Originally published via Armageddon Prose Substack:
To say that I ever had high hopes for Cornel West’s third-party run would be an exaggeration. But I was and still am willing to give any campaign with the potential to thwart the duopoly due consideration.
Although Cornel West’s politics are mostly not my own, I have always – at least until recently – considered him an interesting and genuine gadfly-type figure on the left.
Plus, he’s really been grinding the gears of Democrat partisans and their allies in the corporate state media since his campaign launch earlier this year, which can’t be anything but a good thing.
At the very least, watching them try to work through how to demonize a black man once highly vaunted within their own clique on behalf of their geriatric white puppet is satisfying schadenfreude.
Related: Liberals Accuse Cornel West, a Black Man, of ‘Stealing Votes’ From Biden
What recent developments have got me turned around on West and his lost-at-sea campaign, though, are two-fold:
- a.) A recent total shitshow of an interview with Jimmy Dore in which he malfunctioned and resorted to “but muh white supremacy” talking points against the best advice of Dore, who correctly pointed out that class war is much a more electorally poignant platform than the tired racism in the name of Social Justice™.
If West continues to insist on repeating Democrat “white man bad” talking points, what is even the point of running against Brandon? Why not just drop out and explicitly campaign for him? That would at least be more honest.
During the interview, West became a caricature of himself in real-time, ultimately indistinguishable in rhetoric from Al Sharpton or any of the most shameless race hustlers of posterity.
West either didn’t understand Dore’s points or pretended not to. “Some people are immune to good advice,” to quote Saul Goodman.
And;
- b.) The recent hiring of Hillary Clinton cheerleader and longtime Democrat Party operative Peter Daou not just as an advisor but as his campaign manager – as in, the most powerful position possible within the campaign who directs policy platforms, personnel hirings and firings, scheduling, etc.
If West keeps it up, he’ll have an MSNBC contributor contract and an appointment to Race Czar in the next Brandon administration in no time — and no grassroots support of any kind left outside of Brooklyn or Berkeley.
West is rapidly morphing in my eyes – and millions of onlookers’ eyes with a well-trained appreciation for politicians’ endless capacity for avaricious bullshit – from a do-gooder, if naïve, idealist into just another scummy politician running a con game on the remnants of his supporters.
Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.
Follow his stuff Substack if you are inclined to support independent journalism free of corporate slant. Also, keep tabs via Twitter.
For hip Armageddon Prose t-shirts, hats, etc., peruse the merch store.
Insta-tip jar and Bitcoin public address: bc1qvq4hgnx3eu09e0m2kk5uanxnm8ljfmpefwhawv
