UPDATE (Oct. 20, 2023, 11:57 a.m. ET): Cornel West on Friday said he “decided to give the money back” after accepting a maximum donation to his campaign from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.
Cornel West’s presidential campaign received a helping hand from a right-wing megadonor, NBC News reported Wednesday. The news fuels my suspicion that his candidacy is a conservative-backed ploy to aid Donald Trump’s campaign by attempting to draw liberal votes from President Joe Biden.
The billionaire backing West is Harlan Crow — that’s right, the same benefactor who’s lavished ultraconservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas with undisclosed gifts for years.
As NBC News reported:
Progressive activist and independent presidential candidate Cornel West received a maximum campaign donation from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, West’s latest fundraising report shows. Crow made the $3,300 donation in August, weeks before West abandoned his bid for the Green Party nomination to run as an independent. Crow has called West, a self-proclaimed “non-Marxist socialist” and longtime professor at Princeton University, “a good friend.”
West was on the defense in a rather long post on the platform X claiming he and “brother Harlan Crow” have political differences but that, “as an independent candidate and a free Black man, I accept donations within the limits of no PACs or corporate interest groups that have strings attached.”
As a “free Black man,” West indeed has a right to accept money from “brother Harlan” (aka the dude who bought Thomas’ momma’s house, allowing her to live rent-free). And the rest of us have a right to speculate why he’s receiving said donation.
I have a theory.
Crow, and other right-wing benefactors, have also backed the group No Labels, a purportedly centrist organization looking to get on the ballot and back their own presidential candidates in next year’s election. Similar to West, No Labels is perceived among many Democrats as a spoiler of sorts that could ultimately help Trump win next year.
The idea of West receiving help from a far-right donor comes as no surprise to me. When West launched his campaign, I noted its right-wing DNA by highlighting West’s recent dalliances with conservative extremists.
For example, in the early days of his campaign, West joined commentator Russell Brand’s conspiratorial podcast, which is hosted on a video platform — Rumble — that’s popular among right-wing extremists. And earlier this year, West praised right-wing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his “revolutionary” approach to education.
Conservative extremists online don’t tend to hide the fact they see West as a tool they can use to pull votes from Biden and help Trump win next fall’s presidential election.
Republicans must get Cornell West on every state ballot.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) October 13, 2023
It’s the single most important issue in the 2024 election, nothing comes close. https://t.co/X8f6LURd83
And West isn’t the only ostensibly liberal candidate who’s being backed by right-wingers, though. Conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s campaign has received financial backing from multiple rich, right-wingers known to back Trump and other ultraconservative causes. Along with that, CBS News reported that former Trump adviser Steve Bannon encouraged Kennedy to enter the race with hopes it would add chaos to next year’s race.
Kennedy switched his party affiliation from Democrat to independent weeks ago, but conservatives — like Fox News host Jesse Watters — have openly declared that Kennedy’s candidacy will help Trump by siphoning Black votes away from Biden.
I think that’s rather presumptuous, but in both West and Kennedy, the right evidently sees opportunities to cleave the Black vote in a way that favors Trump’s electoral chances.
In my view, this has become the modus operandi of the Republican Party, particularly under Donald Trump.
In a victory speech following the 2016 election, Trump thanked the sliver of Black voters who cast ballots for him, but he also thanked Black people who didn’t vote at all, saying this was “almost as good.” As I see it, this was Trump openly acknowledging the vital role Black voters play in electing Democratic presidents.
Republicans have done what they can to limit or weaponize Black votes. One form is the use of restrictive laws that disproportionately impede Black voters’ access to the ballot box. And another, it would appear, is through the use of propped-up, purportedly liberal candidates who can peel votes from Biden.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.