đ¨đ¨đ¨BREAKING: President Biden tells @ErinBurnett that if Israel invades the city of Rafah, the U.S. will stop supplying it with artillery shells, bombs for fighter jets and other offensive weapons
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 8, 2024
Biden tells CNN he won't send weapons to Israel if they launch a major invasion of Rafah. It's the first time he's publicly put conditions on aid.https://t.co/Xp5Z6aI2Qf
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 8, 2024
… âCivilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,â Biden told CNNâs Erin Burnett in an exclusive interview on âErin Burnett OutFront,â referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last week.
âI made it clear that if they go into Rafah â they havenât gone in Rafah yet â if they go into Rafah, Iâm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities â that deal with that problem,â Biden said.
The presidentâs announcement that he was prepared to condition American weaponry on Israelâs actions amounts to a turning point in the seven-month conflict between Israel and Hamas. And his acknowledgement that American bombs had been used to kill civilians in Gaza was a stark recognition of the United Statesâ role in the war…
âWeâre not walking away from Israelâs security. Weâre walking away from Israelâs ability to wage war in those areas,â Biden said.
Biden said while the US would continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including for its Iron Dome air defense system, other shipments would end should a major ground invasion of Rafah begin…
Already, the US has paused a shipment of âhigh-payload munitionsâ due to Israelâs possible operations in Rafah without a plan for the civilians there, according to the Pentagon, though it said a final decision on that shipment hadnât been made. The administration has said it is reviewing the potential sale or transfer of other munitions…
Josh Marshall, at TPM, on “Cutting the Spigot”:
What was first communicated by a slowdown in weapons transfers and then confirmed in leaks has now become public. Joe Biden is saying he will cut off the supply of heavy munitions (big bombs from the sky) if Israel goes ahead with a major ground in incursion into Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, which is both the last refuge of Hamasâs intact battalions and hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians who have fled other parts of the strip over the last six months. This is in addition to the cityâs normal population.
I have seen some commentators who have absolutely no love for Netanyahu saying this undercuts whatever leverage Israel has in the hostage negotiations by depriving them of the threat to go into Rafah in force. Thereâs likely something to that. But it is basically a certainty that this move was absolutely the final straw with the US insisting and insisting and insisting not to do this without a plan to evacuate the city and the Israeli government saying too bad. Weâre doing it. Biden had the choice to make his words meaningless or put down his foot. When youâre supplying the weapons your foot comes down very hard.
Let me note that itâs not crazy to want to attack Hamas in its final hold out. Israel went into this war with the goal not of eroding but destroying Hamasâs military capability. Thatâs where theyâre hold up. If you still want to destroy their military capacity you need to finish Hamas off there…
But letâs go back to a different point. The US doesnât want another bloodbath in Rafah. The US has been making this very, very, very clear. Many people in the Israeli national security world think that needs to happen â if not today then at some point. But for the far right in Netanyahuâs government itâs a condition of not toppling the government. The US has its own views and its own interests. The Israeli government has been swaggering around saying, hey weâre sovereign, weâre nobodyâs protectorate and weâll do what we want ⌠and also, please donât cut off our supply of heavy ordinance otherwise our army will grind to a halt in a few days. Sorry, thatâs not how it works.
If you want to fight the war with permanent resupply from the US, youâre probably going to have to take some input on how you approach things. If you donât eventually youâre going to have something like this happen.
Of course, Biden’s getting exactly the thanks you’d expect for this, from the Very Serious Media as well as the social-media screamers on both ends of the horseshoe. If you think I’m exaggerating, search ‘Dearborn‘ on twitter…
U.S. ambassador to Israel explains Biden's position to a leading Haredi rabbi:
âItâs not easy because itâs a very hard war and itâs not a very popular war in the United Statesâvery unpopular.â
Not true, but revealing.https://t.co/WzthG2bOnf
— Elliot Kaufman (@ElliotKaufman6) May 8, 2024
Why the US paused the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel ahead of a possible Rafah attack https://t.co/i1FfeLwC1o
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 8, 2024
… Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate panel Wednesday that smaller, more precise weapons are needed for a densely populated area like Rafah.
