Praise from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is probably not what philosopher and academic star Cornel West is looking for as he runs for President from far to the left of President Joe Biden. But Trump said in Pennsylvania this weekend that he likes West and his candidacy, because he “takes 100% from them,” meaning the Democratic Party presidential ticket.
West’s campaign proposes to combat an American status quo that he describes as a “national crisis of moral bankruptcy and spiritual obscenity driven by a derelict duopoly of both major parties that equally places profits over people and the planet.”
It’s a dark framing of the national scene that leaves little room for accepting either major party candidate, though Trump has reason to believe that someone leaving West’s team would have a shorter walk to Biden than to Trump. (Though both parties are in thrall to big money interests, Biden’s policies align more closely with those of West.)
Trump also said he appreciates far-left candidate Jill Stein, who conspicuously helped him against Hillary Clinton in 2016, for the same reason he likes West — that is, for the damage to Democrats that these particular outlier candidates can cause.
It’s how we got trump in 2016 pic.twitter.com/73N12IzW4X
— Bri4Change2024 (formerly Bri4Change, Bri4Change1) (@Bri4Change2024) June 23, 2024
Trump continued to assess the candidates — and their value to his campaign — when he landed on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has claimed Trump’s team approached him about running as Trump’s VP — and that he rejected the notion.
Trump: Cornel West, he's one of my favorite candidates. Cornel West and I like her also, Jill Stein, I like her very much. You know why? She takes 100% from them. He takes 100% pic.twitter.com/l6k4cugvXo
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 22, 2024
Trump called Kennedy a “fake, a total fake,” noting that RFK’s campaign doesn’t help Trump’s side because he probably splits whatever votes he manages to peel off between Biden and Trump. “He’s probably 50/50,” Trump says, addressing which major candidate Kennedy takes votes from.
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