden country.

It’s far more predictable that “middle finger” voters from 2016, who hoped a President Trump would storm Congress, flip over Washington’s banquet tables and smash all the crockery, remain disappointed and angry. Trump has frequently talked the talk, to be sure, yet the swamp on the Potomac turned out to be a hot tub for brewing lobbyists now serving as White House staffers. Few in Trumpland are feeling better off today than they were four years ago. Kanye’s 2010 album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” may sound better though.

Biden offers little promise for this disgruntled contingent, so a vote for Kanye and whatever internal demons are fueling his candidacy would be another taunt to coastal elites — replacing the current clown car of raging incompetents with much improved entertainment during lockdown. Kanye West would be Wyoming’s first president. (In case you missed it, he and his Kardashian clan purchased a ranch outside Cody.) West’s vice-presidential pick is his personal Bible whisperer, Michelle Tidball. I wonder whether he realizes the president and vice president can’t come from the same state? It doesn’t seem likely this will become a problem.

Perhaps Kanye’s candidacy really is about nothing more than promoting a new album, as suggested by D.C. pundits — much like Donald Trump’s run four years ago allegedly to promote his shark-tank brand. We know how that turned out.