Cornel West: Hillary a ‘Milquetoast Neo-Liberal,’ Trump a ‘Dangerous Neo-Fascist’

‘I think that Donald Trump himself is a dangerous neo-fascist in the making’

HANNITY: “...weigh in on the 2016 race, the Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary, also a professor at Princeton University, Dr. Cornel West.”
WEST: “Always a blessing, my brother.”
HANNITY: “Come on. I have a hard time going at you because we’re good friends. Let me play for you — don’t you find the race card repugnant? You do.”
WEST: “Oh, absolutely.”
HANNITY: “Let me play Hillary Clinton and I want you to objectively tell me if this is playing the race card.”
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CLINTON: “Republican governors and legislatures are erecting one barrier after another that make it harder for black people to vote. It’s a blast from the Jim Crow past, and we need to call it for what it is. And it’s state after state they’re doing everything they can to stop black people, Latinos, poor people, young people, people with disabilities from voting. It’s a blast from the Jim Crow past.”
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HANNITY: “Do you know anybody that’s trying to stop black people, Latinos, poor people, young people, people with disabilities from voting? Do you know who is doing that?”
WEST: “I think there’s no doubt. I was just talking to my dear brother William Barber, Reverend Barber, a King-like figure of our time, about the voting suppression activity there in North Carolina. As you know there is a court case going on right now.”
HANNITY: “But do you know anybody that’s actively trying to stop people from voting?”
WEST: “It’s not a question of motivation. It’s a question of effect and consequence. If in fact we see it’s harder for black people, brown people to vote —“
HANNITY: “How is it harder?”
WEST: “That’s what the arguments are about.”
HANNITY: “But when she talks about Jim Crow past, I thought — and then a southern accent, I thought we were done with that in the ‘60s. That’s playing the race card, isn’t it?”
WEST: “It’s her attempt to be fake and phony and try to mobilize people who wanted to vote, because you and I know, the country is in deep trouble, though, Sean. You’re having a meltdown on one side and a break down on the other.”
HANNITY: “I agree.”
WEST: “I think that Donald Trump himself is a dangerous neo-fascist in the making.”
HANNITY: “Oh, stop it. Stop it.”
WEST: “You know what I mean by that?”
HANNITY: “Neo-fascist, you just throw out these words. Stop it.”
WEST: “It’s true.”
HANNITY: “He’s a nationalist and he’s populist and conservative leanings. That’s not a fascist.”
WEST: “He has autocratic sensibilities. The Muslims, the Mexicans, and not only — look what he said about the press.”
HANNITY: “Wait a minute, James Clapper, national intelligence director, the FBI director, Obama’s envoy to defeat ISIS all said that ISIS will infiltrate the refugee population. So he said put a hold —“
WEST: “On all Muslims in the world?”
HANNITY: “— until we can secure the safety and security of America. I’m not willing to gamble with Americans lives. Are you?”
WEST: “I’m not willing to gamble. But I’m concerned about the precious humanity of Muslims —“
HANNITY: “Our intelligence officers say that ISIS will infiltrate, don’t you worry about that?”
WEST: “But the sad moment is this. We have got on the one hand a milquetoast neo-liberal in Hillary Clinton.”
HANNITY: “Milquetoast neo-liberal.”
WEST: “Milquetoast neo-liberal tied to Wall Street, tied to big money. And then we got a dangerous neo-fascist. The only way out is the genuine populism of my dear brother Bernie Sanders.”
HANNITY: “You want the communist.”
WEST: “He’s a genuine populist.”
HANNITY: “No. He’s an admitted socialist.”
WEST: “He calls himself a socialist.”
HANNITY: “He is a socialist.”
WEST: “I’m a genuine democratic socialist. He’s not calling for the elimination of private property. He’s not calling for the national —“
HANNITY: “You know how you call me ‘brother Sean,’ and you call our friend Tavis Smiley ‘brother Tavis’?”
WEST: “That’s right.”
HANNITY: “Tavis actually said that Hillary better be careful that the black vote to go to Trump.”
WEST: “Well no. No, the black vote won’t. Trump scapegoats the vulnerable too much. Mexicans, Muslims, women — he can’t get away with that. I can say this. Hillary doesn’t have enough gas in her tank, and that’s what the only person to beat Trump is Bernie Sanders. Look at the polls. Look at the polls.”
HANNITY: “Here’s what I want to ask you. Are black Americans, there’s millions more in poverty since Obama’s been president, million more on food stamps —“
WEST: “Child poverty is higher.”
HANNITY: “Millions more in poverty, millions more on food stamps, millions more out of the labor force. And 50 percent of black teenagers can’t get a summer job. If I didn’t have a summer job, I’m getting in a lot of trouble.”
WEST: “You and me together. You and I together.”
HANNITY: “We would have been good friends.”
WEST: “Absolutely.” (Laughter)
HANNITY: “Here’s the problem. Is black America better under Obama? No. It’s not better under social liberal policies.”
WEST: “But you know what it has, though? A symbol. Large numbers of black brothers and sisters are tied to symbol.”
HANNITY: “Symbol doesn’t put food on the table.”
WEST: “I agree.”
HANNITY: “Symbol is not a job.”
WEST: “You know my own criticisms have been trying to get beyond symbol and trying to talk about substance.”
HANNITY: “I know. How about you get people back to work and get the economy working?”
WEST: “That’s what Bernie Sanders is talking about.”
HANNITY: “We become energy independent like Republicans are talking about. If you actually build a wall there’s less competition with the illegal immigrants.”
WEST: “You don’t want to build a wall.”
HANNITY: “I want to build a big wall, huge.”
WEST: “That’s wrong.”
HANNITY: “That’s right. We can. And we can hire Americans to do it.”
WEST: “No, Sean. You don’t want to —“
HANNITY: “You need a drink after this.”
WEST:” A cognac.”
HANNITY: “Get a cognac.”
WEST: “We can’t be building no wall.”
HANNITY: “We are going to do it. It’s coming, a big wall. I’ll go down there with you. And less drugs will be coming into the country, less crime, and people that want to come in here legally, they can be part of our family legally.”
WEST: “Yes. But that’s a longer discussion. But at the same time —“
HANNITY: “You’re agreeing with me. You almost agreed with me.”
WEST: “No, no, not at all.”
HANNITY: “You winced toward my direction.” (Laughter)
WEST: “No, no.”
HANNITY: “I have to roll.”
WEST: “All right.”
HANNITY: “You’ve got to come back more often. We miss you.”

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