Considering the facts that everything in politics is stupidly transactional, and that:
The POTUS doesn’t control foreign aid and must rely on congress to agree
The deeply religious House Speaker Johnson, who controls which aid proposals will come to the floor, is fervently in support of Israel
Is it possible that President Biden is throwing a bone to the hard right, in the form of support to Israel, in order to get desperately needed aid to Ukraine ASAP?
I mean, we ALL understand that a US President doesn’t have the unilateral power of a king, and there’s a shit ton of finessing behind what we can see.
At this point, seems to me there’s literally nothing that Biden could do in this conflict that won’t cost him the election. He seems to think that he can thread this needle, but I don’t.
The left won’t accept anything less than putting his foot down, denouncing Bibi and his administration for the extremists they are, and cutting off all military aid. Even that much would likely be FAR too little for most of the people I’ve encountered on this issue, and even that is probably more than he can do as an individual.
The right would see ANY movement in this direction as “weakening America” and would use in all their campaign adds along with the border stuff to declare Biden useless for national security. And the even more racist right will double down on all this with Islamophobic nonsense because they really do want the genocide achieved.
With the election as close as it appears to be, the political losses he’s suffering between all the “border crisis” trap content and Israel is probably a death sentence. Trump will get re-elected and everything will get a hell of a lot worse, including for Gaza.
And it doesn’t even matter. Not really. The only path to a safe and peaceful Palestine almost certainly starts with Israeli democracy putting an end to the ultraconservative ethnocentric monsters that have been allowed to take over their entire government. The violence cements the far right’s control over Israel, and the far right maintains the conditions that ensure the violence will never end.
That’s just it! POTUS isn’t a dictator. It’s astonishing to see headlines ignore the fact that the powers of the office of the president are limited. No president has the authority to force Congress to pass any kind of foreign aid legislation or to impose peace on the Middle East.
The horrors occurring in Gaza, Ukraine, and throughout the world elicit deep emotions in us, but they’re beyond the control of one elected official, which is what keeps us from living in true tyranny.
It’s disturbing to see so many smart people lean toward a candidate who seeks chaos and destruction simply because they feel outrage at atrocities that can’t be solved by a POTUS, but could definitely be exacerbated by one.
Honestly, I do think Biden could organize things to effectively cut off – or at least threaten to cut off – military aid. And he does have control over the state department. He could prevent the veto of the UN resolution. Maybe he’s threatening either of both of these things behind closed doors, but (a) I doubt it and (b) even if we assume he is, behind closed doors won’t win him the election; if he doesn’t win the election it does not matter what other progress he makes towards lasting peace in the area because Trump has never seen a Muslim he doesn’t want dead. And if he did it openly, Trump would still win because failing to support Israel also loses him the election from a different flank – and again, Trump is pro-genocide of Arabs.
There’s no way out here. Even if he somehow pulls off a full victory, manages to diplomatically negotiate peace, and sets the foundations for prosperity in the region – again, hard to believe that happening – the damage done is probably already too great.
Be that as it may. I simply think it is a mockery to provide a little humanitarian aid while at the same time supplying weapons to Israel and continually vetoing a UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. This makes the US complicit in the genocide of the Palestinians imo. Pretending that this is not the case by delivering a few relief supplies to the dying people is nothing more than hypocrisy. I find that disgusting.
Considering the facts that everything in politics is stupidly transactional, and that:
The POTUS doesn’t control foreign aid and must rely on congress to agree
The deeply religious House Speaker Johnson, who controls which aid proposals will come to the floor, is fervently in support of Israel
Is it possible that President Biden is throwing a bone to the hard right, in the form of support to Israel, in order to get desperately needed aid to Ukraine ASAP?
I mean, we ALL understand that a US President doesn’t have the unilateral power of a king, and there’s a shit ton of finessing behind what we can see.
At this point, seems to me there’s literally nothing that Biden could do in this conflict that won’t cost him the election. He seems to think that he can thread this needle, but I don’t.
The left won’t accept anything less than putting his foot down, denouncing Bibi and his administration for the extremists they are, and cutting off all military aid. Even that much would likely be FAR too little for most of the people I’ve encountered on this issue, and even that is probably more than he can do as an individual.
The right would see ANY movement in this direction as “weakening America” and would use in all their campaign adds along with the border stuff to declare Biden useless for national security. And the even more racist right will double down on all this with Islamophobic nonsense because they really do want the genocide achieved.
With the election as close as it appears to be, the political losses he’s suffering between all the “border crisis” trap content and Israel is probably a death sentence. Trump will get re-elected and everything will get a hell of a lot worse, including for Gaza.
And it doesn’t even matter. Not really. The only path to a safe and peaceful Palestine almost certainly starts with Israeli democracy putting an end to the ultraconservative ethnocentric monsters that have been allowed to take over their entire government. The violence cements the far right’s control over Israel, and the far right maintains the conditions that ensure the violence will never end.
That’s just it! POTUS isn’t a dictator. It’s astonishing to see headlines ignore the fact that the powers of the office of the president are limited. No president has the authority to force Congress to pass any kind of foreign aid legislation or to impose peace on the Middle East.
The horrors occurring in Gaza, Ukraine, and throughout the world elicit deep emotions in us, but they’re beyond the control of one elected official, which is what keeps us from living in true tyranny.
It’s disturbing to see so many smart people lean toward a candidate who seeks chaos and destruction simply because they feel outrage at atrocities that can’t be solved by a POTUS, but could definitely be exacerbated by one.
Honestly, I do think Biden could organize things to effectively cut off – or at least threaten to cut off – military aid. And he does have control over the state department. He could prevent the veto of the UN resolution. Maybe he’s threatening either of both of these things behind closed doors, but (a) I doubt it and (b) even if we assume he is, behind closed doors won’t win him the election; if he doesn’t win the election it does not matter what other progress he makes towards lasting peace in the area because Trump has never seen a Muslim he doesn’t want dead. And if he did it openly, Trump would still win because failing to support Israel also loses him the election from a different flank – and again, Trump is pro-genocide of Arabs.
There’s no way out here. Even if he somehow pulls off a full victory, manages to diplomatically negotiate peace, and sets the foundations for prosperity in the region – again, hard to believe that happening – the damage done is probably already too great.
Be that as it may. I simply think it is a mockery to provide a little humanitarian aid while at the same time supplying weapons to Israel and continually vetoing a UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. This makes the US complicit in the genocide of the Palestinians imo. Pretending that this is not the case by delivering a few relief supplies to the dying people is nothing more than hypocrisy. I find that disgusting.