West Calls Trump a ‘Neo-Fascist Gangster,’ Biden a ‘Neo-Liberal Hypocrite’

Thursday on CNN’s The Lead, People’s Party presidential candidate Cornel West called former President Trump a “neo-fascist gangster” and President Joe Biden a “neo-liberal hypocrite.”

Anchor Jake Tapper asked, “Dr. West, let me start with the obvious question: are you running to win or are you running to get your issues of importance that you think Joe Biden is not paying enough attention to to the forefront?”

West said, “Well, I mean, one, my dear brother, you always have a calling to win. You want to bear witness at the highest level of quality, integrity and honesty that you can. So, yes, I’m trying to push toward the finish line. Why? Because I want to reintroduce America to the best of itself, and it’s fairly clear that brother Trump, neo-fascist gangster, not the best. Brother Biden, neo-liberal hypocrite, not the best. I want the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Edward Said, and Chief Joseph, and Grace Lee Boggs, and Luisa Moreno. These are those fighting for poor and working people.

“Both parties stand in the way of the impoverished and poor and working people,” West continued. “Both parties are tied to Wall Street, militarism, the Pentagon, tied to Silicon Valley. What about the 60 percent oppressed Americans of all colors who are struggling every day and month to put food on the table and are hardly doing it while the one percent is simply tied to their quest for the luxurious life? American democracy not just is at stake, it’s the whole planet, brother Jake.”

As unlikely as either man is to win, it will be interesting to see if the varied candidacies of people like West and Robert Kennedy, Jr. will fragment Dem voters…