Biden left without an easy solution as campus protests heat up
As protests and attempts to quell them spread from New York to Los Angeles and many states in between, President Joe Biden finds himself caught in a series of political and diplomatic crosscurrents without an easy solution.
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He's in a lose/lose situation now.
He can keep supporting Israel and lose the support of the younger voters he so desperately needs.
OR:
He can reverse course, let Bibi twist in the wind, causing him to lose all support from the pro-Israel lobby, and be met with "yeah, but you didn't do it soon enough" from the younger voters.
Third option is: you're misusing our armaments, and we won't give you more.
That would run him afoul of the pro-Israel lobby and nobody can afford to do that.
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/background?cycle=2024&ind=Q05
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary?cycle=All&ind=Q05&recipdetail=S
They can. Satisfies both sides. Why do you think they're also opening up borders to refugees? It's so dumb and insane, but seems to be the path.
There's a big difference between fully sanctioning israel or providing any form of pushback
I’m pretty sure the youth is more receptive to not funding genocide with tax dollars than you make it out to seem
They aren't though. See the complaints about the economy. The youth vote is very vocal, but they don't have the money to make up for lost donations from the Pro-Israel PAC.
It’s this mentality that will give the US another Trump presidency. If you are worried about losing money from a Pro-Israel PAC because you won’t stop aiding an active genocide, you aren’t fit to make decisions for a major country. Not aiding genocide is kinda important. And yes, the economy sucks for students and the working class. That’s why they don’t want to send bombs (with their tax dollars) to Israel, when the people here need the funding more.
I'm sorry you find political facts inconvenient.
Here's what the students and pro-Palestinian movements are up against:
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?ind=Q05
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary?cycle=All&ind=Q05&recipdetail=S
There simply is no equivalent on the other side, so instead we get:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/17/pro-israel-money-progressives-congress-challenges
and:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/22/aipac-pro-israel-lobby-group-us-elections
The students can barely live, they can't afford to contribute at this level.
So, yeah, despite all of Israel's bad behavior, going back decades now, US support will continue going to them, because politicians can't afford otherwise.
That sounds like something a PAC would say lol. Self-fulfilling prophecies
Well, when the students are actively complaining about not being able to afford rent or food, that's the big indicator that they don't have money for political donations:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/16/food-insecurity-us-college-students
Now, I'm not saying you HAVE to donate to get politicians to do the right thing... but, yeah, you kinda do.
Well it sounds like the current government is not providing a path forward for them to support themselves, so I hope it doesn’t come as a surprise when they don’t come out to support the current government. Especially one that is involved in active genocide and shutting down their peaceful protests.
I agree that you cannot dispute the power PACs and the Pro-Israel lobby has. It is unfortunate that money runs the US government. It is even more unfortunate that people apologize for it
It's crazy how people come out and paint this dismal picture and then complain about voter apathy. Like, literally after they just got done telling people the things they will vote for will never, ever happen.
Then it's game over already. We lost.
They aren’t though. See the complaints about the economy.
We should keep supporting genocide because gaslighting the poor hasn't worked?
Supporting Biden isn't supporting genocide, that's a false argument.
Biden is supporting Israel because that's where the PAC money is and poor college students can't make up that difference.
Biden is supporting Netanyahu's genocide. Should he continue because gaslighting the poor hasn't worked?
He isn't supporting genocide, he's supporting Israel, just like every other President since the start, and Bibi is misaporopriating that support.
You wouldn't say Reagan or Clinton supported war crimes when Israel illegally attacked Lebanon during their administrations. Same deal here.
He isn’t supporting genocide
He's selling them weapons that he knows will be used for genocide, with no strings attached. He's running interference for Netanyahu at the UN.
That looks like support from where I'm sitting.
just like every other President since the start, and Bibi is misaporopriating that support.
"That's the way we've always done it" is a lousy justification, since the way we've always done it got us here, with the US selling weapons for genocide.
You wouldn’t say Reagan or Clinton supported war crimes when Israel illegally attacked Lebanon during their administrations. Same deal here.
Didn't Reagan threaten to withhold weapons when Israel illegally attacked Lebanon?
In any event, the article's about protests from a generation that weren't even alive for Reagan and were children during Clinton's administration.
Ah. It’s okay if it’s blood money. Cause only Biden and his Israel money can be our option. So. Fucking. Stupid.
They really don't care where the money comes from so long as they get it. That's kind of the whole point.
I love linking to this clip from Bulworth, it never gets old, more people should watch that flick:
That is not the society I would prefer to live in. That being said. That looks like a movie worth watching lol
Man, the absolutist crowd is out in force today.
As always, context kinda fucking matters a lot.
Edit: all that said: I’m pretty sure the downvotes are due to how dismissive you are being of “poor college students”
Let me ask you a hypothetical, given the choice between continuing to ship weapons to Israel or Biden winning the 2024 election which would you choose?
I’m sorry, no, that’s an absolutely idiotically framed question, to the extent that I’m quite confident you’re just trying to push agitprop.
To be clear:
You’re presenting a dichotomy where there is none.
Edit:
Ok, let’s try this another way: which of the two presidential candidates that are advancing to the general election do you believe will actually stop shipping weapons to Israel, or at least has the possibility of being convinced of stopping the shipments?
I’ll give you a hint: it’s not Trump.
I'm presenting a purely hypothetical choice. In a purely hypothetical situation where that choice is put in front of you what would you choose?
Yup, as I said in another comment:
There are two viable candidates, Biden and Trump. Taking votes away from Biden only helps Trump. So not voting, voting Stein, Kennedy, West, all of that only helps Trump.
Helping Trump is supporting:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/30/trump-interview-jail-political-opponents-glenn-beck
https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-israel-pr-hugh-hewitt-21faee332d95fec99652c112fbdcd35d
So, yeah, when the alternative is maximizing negative impact, the only voting solution is to vote for the one person who can defeat that agenda... and that's Biden.
I just want to point out the latter has been a narrative for decades and "younger voters" just keep getting older with it. It's also completely hypothetical because listening to anyone younger than Boomers hasn't been tried.
I'm in my 40s, I vote reliably, I voted for Biden in 2020 to give him a chance. As long as Biden is continuing to ship weapons to Israel I won't be voting for him again.
As long as the Israel lobby is pumping millions into the political system and you aren't, yes, nobody is going to listen to you.
Then it's game over. We lost.
The first step is admitting you have a problem. ;)
Now that we recognize that, the question is "What do we do about it?"
This would be a good start:
https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/reform-money-politics/public-campaign-financing
The game is over. There's nothing to be done about it.
Taking the money out of politics would go a long way to neutering the pro-Israel lobby, the problem is there's too much money interested in keeping things the way they are.
