Cornel West Defends Presidential Run As Third-Party Candidate
Political activist Cornel West, who recently announced his decision to run in the 2024 presidential election as a candidate for the Green Party, has defended his presidential run — claiming that another Democrat administration would just be a “postponement of fascism.”
West defended his decision to run against President Joe Biden in a recent interview with Politico, firing back at accusations from the left that his candidacy would do nothing but cost Biden the election.
Slamming the attacks against him, West argued that another four years of a Democrat in the White House would only delay the supposed “fascism” of the Republican Party — insisting that progressives have nothing to lose.
He also spoke about the supposed mistreatment of progressives within the Democrat Party, citing the treatment of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during his presidential run.
“I have a deep love for Brother Bernie. He really is a brother, and brothers agree and disagree,” West said.
“I think he was treated so unjustly and so unfairly by the Democratic Party,” he continued. “The lesson that I learned was that the Democratic Party, for the most part, is a corporate-dominated party that uses its progressives often as window dressing. Bernie was not given the kind of chance that he deserved, which is to say our efforts were not given the kind of fair chance that they deserved.”
“By refusing to speak to the needs of the poor and working people, the Democratic Party helps to facilitate and enable the Trumps and the DeSantises and others,” West added. “So, you end up with neo-fascism being in some ways dependent on neoliberalism and vice versa.”
“That cycle, going around and around, means that we’re going to end up with fascism sooner or later,” he claimed. “Every Democratic administration will just be a caretaker and a postponement for fascism to come. I am profoundly anti-fascist, and therefore I am trying to get at the roots of fascism.”
West also stated that his motivation to run as a Green Party candidate came because he saw the choice between Biden and former President Donald Trump as intolerable.
Meanwhile, his low poll numbers don’t necessarily mean that he will not have an impact on the 2024 presidential election. According to a recent poll from Echelon Insights, West may actually be the deciding factor in the election if Biden and Trump are chosen as the nominees for their respective parties.
The poll showed that, if the election were just between those two, Biden would receive 43% of the vote, while Trump would receive 42%. However, including West in the race would leave Biden with 42% of the vote and West with 4% of the vote — while Trump would win the election with 43% of the vote.