Still, he made clear the decision wasnât final.
âWeâre going to continue to do whatâs necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,â Austin said. âBut that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.â…
Israel said it was disappointed with the decision, suggesting it was done due to political pressure on President Joe Biden. Some defense experts said the move was largely symbolic but could signal more trouble ahead in the relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
âItâs some kind of diplomatic message to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu that he needs to take into consideration American interests more than he has over the last few months,â said Itamar Yaar, former deputy head of Israelâs National Security Council. âAt least for now it will not impact Israeli capability but itâs some kind of a signal, a âbe careful.ââ…
Further indicator, to my jaded eyes, that Biden made a good choice:
We stand by allies, we donât second guess them. Bidenâs dithering on Israel weapons is bad policy and a terrible message to Israel, our allies, and the world.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 8, 2024
ETA: Mike Pompeo, there’s a name we hadn’t heard in a while…
Probably not great that that GOP has open contempt for this country. https://t.co/MJtCvl17RR
— Jean-Michel Connard ě˘ëě´ (@torriangray) May 8, 2024
RaflW
Mitt Romney hasn’t got the stones to stand up to a fat old golfer with a shitty combover. He can fuck right off about Biden working to find a path through this awful conflict in Israel/Gaza.
Wapiti
Regarding Romney’s bit, the only alliance that I know of between the US and Israel is the Camp David Peace Accord, where we pay Israel and Egypt to not go to war with each other. (The money goes to buy US arms, I think).
Wapiti
@RaflW: Romney didn’t like how Biden got us out of Afghanistan, either. I think he’s just a critic.
Another Scott
Biden – “Putin is going to invade Ukraine.”
Critics – “HAHA. Old Man is fear mongering and Putin won’t invade – he said so.”
Biden – “The Congress needs to pass this big supplemental to protect our interests and support our friends and allies.”
Critics – “HAHA. Old Man doesn’t understand how powerful the GQP is.”
Biden – “Bibi must protect civilians in Gaza or there will be serious consequences.”
Critics – “HAHA. Old Man doesn’t understand that Bibi is Big Strong and will do what he wants and voters will support him. Old Man needs Bibi more than Bibi needs Old Man.”
I see a pattern here.
Biden doesn’t make empty threats.
Grr…,
Scott.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
I think this move sends the right signal.
SpaceUnit
About damn time. Â Good on Joe.
Also, fuck Romney. Â And fuck Pompeo up the nose. Â Biden isn’t doing this to extort a country into providing bogus dirt to help his campaign. Â These assholes wouldn’t know a principle if it bit them on the ass.
piratedan
@Another Scott: it is the Biden MO isn’t it? I’m positive that the behind the scenes diplomatic approach and exhaust all of those options were the face saving attempts to bring Israel to the table with a minimum of political fuss was done to show both the critics at home and Bibi and his crew what would stop Israel from being perceived as a political pariah.
Bibi gave JB the finger thinking that the US would always back Israel, no matter the public discourse. Joe has now disabused Bibi of that line of thinking and while it will buy JB zero credit with those against US policy in the situation, its a positive step. I wish that there was a way to force a real peace settlement where people meet at the table and actually try and fix this, but I also understand that there is a LOT of history with HAMAS and Israeli hard-liners that make this a very difficult ask. Dual atrocities make any kind of tenuous peace fragile, but it has to start sometime.
HumboldtBlue
@Wapiti:Â â
There are several trade treaties, and this is the state department’s info on military aid.
U.S. Security Cooperation with Israel
JWR
@SpaceUnit:
Yeah, I heard Rep. Mike Lawler claiming that Biden was doing this because of Michigan and some other vulnerable state, so I guess it’s become a Repub talking point, which is all they have these days.
Mr. Bemused Senior
If he is gone forever it will not be long enough. If he returns no more then it will be too soon.
matt
well, well, well, look at furthest left Republican in the world Mitt Romney shitting all over Biden for doing the right thing.
