Independent presidential candidate Cornel West has expressed doubts about President Joe Biden’s candidacy in the upcoming general election.
In an interview published by Politico on Friday, the 70-year-old West suggested that Biden might follow a similar path to President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 by unexpectedly ending his reelection bid.
“I’m not even sure whether I’ll be running against Biden,” West remarked. “Biden – I think he’s going to have an LBJ moment [and] pull back.”
Instead, West indicated that he might compete in the primary against what he referred to as the “B Team” of Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. It’s worth noting that Newsom has repeatedly denied any intention to enter the 2024 race.
“I’m just saying that I’m open to those possibilities, given the fluidity of the situation,” West commented when asked about the possibility of Biden withdrawing from the race. “He’s running out of gas.”
While the situation appears more certain on the Republican side with former President Donald Trump as the front-runner for the GOP nomination, West didn’t rule out the possibility of facing a different Republican candidate “if the weight becomes too heavy with indictments and court processes.”
West didn’t hold back in his assessment of Trump, describing the former president as a “bona fide gangsta, Neo-fascist, Pied Piper leading the country toward the second Civil War.” However, he wasn’t more favorable towards Biden, characterizing him as a “milquetoast neoliberal with military adventurism, potentially leading the world toward World War III.”
West admitted that he found it difficult to decide which candidate was worse. “I’m more concerned about Trump domestically,” he explained. “I’m more concerned about Biden in terms of foreign policy.”
The Biden campaign did not provide a response to Politico’s request for comment.
In response to West’s statements, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung commented, “Cornell [sic] West should go back to liberal academia instead of playing pretend politics. He still hasn’t graduated from the kids’ table.”
West expressed doubts that the current Democratic president could weather the growing criticism he has faced from the left, particularly on issues like the economy and the Israel-Hamas conflict. He also addressed concerns that his campaign might divert votes away from Biden if he remains in the race.
“I don’t accept the spoiler category,” West argued. “A vote for Biden, a vote for Trump is a vote for Biden and a vote for Trump.”
He further explained, “There might be some people who would say, ‘If I didn’t vote for West, I would have voted for Biden,’ but that’s not, to me, a spoiler. If you’re in a race, and you make a case, and they vote for you, how do you become the spoiler?”
Although West publicly campaigned for Biden in 2020, he revealed that when he entered the voting booth, he couldn’t bring himself to vote for him.
“When I got in there, I don’t know if it was the Holy Ghost [but] something hit me: I said, ‘Naw, I can’t vote for this gangster,'” he shared with Politico.
At the time, West was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and believed that his vote wouldn’t sway the liberal-leaning state. “If I had been in Wisconsin, Florida, or something, I would have done something different,” he added.
West initiated his White House bid with the People’s Party in June before transitioning to the Green Party and ultimately running as an independent candidate in October.
