Robinson's Podcast 300 - Richard Wolff, Cornel West, & Norman Finkelstein: America Is in DENIAL | On Mamdani, Tucker, & Trump
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Oct 17, 2026 
Norman Finkelstein, political scientist and Israel-Palestine scholar; Richard Wolff, Marxist economist; and Cornel West, philosopher and activist, confront the American left’s crisis. They debate Zohran Mamdani’s compromises, Bernie Sanders, Tucker Carlson, Trump, Gaza, immigration, and coalition red lines. They also examine U.S. decline, capitalism, worker power, China’s model, and why universities suppress dissent.
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Why American Leftism Becomes Left Populism
- Cornel West distinguishes left populism from genuine class struggle in a country where unions and class consciousness were systematically crushed.
- American left politics must also confront Indigenous dispossession, slavery, white supremacy, and other histories class language alone cannot capture.
Hope Needs Institutions After Election Day
- Mamdani’s compromises risk converting organized hope into disappointment when supporters receive no explanations for abandoning campaign commitments.
- Norman Finkelstein says elections require institutions that can demand accountability after candidates win.
Socialism Must Mean Worker Control
- Cornel West argues that American socialism often means social democracy rather than worker control, while immigrant-centered rhetoric can obscure Black displacement.
- A durable left must unite economic struggle with racial, historical, gender, and colonial analysis.
