Cornel West running as a third-party candidate? Yay, then not yay (and maybe yay again as he says Green?)

I was at first pleasantly surprised when I saw the news that Cornel West had thrown his hat in the ring as a third-party presidential candidate. I knew he wouldn't be a Libertarian.

I assumed he was running as a Green.

And, assumed wrong.

He's running for the nomination of the People's Party.

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Update June 13 and ignore details of the update below! Cornel West told Tim Black he is running as a Green. And, confirms with Katie Halper. And, the duopoly sheepdoggers at Jacobin are attacking him no matter what the third party he runs with is.

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Update, June 8: But, maybe both? Via Ballot Access News, toward the end of an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, he talks about his "love" for the GP and hopes for a "coming together." Not sure what that means. Jesse Ventura sort of wanted the GP nom in 2020 but didn't want to have to do anything for it. Let's look at the whole thing:

I mean, I have a great love for my Green Party brothers and sisters. I’ve worked twice with them, and so I have nothing against their third-party operations. It would be nice if we had even a coming together, but that’s something that is for a different show.

OK, from there, West talks about why the MPP (which ties in with what I have in the link below about the previous convention).

But in terms of the history of the People’s Party, you know, I was there at the founding. There’s no doubt about that. And I’ve been a kind of honorary member of the board, even though I haven’t participated.

And, from there, admits its problems ... problems mostly associated with Nick Brana.

I haven’t followed all of the insides and outsides of what has happened. It strikes me that there’s been some very bad and ugly moments. There’s no doubt about that. But I don’t want to adjudicate as to who actually is guilty or who’s actually innocent, because I just don’t know. But there has to be accountability, and especially when it comes to sexual harassment in terms of sisters of any color. Those are very, very important issues to wrestle with and very serious charges in that regard.

So, why? A mix of vanity and "ownership"?

And, this part, getting back to his "why MPP"?

And the People’s Party, in its inception and in its vision, is a populist one, so you’ve got a number of different voices.

Uhh, various socialist orgs say that's not so true, at least not in terms of a workers' populist party. Add in that Trump is presented as a populist, and the word doesn't mean so much.

From there, West, interestingly, goes back to People's Party problems, not the Brana problems, but notes that it's "heterogenous" and "loose."

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As I said on Twitter, minus the link to the announcement story, and edited because I don't have character limits here?

Seriously. If half the Green Party is AccommoGreens, 90% of the People's Party is butthurt Berners led around by the nose by grifter Nick Brana.

Plus, the People's Party, as of this point, has almost zero ballot access. And, given its problems, or rather, Nick Brana's problems, I would not sign a petition for it to get on the ballot here in Tex-ass. And, as I blogged 16 months ago, speaking of said problems, it included the PP being overrun by antivaxxers (who have been supported in the GP by the noxious 2022 Texas gubernatorial candidate Delilah Barrios).

In addition, it appears to have a non-functional website. Below is a screengrab from its FAQ page from Tuesday, June 6. I was headed there to check on whether it had ballot access beyond the two or three states I knew of. (I actually saw two on Wiki; somebody on Twitter said three.) Anyway:

Helluva a way to run a railroad!

That said, remembering what I'd blogged before about a previous People's Party convention, I shouldn't be surprised West is choosing this route. And, per that link, Brana has been a political grifter for some time. Also per that link, I thought West's explanations about voting for Dear Leader were either disingenuous or else a display of true cluelessness.

Someone on Twitter expressed their sadness at West running with an anti-Black political movement. I'm not sure if Brana's touched that note or not, but if so, it wouldn't surprise me. And, that said? Given his history with the People's Party, and per the paragraph above, that he's really not that much of a leftist, this doesn't surprise me.

Interestingness? Benjamin Dixon pretty openly sheepdogging when he said he loved brother Cornel's vision but envisioned Ron DeSatan's first 100 days in office. Given that the People's Party will almost certainly get ballot-qualified in less than half the states in the nation, that's some pretty sad fear level.

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Update 2: On Twitter, the day after his announcement, Natalie Shure said "yuck" or "yuck/meh" at best. I asked if it was mainly an objection to West running MPP or to him running third-party in general. Her 72 hours of silence spins the old proverb into her giving assent to my assumption that she objects to the third-party part in general. She DOES bill herself on bylines at The Nation, Jacobin and Prospect, which are all duopoly-only folks at bottom line, and Butt Feet, which is duopoly-only from the start. Shock me.

Update 3: She and the other duopolists can fuck off. Of course, their hatred is such that both Hillbot Joan Walsh at The Nation and Jon Chait at Russiahating.com got shit wrong about third party candidate Henry Wallace in 1948, per Ballot Access News.