In A Win For Palestine, Joe Biden Drops Out
We can only go up from here.
In the tenth once-in-a-lifetime event of the year, the incumbent President, Joe Biden, has dropped out of the presidential race. Biden immediately endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, for the Democratic nominee, but there’s still a chance a “blitz primary” will produce a new candidate.
While there were sporadic nuggets of good in Biden’s presidency, most notably his labor policies and appointing Lina Khan as head of the FTC, in my eyes, his name will forever be tarred for enabling the genocide of Gaza. For eight months, Joe Biden has provided ammunition and political cover for the bloodthirsty government in Jerusalem, which has slaughtered up to 8% of the Gazan population. It’s a historic crime on par with the most egregious transgressions of humanity, which will forever lie at the feet of Genocide Joe.
What makes Biden’s enablement of the Israeli war machine even more repugnant is that it comes from his own personal racism, not the geopolitical wishes of American voters or the Democratic base. As the slaughter continues, more and more Americans have recognized Israel is not “fighting Hamas” but conducting a full-throated campaign of ethnic cleansing. Observing the plight of Palestine through the window of social media, they’ve steadily grown to disdain the President’s armament of Israel.
Polling shows four in ten Americans believe Israel is committing genocide, including 56% of Democrats, 36% of Independents, and 23% of Republicans. Nearly half (46%) of voters disapproved of Congress’s recent $4 billion in military aid to Israel, and a plurality (37%) believe we should decrease military funding to the apartheid state. Compared to the data, it’s clear Joe Biden is far more committed to Israel’s colonial project than the typical Democrat or independent voter. In fact, he’s more anti-Palestinian than 42% of Republicans.
I have no illusions about what a Kamala Harris presidency (or that of any other centrist Democrat) would mean domestically or internationally. At home, capitalism will continue unencumbered. If whoever replaces Biden wins in November, American workers will suffer while their bosses accrue unfathomable profits. Internationally, American imperialism will not stop. We’ll be tied to the proxy war in Ukraine and continue to fret about China; the liberation of Palestine will not be achieved by putting anyone with a “D” or an “R” next to their names in the White House.
However, given the universal fact that American politicians are mind-numbing narcissists who would sell their mothers for a one-point bump in the polls, Joe Biden’s recusal provides a window of opportunity. As the above data shows, the voting public is much more sympathetic to the Palestinian plight than either Biden or Trump. Even if they’re not personally moved, they want America to reduce its role in the matter. Given this, Generic Democrat X will be incentivized to take a more critical approach to Israel. This won’t happen because Democrats are good-hearted; it will happen because they’re not.
As the Biden’s Presidency showed, the notion of “pushing someone left” once they’re in office is a fallacy. But, it also shows that politicians adapt popular policies outside of office, which they can implement once elected. Senator Joe Biden was ecstatic about the American invasion of Afghanistan. Two decades later, when the politics had shifted against the occupation, he was the one who ended it. We can hope for a similar phenomenon from the future Democratic nominee on America’s long-standing allegiance to Israel.
Perhaps their criticism will be limited to rhetoric. But there’s a chance it may manifest in pushing Israel to a ceasefire or curtailing weapons transfers (the U.S. supplies 69% of Israel’s armament import), which would limit Israel’s genocidal capacity. As a leader of the Palestinian resistance recently told
, Trump and Biden are nearly identical on policy (as bas as humanely possible), but Palestinians would prefer an alternative Democrat.“Trump, at the end of the day, just like Biden, would be looking after American interests… We prefer to have a candidate other than Biden, though.” - Dr. Mohammed Al-Hindi
Given the generational change in America’s political attitudes, I’m hopeful that any future Democratic Presidential candidate will recognize their political self-interest in distancing themselves from Israel’s colonization of Palestine. I have no illusions they’ll walk this just path because they believe the Palestinian people deserve joyous lives free from oppression. Instead, I recognize the cynicism that commands their every waking thought and spoken word. Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, and whichever operatives arise from the bowels of the Democratic machine to throw their hat in the ring are dictated by the political winds. After eight months of genocide, a summer of protests, and a primary of uncommitted write-ins, the winds are blowing towards Palestine.
Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic. Maybe. But if this rosiness saves even one Palestinian child from a gruesome death at the hands of Lockheed Martin, it will have been more than worth it.
If you appreciated this article, make sure you subscribe so future ones are delivered to your inbox. You can support my work by liking (click the ❤️) and sharing on social media. Thank you — Joe
Joe, it’s certainly a huge relief that your genocidal namesake has, at last stepped down from the Presidential race. Although Kamala Harris has a pretty glowing Wikipedia entry, she is still married to a Zionist, and she is an American politician. I would hope that her tenure, if she eventually wins the election wouldn’t be as unashamedly bloodthirsty as Genocide Joe’s, but I’m not too optimistic. I would think that there might be some slowing down f arms exports to the murderous Zionist entity, but I suspect that after maybe one or two months, it will be back to business as normal. After all, the military industrial complex which actually owns and runs America must have its profits. With any luck, a slowdown will certainly save a few Palestinian lives, but, regretfully, I think that this would only be a temporary pause in the ethnic cleaning. I’m writing all this as an observer in Britain. I would be, frankly, ecstatic if I’m wrong and a new US regime really does call a halt to being controlled by it’s spoilt zionist child. Again, though, I’m not optimistic. The best thing about the events of the last couple of days is that it’s taken the attention away from the Orange Moron’s grazed ear.
We have this pivotal moment to take a small, but perhaps meaningful, step for Palestinian human rights. It’s time for the IOC to ban Israel from the Paris Olympics. Unless the entrants can prove they are not settlers and/or have not participated in the illegal occupation, they should not be allowed to compete. Let the IOC know how you feel.
I'm updating this because the prior URL said "suspended" when I checked. Maybe better luck here: https://support.olympics.com/hc/en-gb/requests/new
Sorry about that, if you tried the other.