VFX Lurker
One of the replies:
kindness
Good for President Biden. He won’t get any credit for it. He’ll be attacked by the media. It’s what they do. But the media doesn’t want you to get the impression that the media is in the tank for Trump, even though it is.
prostratedragon
No longer off limits.
mvr
This move is appropriate and probably overdue. Certainly overdue. Though I get why it was hard to do.
Urza
@prostratedragon: Shame, one would have hoped he might have realized what horrid parents and family he has and the people that hang around in hopes of power. Game on.
FastEdD
Sounds like the President is doing the right thing. I suspect it is what we have been telling Bibi privately through diplomatic channels. It didnât make an impression so now President Biden is making the message public.
In other news I think thereâs a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg at 9:42 pm tonight. Clear skies out here in SoCal, so my neighbors and I have our lawn chairs ready.
mvr
@mvr: partly because Ukraine got caught up in the politics of this – in the bad sense of politics. Our legislature had to pass military aid to Israel (which mostly had what it needed and then some) to pass Ukraine aid. Too many innocent people died. And will die.
David đ âThe Establishmentâđ Koch
SpaceUnit
@JWR:
Well, screw em. Â Biden wasn’t hoping to win the votes of the rapture kooks.
prostratedragon
Mood music: @Urza:
from “Main Title,” No Way Out
prostratedragon
@FastEdD: ” I suspect it is what we have been telling Bibi privately through diplomatic channels.” You betcha. He may have more in reserve.
John S.
Biden is doing this because itâs the right thing to do. He will get zero credit, as others have pointed out. The horseshoe left will claim itâs not enough, and the right will claim heâs antisemitic. But itâs still the right thing to do.
And people wonder why there arenât other alternatives for President. Who in their right mind would want to get shit on for doing the right thing?
sdhays
Pompeo is, of course, a liar. If Trump had withheld aid to Ukraine over a policy difference, he wouldnât have been impeached. He may have been harshly criticized over it, depending on the policy, but not impeached.
Trump threatened to withhold assistance to Ukraine in order to extort them to subvert the 2020 US elections – so he could stay in power. Thatâs a high crime, and Pompeo knows it (although he doesnât care).
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
Brava Joe Biden!đ I don’t want Israel to cease existing, but I have come to utterly despise Netanyahu & his posse of criminals, as much as I loathe Hamas.
Also, too, if The Guardian is to be believed & YMMV,it was an American bomb that killed the 7 World Central Kitchen workers. I wonder if Joe Biden knows that…
sdhays
Also, Israelâs conduct of this war has become pretty unpopular in the United States. The Israeli government has taken it for granted that they donât need to care about pesky American public opinion, and now theyâre finding out.
danielx
Something to the effect that sometimes you have to hit a mule between the eyes with a club to get its attention….
JWR
@sdhays:
That’s for damn sure, and it’s a damn shame that the entire Republican party has shown how quickly they’ll discard Democracy just to win an election. Maybe when Trump has rotted away in jail for a few decades…
wjca
I have a totally-detached-from-reality fantasy where he (Barron) gets up at the Republican Convention and casts his vote for someone else. Hey, kids rebel against their parents all the time, right?
Won’t happen, of course. But imagine if it did….
YY_Sima Qian
Finally! Exercising the US’ enormous leverage over Israel to constrain its destructive & self-destructive behavior has been long overdue, but definitely welcome. Better late than never.
Of course, Biden has now placed his own credibility on the line now, for everyone to see. He can’t let his sentimental attachment to Israel undermine enforcing his own red lines, should it come to that.
In general, I think drawing red lines for posturing & chasing the “credibility fairy” have been long standing perverse tendencies in FP discourse, but some lines have to be drawn & enforced.
Gloria DryGarden
@VFX Lurker: i think this is exactly true. and we need to tolerate the need for nuance
JWR
Speaking of Pastor Mike, here he is on the so called SAVE Act (The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.) From NBC:
Translation: It’s strictly for messaging purposes. And may his congressional career be a brief one.
