Electoralism/Democratism

The Radical Pessimism of Cornel West

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The news for Joe Biden could not be worse. Poll after poll shows him trailing Donald Trump in a presidential rematch. And Biden is bleeding support among the most unlikely demographics, including young voters of color. How to explain it? One way might be to consider Cornel West, whose long-shot bid for the White House has been treated by the Democratic Establishment and the political media as a sideshow and worse. But as New York‘s Zak Cheney-Rice writes in this close-up profile, West has been capturing our collective attention for decades for many reasons. The war in Gaza, which has galvanized younger voters attracted to his longstanding criticisms of the U.S.’s “imperialist” foreign policy, has highlighted his ability to see what more conventional public figures cannot, even as he wrestles with his personal demons. As West exclaimed to a crowd in Lexington, Mississippi, “I understand I’ve got the hatred and the selfishness and the greed inside of me, but I’m working it out!”

—Ryu Spaeth, features editor, New York

The Radical Pessimism of Cornel West Condemned by Establishment Democrats, dismissed by academics. What else is there to do but run for president?

Photo: Hugo Yu
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