Cornel West Says Both Parties 'Beyond Redemption'

Independent presidential candidate Cornel West said both major political parties in the United States have deteriorated past the point of being salvageable.

"Both parties are beyond redemption," West told The Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday.

He cited the "crisis in the Republican Party, the undercutting and the neofascism of [former President Donald Trump] on the one hand, and now the Democratic establishment especially around Gaza" as reasons for staying in the race for the White House.

"We just have to be true to ourselves," he told the Post.

A fierce critic of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, The Hill reported that West joined anti-Israel protesters on Columbia University's campus in recent days.

In an interview with CNN earlier this month, West described Hamas' brutal Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel as a "counterterrorist" response.

"There's no doubt that there's a variety of different Palestinian voices in the resistance movement," West said. "Hamas doesn't speak for every Palestinian."

He later added, "I don't believe in killing an innocent anybody."

"But you don't start with those voices without coming to terms with the vicious killings and occupations that's been going on for 75 years, and then you get a counter-terrorist response to that," he said.

Despite concerns among Democrats that he could impact President Joe Biden's reelection bid by siphoning votes, West has defended his candidacy as a matter of moral necessity.

Biden has faced an avalanche of criticism and a loss of support from the left over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, now in its sixth month. A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found a 6-point increase in the number of Americans who want Biden to pressure Israel to end its military action in Gaza, climbing from 31% in February to 37% in the latest poll.

In his interview with the Post, West also criticized fellow independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has called Israel a "moral nation" and said Palestinians, assisted by international aid organizations, are a "pampered people." 

"He just strikes me as just so far removed from the realities of suffering," West said of Kennedy.

Two weeks ago, West announced that California State University professor Melina Abdullah was joining his ticket as his vice presidential candidate.

In picking Abdullah, West said he "wanted someone whose heart, mind and soul is committed to the empowerment of poor and working people."

• Lieberman: 'Never Seen This Much Anger' at 2 Major Parties
• Cornel West Sees Opportunity for Support in Michigan