Another third party problem?
Both President Joe Biden and former President Trump are flawed, according to Dr. Cornel West. In a move to distance himself further from the other presidential candidates, West is running on the Green Party and/or the People’s Party ticket. In his denouncements, he cited Biden’s past “connections” to segregationists, and Trump’s views on racial matters.
During an appearance on Fox News Hannity on Monday, West stated that his bid for the Oval Office was as “serious as a heart attack.”
To clarify his charge of Biden’s connection to segregationists, West cited that in 2008, Biden reportedly called the former Mississippi Sen. John Stennis, “a hell of a guy.”
West is also accusing Biden of “crimes against humanity,” against African Americans, confirming a report that appeared in the New York Post.When Hannity noted that minority voters were mainly tied to the Democratic Party, West said it was as broken as the GOP, both he charged in the pocket of “big money” and corruption.
Whether the Green Party or the People’s Party, West’s bid is getting the attention of Democrats, many of whom are recalling 2016 and the third-party campaign. “This is not the time in order to experiment. This is not the time to play around on the margins,” warned DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison, a close Biden confidant, over the weekend.
Harrison is perhaps referencing Hillary Clinton’s race against Trump when considerable votes went to Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate. Such a spoiler was also noted by David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s chief strategist. “Now, with Cornel West as their [Green Party] likely nominee, they could easily do it again. Risky business.”
“What we see is a lot of folks who want to be relevant and try to be relevant in these elections and not looking at the big picture,” Harrison said.“We got to reelect Joe Biden.”
There are marked differences between Clinton’s run seven years ago and West’s current bid, mostly between the candidates themselves. West may be popular on the left and in academic circles, he in no way brings the same kind of political background Clinton possessed. Even so, there is a large swath of Democrats concerned about Biden’s age and his policies.
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