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Ostensibly leftist academic Cornel West launched his third-party presidential campaign the way any true progressive would — by promoting it on a podcast known to spread right-wing extremist conspiracy theories, hosted on a video platform popular among right-wing extremists, just weeks after having praised Florida’s right-wing extremist governor, Ron DeSantis.
In his praise for the Florida Republican — in a Wall Street Journal op-ed headlined “DeSantis’s Revolutionary Defense of the Classics” — West and a conservative co-author endorsed the governor’s support for Florida high schoolers being able to qualify for scholarships by using scores from the Classic Learning Test.
Yes, this is the same DeSantis whose administration has been curbing lesson plans and banning books written about, by and for nonwhite and LGBTQ people. But if you suffer through the op-ed, you’ll find a seeming rationale for West’s and co-author Jeremy Wayne Tate’s position at the very end: They’re both associated with the organization that administers a more Christian-focused college admissions test that some conservatives have been pushing as a replacement for the SAT. Tate is the founder and CEO of the Classic Learning Test, and West sits on its board of academic advisers.
Clearly, West's associations are worthy of scrutiny — even if you believe, as he said in his campaign announcement, that he has "decided to run for truth and justice."
West chose to promote his campaign with an appearance Monday on a web show hosted by Russell Brand, a comic who’s known for spreading right-wing conspiracy theories and misinformation. Brand’s show is platformed on Rumble, a video platform popular among QAnon conspiracy theorists. And the party in which West has chosen to launch his presidential bid — the People’s Party, it’s called — isn’t above promoting Tucker Carlson and other populists who traffic in reactionary politics.
So yeah, there’s that.
Of course, if you just ignore all these things — or simply read much of the coverage of West’s long-shot candidacy — you’ll most likely arrive at a lazy narrative adhering to some version of “leftist activist Cornel West declares presidential bid.” To do so is to completely sanitize the specifics in West’s recent history that give observers plenty of reason to question the sincerity or efficacy of his campaign.
And I haven’t even delved into West’s tendency to target and publicly malign Black public figures who’ve eclipsed him in popularity (under the guise of political purity, of course). If you like Donald Trump’s petty digs at people he thinks have slighted him, you’ll love Cornel West.
As for me — and rest assured, I’m not alone in this — I’ll pass.
I view a Cornel West presidency with the same seriousness I would a Kanye West presidency. And I’d sooner cast my 2024 ballot for the late Adam West before I voted for either of them.