Martin
If I’m not mistaken Haredi are anti-zionists. They oppose a secular Israeli nation. IDF likes to harass the shit out of them.
Martin
@wjca: Imagine if dad pulls a prison sentence before the convention and there’s a floor fight for a candidate that won’t be in prison.
Melancholy Jaques
@Martin:
Romney will be ready.
Geoduck
@Martin: The only way he’s not the GOP candidate is if he’s dead. And while he might end up in a jail cell, it ain’t gonna happen before the the election.
Jay
@Martin:
The IDF’s “beef” with the Haredi is that they “were” exempt from conscription,
So, they only got “volenteers” who demanded special treatment, no beard shaving, no having to work with or follow orders from women, special meals, etc. So, they had to have their own unit.
That unit is the only remaining unit under US sanction, and had to be pulled from southern Israel and reposted to the Golan Heights because they refuse to stop executing Palestinians at will.
JWR
BBC News did an interview with an Israeli spokesperson, and when asked about the Rafah crossing she went on and on about the nearly 400,000 pounds (ETA or tons?) of aid that Israel has facilitated so far and the other crossing was attacked by Hamas so they had no choice but to close it and besides Hamas was hijacking all the aid destined for northern Gaza anyway and selling it at inflated prices. (Even if that last is true, it means survival for at least some civilians.) But she finally said that the crossing at Rafah would reopen “within days”. We’ll see.
danielx
@Martin:
Doesn’t exactly help that Ultra-Orthodox religious students through age 26 are exempt from national service, which pisses off other military age Israelis something fierce.
Sort of like college deferments during Vietnam, except that israel is a lot smaller country and everybody, barring the Ultra-Orthodox, is subject to national service. Three years for men and two years for women with years in the reserves. Why long wars are not a thing with the Israeli military; if they have to mobilize too many reserves for too long, the economy collapses. So leaving 13% (Ultra-Orthodox) of the population off the table is a pretty big deal, especially when major casualties occur.
HumboldtBlue
If you play Disney movies backwards, you get this.
Msb
Thank you, Mr President, for doing the right thing.
Dan B
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: It was BombS that killed the World Central Kitchen volunteers. The survivors of the first bomb were pursued and slaughtered.
Baud
Heh. The NYT could have gotten this monumental interview if they weren’t douchebags.
Betty Cracker
@danielx: I read somewhere (Haaretz, probably) that the exemptions were put in place decades ago as a political sop to shore up a governing coalition. According to what I read, back then, the ultra-orthodox population was much smaller. As that population has grown, so has resentment toward their special privileges (and tendency to live on the dole).
Geminid
@Martin: I think some Ultra-Orthodox sects are anti-Zionist, but most consider themselves Zionist.
Baud
@Geoduck:
O really?
Jay
@Betty Cracker:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torato_Umanuto
Geminid
@danielx: Israel’s Arab population is also exempt from the military draft. That’s another 20% of the population, so it’s actually only two thirds of the people who have military obligations.
Some Arabs volunteer, and there has been a Bedouin regiment stationed in the south since the 1950s. Military service is a family tradition for some Bedouin. Military service is not so popular in some of the Arab communities, and unlike other Israeli soldiers some Arabs change to civilian clothing when going home.
Israel also has a small Druze population, around 130,000, and they have been drafted since 1948. The Druze are Arab speakers but they are a distinct and insular religious community,* and they provide a lot of career officers and soldiers. The smaller Circassion population is also subject to the draft.
* The Druze religion was founded in Cairo almost a thousand years ago. It’s said to be a “Syncretic” religion with elements of Zoroastrianism and Pythagoreanism. They got banned by religious authorities early on, but they had done some missionary work in the mountains so the rest of them fled to there. It was around this time that they banned converts. Marriage outside the community is rare.
Cacti
Nope, those protests aren’t doing anything at all.
They need to be more polite.
Gvg
@Geminid: I have read Freddie Mercury was Druze. Other than that, I would not have heard of them.
lowtechcyclist
@wjca:Â â
Kid should look at his half-brothers and ask himself if he wants to be like them.
zhena gogolia
@RaflW: excellent comment
AM in NC
@prostratedragon: Â Kid looks like a dark-haired clone of his dad, especially that stupid sphincter mouth, and the expression of bored entitlement, of course.
