Independent presidential candidate Cornel West stated that both of the main American political parties cannot be rescued in an interview with The Washington Post published on Tuesday.
“Both parties are beyond redemption,” West remarked in the interview.
West explained the necessity for him to continue with his candidacy, pointing to “The crisis in the Republican Party, the undercutting and the neofascism of [former President Trump] on the one hand, and now the Democratic establishment especially around Gaza.”
“We just have to be true to ourselves,” he told the Post.
West, an intellectual and activist, has been a fierce critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, joining pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University recently. He has defended his third-party candidacy as a moral imperative, despite Democratic concerns that it could undermine President Biden’s reelection bid.
Biden has faced increasing criticism from the left regarding his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza, including from some within his own party. A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found an increased number of Americans wanting the president to push Israel to halt military action in Gaza, rising from 31 percent in February to 37 percent in the newer poll.
Biden has recently escalated public criticism of Israel’s handling of the war, and has intensified efforts to deliver more aid into Gaza due to fears of a famine. However, the president has not supported attaching conditions to aid to Israel, despite a strike that killed seven workers with the U.S.-based World Central Kitchen.
He also criticized Robert F. Kennedy, another independent presidential candidate, who has said Palestinians are “pampered” with international aid, and described Israel as a “moral nation.”
“He just strikes me as just so far removed from the realities of suffering,” West commented on Kennedy.
In a recent interview, West referred to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel last year as a “counter-terrorist” response.
“There’s no doubt that there’s a variety of different Palestinian voices in the resistance movement,” West told CNN anchor Abby Phillip earlier this month. “Hamas doesn’t speak for every Palestinian.”
“I don’t believe in killing an innocent anybody,” West later added.
“But you don’t start with those voices without coming to terms with the vicious killings and occupations that’s been going on for 75 years, and then you get a counter-terrorist response to that.”
On April 10, West announced announced his vice presidential pick, Melina Abdullah, a professor at California State University in Los Angeles. He said he “wanted someone whose heart, mind and soul is committed to the empowerment of poor and working people.”
“She has a record of deep commitment and investment in ensuring poor and working people are at the center of her vision,” West commented on Abdullah.
