Cornel West, a political activist who recently announced his 2024 presidential campaign as a Green Party candidate, could create a “nightmare scenario” for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, according to a new report.
The reason Democrats are freaking out over Cornel West is a recent poll shows 45% of Democrats are considering backing a third party candidate. This is what happens when you stab your own voters in the back over & over again and offer them nothing but empty promises. pic.twitter.com/hOB1kfQG9D
— Ryan Knight ☭🕊 (@ProudSocialist) July 14, 2023
Analytics website FiveThirtyEight has reported that West has the potential to destroy Biden’s chances at reelection, therefore increasing former President Donald Trump’s chances at a second term in the White House.
Citing historical trends, the report asserts that a third-party independent candidate would pull a small number of voters away from Biden, which would subtly shift the election toward the Republican candidate.
A FiveThirtyEight poll revealed that a head-to-head race between Biden and Trump would end with the Democrat president holding a small lead or a tie between the two. However, including a third-party left-leaning candidate in the race would cause Trump to gain significant ground.
The analytics site noted in their report that it is not necessary for third-party candidates to receive a large amount of support, as even just a small shift from the Democrat voter base to the independent candidate can swing an election.
West has previously condemned Biden for supposedly committing “crimes against humanity” — citing then-Sen. Biden’s (D-DE) encouragement of mass incarceration of Black Americans via his sponsorship of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994.
“I’ve taught in prison for 41 years. And the level of barbarity in our prisons has something to do with that crime bill that he put forward,” the Green Party candidate claimed. “Black folks are low priority [to Biden].”
West went on to question Biden’s ability to run the country, pointing out that it is “very clear” that the aging president’s “cognitive powers are in decline.”
In a recent interview with Politico, West also responded to attacks on him for potentially ruining Biden’s chances at reelection.
“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,” he said. “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,” West 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.”