Grifters, generation after generation.
zhena gogolia
@AM in NC: just what I thought
Geminid
@Gvg: I believe Freddie Mercury’s family ware Parsees, who are a Zoroastrian remnant who survived in India.
The “Nowruz” New Year’s celebration started as a Zoroastrian tradition. It’s observed by many Moslems including Iranians and Kurds. Kurds claim they are descendants of the ancient Medes, and their language is in fact in the Indo-European family.
lowtechcyclist
@YY_Sima Qian:Â â
This. It’s about time Biden leaned on Israel to stop the massacres. They’ve already killed dozens of Palestinians for every 10/7 victim. I’m sure some of those were Hamas, but clearly the vast majority were just people trying to (literally, in this case) survive another day.
Sure, they’d like to destroy Hamas, but by killing so many innocents along the way, they’ve given up the right to try, at least by conventional military means. Let ’em put the Mossad to work on tracking down and killing Hamas’ leadership like they should have done in the first place.
Suzanne
@YY_Sima Qian: I co-sign everything you wrote. This is long overdue, but at least itâs happening.
Geminid
@Gvg: One reason we don’t hear much about the Druze is that their religion is very secretive. Even within the community, only the initiates participate fully in religious instruction. And since Druze do not proselytize, they don’t try to explain the religion to outsiders.
Kay
@lowtechcyclist:
I think they have to recognize that the Arab Americans and Muslims who are following this in the US believe that some of the reluctance to intervene is because we in the US believe Arab and Muslim lives are not as valuable as other lives. The Leahy Law violation that the Biden Administration would not enforce was the IDF murder of a Palestinian American. An all-male religous zealot unit in Israel killed an elderly Palestinian American and Biden refused to sanction Israel for the murder. So to (some of) them Biden is not even protecting Arab Americans in Israel, let alone Palestinians who are not American. They think this is a reflection of anti Arab and anti Muslim bigotry in the United States, not just in Israel. I don’t think people will understand the depth of how offended they are until they understand this – it’s no longer just about Israel. It’s about the US.
Kay
@lowtechcyclist:
And there is STILL no sensitivity in language out of the Biden Administration. Blinken is the worst on this. For example – Blinken keeps saying he needs a deal to get the hostages out not just because of Israeli hostages but because some are American. Absolutely fine thing to say for a US diplomat! But one can see how Arab Americans could compare this concern for American hostages to the utter lack of concern for the Palestinian American Israel murdered. They want to know why some Americans don’t count.
YY_Sima Qian
@lowtechcyclist: Far more than the appalling high civilian casualty rate per se, which at some level is unavoidable when waging war in crowded urban environments against a foe that uses the civilian population as human shield, I have been horrified by the IDF’s & Israeli intelligence’ policies of deliberately maximizing collateral damage (dropping dumb bombs on the residences of suspected low level Hamas operations specifically when they might be at home w/ their extended families), deliberately imparting collective punishment of the entire Gazan population (starving them of access to food, water, medicine, electricity, & basic hygienic living conditions), deliberately demolishing Gaza’s civilian infrastructure (schools/universities, libraries, civic buildings, hospitals, & housing) so as to render it uninhabitable w/o astronomically expensive reconstruction (is Israel going to pay a dime?), using AI algorithms to generate targets w/ only nominal human oversight, indiscriminate killing of everyone in designated areas (by designating everyone there that is not IDF as Hamas), & mass arrests & detentions w/o due process.
This is a blood lusty war of vengeance, born of the same basest human instincts as the Hamas’ pogroms on Oct. 7, 2023.
Chris
You know, this has been one of the most annoying parts of the discourse I’ve read over the last six months: Israelis, often even sane Israelis who want Bibi gone and are ambivalent about the war, getting on their soapbox and outragedly wagging their fingers at those Ignorant White Americans who think that their country can influence the course of the war because they just don’t understand that Israel Is A Strong Independent Nation That Doesn’t Need An America To Complete It…
Yeah, bullshit.
