In a Monday morning interview with the Washington Post, Ralph Nader, the renowned author and consumer protection advocate who ran multiple presidential campaigns, shared his thoughts on the upcoming 2024 election. In the interview, he discussed Democratic President Joe Biden, Green Party hopeful Dr. Cornel West, and threats to free speech and voting, among other topics.
Ralph Nader, who first ran as a protest vote in the 1992 New Hampshire Republican and Democratic primaries, has an extensive history with third parties. He was first approached about a presidential run by the New Party in 1972 and organizers behind the People’s Party in 1980. Subsequently, he ran with the Green Party in 1996 and 2000, followed by independent bids in 2004 and 2008. He additionally benefited at times from ballot access support from emerging party organizations like the Vermont Progressive Party and the California Peace and Freedom Party.
Nader now, however, is asking people to consider what a second Donald Trump victory would mean for the country, arguing in his interview that the Republican Party represented the “architecture” of fascism. In contrast, Nader characterized Democrats as “practitioners” of autocracy, with autocracy being the more controllable of the two systems.
“Fascism is what the GOP is the architecture of, and autocracy is what the Democrats are practitioners of,” Nader said in the interview. “But autocracy leaves an opening. They don’t suppress votes. They don’t suppress free speech.”
While Nader neither formally endorsed the reelection campaign of Joe Biden nor said such an endorsement would be forthcoming, he remarked in his interview that Biden is “better than he has ever been but he is still terrible on empire and Wall Street.” He also alluded that Democrats are “stuck with Biden” and remarked that in a two-party duopoly, “if one should be defeated ferociously, the logic is that the other one prevails.”
Additionally, Nader stated that he has tried contacting Democratic Party officials to discuss tactics and offer advice to improve party messaging in the face of these threats. However, his calls have largely gone unanswered.
Regarding Biden’s primary challenger, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Nader complimented Kennedy’s perspectives on corporate power, saying “it couldn’t be better,” but remarked that he has a “bizarre tick” on vaccinations and Ashkenazi Jews. “That’s the tragedy of his campaign. He can’t resist raising new bizarre correlations-as-causation and all that stuff,” Nader said.
On the topic of Dr. Cornel West and his former organization, Nader still regards West in kind terms and remarked that he has “the most complete progressive agenda […] almost devoid of any “progressive aberrations.” However, he criticized the Green Party for its lack of organization and absence of local candidates.
Readers of Independent Political Report can read the entire Washington Post interview here.
And, as promised, here’s my thoughts about Nader jumping (back?!) into the world of lesser evilism. https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2023/09/ralph-nader-officially-jumps-in-lesser.html
Democrats don’t suppress free speech? Is Nader trying to be a comedian in his final years?
As an anti-fascist, I don’t see the Democratic Party as a sufficient bulwark. Mr. Nader is wrong on this.
Nader knows that Dems as well as Rethugs supprss third-party votes and third-party ballot access. And, the lawsuit over President Biden and social media? They try to “nudge” speech. I don’t totally support the lawsuit, but I see where it comes from.
I get the feeling this is in part a last shot for closing a late-life circle by Nader. Off to blog!