Global Courant
People’s Party presidential nominee Cornel West, a progressive activist, went after President Biden on Thursday, calling him “mediocre” and “milquetoast” in his first interview since announcing his longstanding third-party candidacy for the White House.
Appearing on KBLA’s Tavis Smiley podcast, West pushed back on the idea that his candidacy might “draw votes away from Biden” and addressed the Democratic Party for its candidate choices.
“If someone chooses to vote for you, you don’t take votes away. You see, Biden doesn’t own votes. He has to earn it. He has to earn it,” said West.
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“If the Democrats bring out mediocre, milquetoast, neoliberal politicians who can’t mutter a word about militarism, can’t mutter a word about a serious answer to poverty, can’t mumble a word about serious white supremacist practices — I mean, Biden himself said America is not a racist society. I said, ‘Get off the crack pipe,'” he added.
West was referring to a 2021 speech in which Biden said he didn’t think America was a racist nation, but said slavery and former Jim Crow laws “had a price” for the country.
West went on to accuse Biden of not supporting a full end to the Senate filibuster, though the president has supported a rule carve-out to pass legislation on abortion and voting rights. He then blamed the Democrats for creating the space he said necessitated his candidacy.
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President Joe Biden and People’s Party presidential candidate Cornel West. (Getty Images)
“If they produced a candidate that met the needs of the dear poor and working class, they wouldn’t have me. They wouldn’t be dealing with that,” said West. “They have a corporate wing of the Democratic Party that doesn’t treat the progressive wing well. It shows over and over again.”
“You know, I supported Bernie (Sanders) twice. I supported Biden the last time. I did that because I thought Trump’s fascism was such that we had to fight. Does that mean we’re choosing between a neo-fascist catastrophe and a neoliberal disaster? That every Democratic president can say, “I’m not omnipotent, but I’m the alternative. You all have no choice but to vote for me.” And when he gets in there, he wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for black people, especially black women,” he added.
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West announced his candidacy for president in a Monday video on Twitter. In the video, he lashed out at both Democrats and Republicans, stating that he was on the hunt for “truth and justice.”
“The presidency is just one means of pursuing the truth and justice that I have tried to do all my life,” he said.
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Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter at @brandon_cg.