Chris
@kindness:
Don’t be too sure. He won’t get any credit for it from the media.  But if he sticks to this, he’s going to get plenty of credit from Democrats like me. People who have no brief for Hamas or the loonier parts of the protest, who aren’t looking for a reason to dump Biden, but who’ve been getting increasingly pissed off over the last six months at the rising death toll and the U.S.’s failure to take any meaningful steps to constrain Israel.
And while the media is going to try to spin this like they always do, it might be harder for them to do so when anybody who cares significantly about this issue is following it this closely.
Kay
@Chris:
It’s also just bonkers for such a small country to stiff arm their giant, powerful, most loyal supporter. It’s dumb. For all the criticism that the protestors are naive or stupid or uninformed (none of that is true) Israeli leadership are not the smartest tools in the shed. Israel has slightly less than the population of Ohio. Of course they need allies. All small countries do. All small countries don’t tell their best ally to fuck off though. Because that’s not smart.
zhena gogolia
Predictably, the goalposts have been moved.
Chris
@Kay:
Heck, they’re right to believe it. It’s true, and the entire reaction to the protests shows it.
Congress has held kangaroo court hearings demanding that colleges explain what they’re doing to make sure Jewish students feel safe. It has not asked them to explain what they’re doing to make Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim students feel safe. Congress is considering passing a bill defining antisemitism ostensibly to help protect Jewish citizens. It is not considering passing a bill defining Islamophobia or any form of prejudice against other Middle-Easterners. The media is breathelessly reporting every antisemitic incident on college campus and treating it as representative of the entire protest movement. I have seen very little reporting on Islamophobic or anti-Arab or anti-Palestinian racism or violence, except sometimes in local papers, but even when I do, there’s no hint that this should be projected onto the entire pro-Israel side.
Right from the start the government and media have been broadcasting as loudly as possible that only one tribe is worth protecting and that the other tribe are effectively all assumed to be criminals, at least if they’re doing anything other than loudly approving of the current bombing spree. And this isn’t even people in Israel and Gaza.
Chris
@Kay:
For decades, Israel’s strategy was to gleefully piss off every other country in the world that because they were safe in the knowledge that America had their back. In the last decade, they’ve doubled down on that by gleefully trying to piss off every Democrat in America because they’re safe in the knowledge that the Republicans have their back.
It’s the basic right-wing strategy of “shrink your support base until it’s as small as humanly possible, because that way it’ll also be as pure and fanaticized as humanly possible.” And yeah, it’s dangerous as hell. This isn’t gun control. If enough people in the White House and Congress decide that they’re done writing blank checks, there’s no Supreme Court to step in and save them.
YY_Sima Qian
@Kay: Yeah, there is still a blindingly obvious disparity between the level of empathy that Biden shows toward the suffering & victimization Israelis & Jews versus the suffering & victimization Palestinians & pro-Palestinian protestors in the US. He is able to draw on that empathy for Israel & Jews & instantaneously emote at a deep level even when speaking impromptu. I have never seen him able to do so for Palestinians, Arab Americans or pro-Palestinian protestors. (In comparison, Obama, & especially Clinton, can do so w/ ease w/ anyone.)
Even in recent speeches, Biden would center the college protest movements on the anti-Semitism displayed at the fringe (at least some of which were in fact reactionaries & anarchists seeking to take advantage), as if that is the key feature, while largely ignoring the panicked CYA responses of [some] university admins, the heavy handed actions of local law enforcement, & the Palestinian hatred/aggression shown by [some] counterprotestors (at least some of whom have been provocateurs in service of reactionaries domestic or foreign). He said in a speech yesterday Hamas was motivated by an “ancient” hatred of Israel & Jews, never mind that Hamas is not an ancient organization, neither is the modern State of Israel, & Hamas is at least partly a creation born of the cynical calculations of successive Israeli governments (but mostly Bibi).
