300 - Richard Wolff, Cornel West, & Norman Finkelstein: America Is in DENIAL | On Mamdani, Tucker, & Trump

Richard Wolff (0:01)

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Robinson Erhardt (0:26)

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Richard Wolff (0:56)

Making America great again. What a slogan, what an admission. You gotta make it great again. It's an admission that it isn't.

Cornel West (1:04)

The empire with greed on steroids continues towards self-destruction.

Norman Finkelstein (1:11)

You know how many people are now despairing of Mamdani? 90,000 people knocked on doors for you. Don't you owe them an explanation for what you're doing?

Richard Wolff (1:24)

I'm sure there are 25,000 Trumps waiting in the wings to try to be the next Trump. Tucker Carlson could well be among them, absolutely.

Cornel West (1:35)

Democratic Party spent $20 million to keep us off the ballot, and they claim to be committed to free elections.

Norman Finkelstein (1:41)

How many times can you be disappointed before you just give up? You can't do that.

Richard Wolff (1:46)

Out of that upset and frustration comes the demand for something else.

Robinson Erhardt (2:02)

It is very, very cool to put it bluntly to be able to do the 300th episode of my show with three scholars like you, though Norm already referred to you guys as three grumpy old men. And I was going to talk about the experience that you'll bring to this question, the question that I wanted this conversation to be about, who really rules or runs America. But after hanging out with the three of you for the last 15 minutes, I've already realized it's going to be like hurting cats trying to get you to follow this topic. So I'm going to start with the first question, and then we'll see where things go. But Cornel, I've already talked to Norm and Rick earlier this week. So I'm going to start with you. Also because you're the only one of us who's run for president.

If somebody wins an election, how much of the United States can they actually change or how much of the power remains in other people's hands?

Cornel West (3:09)

I think that it's impossible for any one individual to have a major structural institutional impact. You had to have strong, substantive social movements that are sustained over time because of the level of corruption, the level of lethargy, the level of bureaucratic inertia that goes hand in hand with the oligopolies and monopolies, who really have major leverage of power in the American Empire, both in imperial policy as well as the domestic policy. Now, that doesn't mean we don't start keep fighting. It just means we have to be very honest and candid about what we're up against. So I was blessed to run.

Brother Norman was with me. Of course, Brother Rick is always saying such wonderful and positive, supportive things about me as well. But I knew that all I wanted to do was to try to make sure that the American Empire as it undergoes unbelievable decay and decline, and near fall, has some sense of what its best traditions look like, and the best traditions look like. Serious critiques, imperialism, serious critiques of capitalism, serious critiques of white supremacy, on the ground, concrete, in the flesh, with people coming together around these issues, trying to keep alive legacies of people. Robinson, it could be WB. Du Bois, it could be Paul Sweezy, it could be Harry Magdalf, they represent the best of the country.

Robinson Erhardt (4:49)

I'll open the question to the two of you to hear what you think about that.

Norman Finkelstein (4:53)

The problem now is that, and here again, I'm happy to hear you folks out. We don't have any longer a political force that's generated by this system. Marx was an economist. He was also a sociologist.