Even though political activist Dr. Cornel West is set to participate in the People’s Convention — organized by and for “disaffected progressives” — he has already revealed who he will vote for.
The former Bernie Sanders supporter says he will unenthusiastically cast his vote for Joe Biden.
West warned other Democrats to vote for Biden too, “but don’t lie about who he really is,” he said during an interview on the “Rumble” podcast with filmmaker Michael Moore.
West’s vote, he intimated, will be less of a vote for Biden and more of a vote against MAGA. In a recent tweet, West referred to Biden as a “mediocre neoliberal.”
In another interview, this one with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, West and Ben Jealous, president of People for the American Way and former NAACP president, said they feel that Biden can be moved more to the left, even if slightly.
“At this moment, with the decline and fall of the American empire, it looks as if the system is unable to generate enough energy to seriously reform itself. It remains sanitized, superficial,” Dr. West said. “I want fundamental change.”
Jealous added that Biden is someone progressives can work with and apply pressure to. “The theme of this convention was really one of unity,” he said. “This is a time when we have to come together to defeat a president who is the most evil, the most corrupt that any of us have seen.”
Although he’s decided who he’s voting for, West still went on media outlets to promote the upcoming People’s Convention, which is scheduled to be held virtually on Aug. 30. He tweeted about it, “I salute this historic effort to indict the decrepit two party system even as I vote to push the neofascist gangster out of the White House by holding my nose and casting a ballot for mediocre neoliberal Biden.”
Cheeba Jones replied to the tweet, asking West to continue spreading the word. “At least you understand that voting for Biden allows us to make changes in the future. Thats the priority right now! Can you please make sure your followers understand that.”
Nina Turner, former Ohio State Senator and national co-chair of Sanders’s 2020 campaign, responded to West, tweeting, “Doc, the picture painted like only you can!!!”
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.
Sander’s former national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray tweeted, “You’re right, but we’re stuck with Biden.”
Still, others urged West to hold out on his vote for Biden. So Sylvie tweeted, “That’s not the only option. You can DEMAND something from Biden BEFORE you promise your vote. Now is the ONLY time you have leverage, not after he’s already in, working for his corporate masters.”