I think there are political costs associated w/ these emotional blind spots. At this point, he is 82, he has his blind spots & they are not likely to change. This is the kind of times when I miss Obama’s sensibilities & perspectives born of his upbringing & lived experiences.
I am more concerned about the policies & actions of the Biden Administration, & I am glad for the recent pivot, even if these actions should have been taken in Dec. at the latest. As for those who fear the negative vibes surrounding the War in Gaza will diminish Biden’s chances in Nov., I say Biden as POTUS has more agency than just about anyone. The political costs of his words & deeds (or lack thereof) were foreseeable, & the words (especially) & deeds that would limit these political costs have also been well w/in his wherewithal, so he has to live w/ the consequences of his choices. We as voters can only exercise our agency come Nov. by still voting for Biden & Ds, if only to keep the much worse & more malevolent Trump & Rs out of power.
However, we should expect that not every voter will be able to remain perfectly rational, & one’s reelection strategy has to account for that fact. If the vast majority of citizens reliably cast their vote based only on rational calculations, Trump (& a huge number of charlatans & bad actors of all parties throughout history) would never have been elected & reelected, & the GOP would not be what it is today.
Anne Laurie
Kid’s barely 18, and hasn’t (quite) yet graduated HS. I’m not gonna fantasize about him turning into a liberal, but there have been stories since 2016 about Melania intending to jump ship & take her darling anchor baby back to Europe to matriculate as soon as he’d finished his ‘American’ education. He’s gonna have his own opinions about that, too, I’m sure… but all the ‘scoops’ say, so far, is that the Trump Crime Cartel is publicly welcoming Youngest Spawn to the family business. And this is a family that really needs some positive news, that ain’t about Daddy’s criminal trials or his elder kids’ inability to accomplish anything beyond riding Daddy’s criminal coattails!
Kay
@Chris:
Exactly. If every anti Semitic incident is attributed to people opposed to US policy in Gaza then every anti Muslim or Arab incident should be attributed to US supporters of Israel. It isn’t, because that would be ridiculous and unfair to Israel’s supporters, so why is it okay to do to the protestors?
Tom Cotton is an anti Arab and anti Muslim bigot. He is ALSO a huge Israel supporter. Does his anti Muslim and anti Arab bigotry reflect all of Israel’s supporters? Of course not.
I saw that Muslim American groups petitioned the US Department of Ed for a meeting on anti Muslim activity because the USDE met with Jewish American groups on anti Semitism. They’ll get the meeting – it’s federal law, for one thing, but why wasn’t that meeting a given? Why did Muslim Americans have to ask?
I think the Biden Administration across the board could do more to be even handed. I think the allegation that some of this is driven by anti Muslim and anti Arab bias is credible.
Kay
@YY_Sima Qian:
I particularly object to his lack of advocacy for the students 1st amendment rights because that’s defending the Constitution. He took an oath. The universities that changed their rules for assembly (Indiana University, Ohio State, University of Virginia, UCLA) did so to silence one group of students and one particular political opinion. That’s against the law. They may not shut down debate on this, no matter how uncomfortable it makes them. The federal government has to defend the 1st amendment rights of the students even if the students are unpopular.
I have to say, they’re doing a good job defending themselves in the abscence of all the fucking adults they pay who have done jack shit. They have a huge social media operation for bail funds and pro bono lawyers and camping gear :)
Kay
@YY_Sima Qian:
I wanted to donate to their bail fund but it’s this long, long spreadsheet and they went a little crazy with the color options so it’s basically unreadable. It might be because I’m old but I tried to decipher it for 20 minutes and I’m very familiar with spreadsheets. I still have no idea who to Venmo.
UncleEbeneezer
YY_Sima Qian
@Kay: Agree on defending the protestors’ 1A rights against censorship by [some] university admins. He always said that the students had a right to protest, but it has never been the emphasis in any of his comments that I recall. He doesn’t necessarily need to address the issue himself, where is the Secretary of Education?
Mart
@SpaceUnit: I think the name Mike Pompeo should always be followed by – who negotiated the surrender to Taliban terrorists…