So though Trump wisely stayed relatively quiet for campaign purposes in the early months of Israeli genocide, leaving it to Biden to destroy himself with so many Democratic Party voters, Trump knew his record spoke for itself as being the “Best Friend Israel (Fascists) Ever Had.” And his Republican Party knew that, and would consequently give him unquestioning support, for that very reason in their zealous support for Israeli genocide. As is their “Tradition,” going back to William Buckley and the Suez Crisis when Conservatives denounced Eisenhower for not supporting Israel. With Trump knowing that Republican Party leaders would be out front as attack dogs on even any suggestion of calling for “restraint” on Israel’s fascist coalition. But he had to make clear to some degree for the less informed debate listeners that he backed Israel’s genocide, to the hilt, as can be seen below!
Quotes: "Israel is the one that wants to keep going," Trump said in the debate. "[Biden] said the only one who wants to keep going is Hamas. Actually, Israel is the one that wants to keep going, and you should let them go and let them finish the job.
"[Biden] doesn't want to do it. He's become like a Palestinian, but they don't like him because he's a very bad Palestinian, he's a weak one," he said.
"Trump's comments during the debate marked a shift in his rhetoric on the Gaza war compared to recent months, signalling that he may be more focused on consolidating support from GOP Jewish megadonors like Miriam Adelson, Bernie Marcus and Paul Singer than pandering toward his America First populist base that has grown increasingly wary of U.S. involvement in the Middle East (even supporting "America's best friend" in Israel).
"Trump's campaign has endeavored to poach disillusioned Arab and Muslim-American voters in key swing states like Michigan in recent months, with several community leaders notably endorsing him despite his vow to reinstate the Muslim entry ban into the United States and his record as president. He has also repeatedly vowed to deport any pro-Palestinian protesters in the U.S. on a student visa."
. . .
"If his first term as president proved anything, however, it is that predicting Trump's whims is a fool's errand, and he may take a completely different tack if the mood strikes.
A couple disagreements with this however in that Trump has always been pro-Israeli fascist, going back to his political mentors, Roy Cohn, and Rupert Murdoch as his New York political connections, and his Straussian/Schmittian links with the Claremont Institute and Hillsdale College. And Trump’s “whims” have never been part of that as his support for, and allegiance to, Netanyahu, was, and is, a constant, notwithstanding a couple, non-policy, “fickle” criticisms of Netanyahu when Netanyahu didn’t support his “stolen election” lie, even though so heavily promoted by Netanyahu’s U.S. Conservative allies.
WASHINGTON — There's no two ways about it: Thursday night's debate between U.S. President Joe Biden and presumed Republican nominee Donald Trump was an unmitigated disaster for Democrats.
Lest one think otherwise, while senior Democrats attempt to stop the bedwetting as we head into the weekend, one only need look at direct pleas from the president's preferred media diet begging him to step down: New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman (who has as much influence on his Israel policy as anyone outside the Oval Office) and Nick Kristof (who has been increasingly critical of his support for Israel's war in Gaza), as well as MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, who has been notably harsh on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent months.
Biden's performance, which had national pundits openly speculating on whether he would leave the ticket before August's Democratic National Convention in Chicago, was so concerning that it has completely overshadowed Trump's use of the word 'Palestinian' as an insult at best and a racist slur at worst.
"Israel is the one that wants to keep going," Trump said in the debate. "[Biden] said the only one who wants to keep going is Hamas. Actually, Israel is the one that wants to keep going, and you should let them go and let them finish the job.
The first presidential debate between U.S. President Joe Biden and former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is projected on a screen projector in Michigan, U.S., June 27.Credit: Emily Elconin/Reuters
"[Biden] doesn't want to do it. He's become like a Palestinian, but they don't like him because he's a very bad Palestinian, he's a weak one," he said.
Trump's comments during the debate marked a shift in his rhetoric on the Gaza war compared to recent months, signalling that he may be more focused on consolidating support from GOP Jewish megadonors like Miriam Adelson, Bernie Marcus and Paul Singer than pandering toward his America First populist base that has grown increasingly wary of U.S. involvement in the Middle East (even supporting "America's best friend" in Israel).
Trump's campaign has endeavored to poach disillusioned Arab and Muslim-American voters in key swing states like Michigan in recent months, with several community leaders notably endorsing him despite his vow to reinstate the Muslim entry ban into the United States and his record as president. He has also repeatedly vowed to deport any pro-Palestinian protesters in the U.S. on a student visa.
Student protesters gather in protest inside their encampment on the Columbia University campus, Monday, April 29, in New York.Credit: Stefan Jeremiah/AP Photo
He later defended his record on supporting neo-Nazis and white supremacists trafficking in openly antisemitic language and imagery in Charlottesville by attacking these same protesters.
"We have the Palestinians and everybody else rioting all over the place. You talk about Charlottesville – this is a hundred times, a thousand times Charlottesville. The whole country is exploding because of you, because they don't respect you," he said in his closing remarks.
On face value, Trump's rhetoric on Israel and the Palestinians in the debate should leave little doubt about how he would approach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though he punted when asked if he would support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. If his first term as president proved anything, however, it is that predicting Trump's whims is a fool's errand, and he may take a completely different tack if the mood strikes.
No matter what, his disdain for Palestinians should be considered cemented in stone – illustrating further Biden's missed opportunity in his answer on how he would use leverage to bring the war to an end.
Vendors are setup early ahead of a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump in Chesapeake, Va., Friday June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)Credit: Steve Helber,AP
Like most of his other answers, Biden got tripped up in trying to articulate his administration's stance. He highlighted the details of the three-tiered cease-fire proposal, tried to preemptively minimize the sole withheld shipment of heavy-payload bombs to Israel and highlighted the U.S. organized defense of Israel against Iran's unprecedented missile attack in April.
Biden, however, failed to detail his administration's unprecedented support for Israel since October 7, both militarily and on the international stage, while also neglecting to note his administration's efforts to alleviate Gaza's humanitarian crisis or any vision toward a two-state solution or a final agreement.
Biden's performance only casts doubt on his appetite to fully stand up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bad-faith efforts at politicizing Israel in Washington or what his strategy may be if Israel-Hezbollah tensions on the Lebanon border escalate into a full-blown war that would likely ripple throughout the Middle East.
Biden may have been a loser on the debate stage Thursday night, but that should not discount the fact that utterly no one left a winner.
