Joe Biden, Accessory to Palestinian Genocide, Drops Out of Re-election Bid
Biden Bows to Internal Pressure After Multiple Shows of Physical and Mental Challenges, But a Coalition of Arab Voters, Young Voters and Humanists Will Remember Him Most for Abandoning Them
Don’t feel sorry for Biden. Feel sorry for the thousands and potentially hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were killed under his watch and with his full support and a failure of him to stop arms shipments to create at minimum a cease-fire.
Immediately after what was the only debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, I cry/laughed through 15 minutes of reading hilarious media headlines in the minutes following the broadcast on the podcast Arabs In Media. The media tiptoed around what we all saw, and wouldn’t dare call what we saw the actual dumpster fire it was for the Democratic Party, completely overshadowing Trump’s obvious lies.
That night I predicted that Biden would not be running by the time the Democratic National Convention in August. I was not alone that week. Many pundits saw what we all saw and knew that his performance could not eke out a win. Today, on July 21st, 2024, just moments ago, that became a reality as Joe Biden withdrew from the race.
Let’s be clear about where the critical mass of his support began to break up - when the optics (and reality) of the incessant, indiscriminate, war-crimes ridden bombing of Gaza began after the October 7th Hamas attacks in Israel. The 38,000 Palestinians killed by estimate are a small fraction of the likely 186,000 dead based on a Lancet estimation that includes bodies buried in rubble, forced starvation, and communicable disease growing rampant.
Joe Biden fully endorsed and supported where we are today, and while he temporarily withheld 2,000-lb dumb bombs for about 19 minutes, he replaced them with 500-lb dumb bombs. American weapons, dollars and policy killed untold numbers of souls while world courts have ruled on plausible genocide and countless war crimes.
Don't feel sorry for a person whose ego was so big, he would not honor his promise to be a transitional president, and who clung on to power while aiding a genocide. He was President, he’s no victim.
Feel sorry for the thousands and potentially hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were killed under his watch and with his full support and a failure of him to stop arms shipments to create at minimum a cease-fire.
That ego and disconnection from reality was so delusional that he tried Trump’s hyperbole by claiming that he’s done more for Palestinians than anyone. With friends like that…
The uncommitted vote of Michiganders started the ripple in the lake of discontent. Focus group after media interview, respondents claimed their despondency over the genocide and how the democratic process was not working for them, albeit efforts to get governmental response and action. Their calls and letters didn’t work, their marches didn’t work, so they did what they could with uncommitted votes. If media and pollsters had done a more honest job covering this, awareness might have been much more engaged.
Biden and the DNC were so insular and arrogant that they failed to see how important this issue is. So say what you will about the debate failures, young voters, humanists, protesters, and absolutely, Arab voters (and many Jewish voters who believe that “never again” means “never again for anyone”) were more democratic in process than actual leadership.
Finally, as Biden has put his support behind Kamala Harris, this will not be a panacea to the major problems facing the DNC. However this plays out, whether she is the nominee or not, without substantial policy change on arms sales and a cease-fire in Gaza, the only thing that will change is the figurehead.
If the DNC wants a chance at creating differentiation between them and Trump, they need to stop playing defense and being Trump-lite, and actually stand for a permanent cease-fire, now.
Thanks for taking time to share this. Remember, habibi, genocide is always wrong.
-Hazem Jamal