Senator and leading foreign policy voice in Democratic party tells the Guardian Biden has come to realise the limits of his influence

Senator Tim Kaine, a former vice-presidential nominee and leading foreign policy voice in the Democratic party, has said Joe Biden now understands that Benjamin Netanyahu “played” him during the early months of the war in Gaza but “that ain’t going to happen any more”.

In an interview with the Guardian on Tuesday, Kaine accused the prime minister of making Israel “dramatically less safe” and hurting its longstanding relationship with the US, and said the US president had come to realise the limits of his influence.

The Democratic senator for Virginia is best known nationally as Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the 2016 presidential election, a race they lost to Republicans Donald Trump and Mike Pence. The Biden ally is a member of the Senate foreign relations and armed services committees.

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      • AndyEnglish
        7•7 months ago

        This is a key comment, right here.

        I am grateful that Kaine’s comments show a slow pivot taking place in Washington. But we should all be clear that Democrats in congress like Kaine are engaged in a PR exercise to cover the fact that all that has changed is their recognition that they aren’t going to be allowed to participate in genocide.

        Really, Tim? We gave them all those bombs to convince them NOT to flatten Gaza?

        To quote Principal Skinner: “I was only in there to get directions on how to get away from there!”

        Biden wasn’t played, he was on board. And he still is. But at least Kaine is workshopping excuses for him to jump off the train he was helping drive.