President Biden finally gives an on-camera statement about the explosion of antisemitic violence at Columbia University and promptly botches the easy lay-up, spontaneously insisting that he denounces both antisemitism and “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.” He’s a tired, doddering 81-year-old man with bad instincts who can’t just go out and say what the American public needs to hear, and who’s operating as if his entire second term depends upon his ability to placate the outrage in Dearborn, Mich.
The first, and so far only, in-person, on-camera remarks of President Biden, on the outbreak of antisemitic violence on the campus of Columbia University, in their entirety:
Q: Mr. President, what’s your message to the protesters?Q: Do you condemn the antisemitic protests on college campuses?THE PRESIDENT: I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I’ve set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians and their — how they’re being —Q: Should the Columbia University President resign?THE PRESIDENT: I didn’t know that. I’ll — I’ll have to find out more about it.Q: Should she resign?Q: Do you need the abortion issue to win the election?THE PRESIDENT: No, I need the abortion issue just to follow what’s right.Q: What will your legacy be on abortion?THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) What will your legacy be as a newsperson?
He’s so useless. President Mister Magoo, stumbling through an unraveling America, in between long weekends at his six-bedroom Rehoboth Beach house, the one the Washington Post said Biden treats like “almost a second White House.”
When asked about antisemitic protests on college campuses, Biden just had to add a condemnation of “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians and their — how they’re being—” and of course he couldn’t finish the sentence. Sure, Biden doesn’t like the harassment of Jewish students, but he feels obligated, in the same breath, to offer a parallel and equally strong denunciation of “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.” You see, not understanding the plight of the Palestinians is every bit as bad as attempting to stab a young Jewish woman in the eye with a flagpole.
Heaven forbid that anyone listening conclude that the explosion of antisemitism on college campuses in this country is a uniquely insidious and dangerous problem that must be addressed immediately. No, no, the president of the United States must announce, at every opportunity, that the Palestinians have it just as bad, too.
I suppose it’s just a matter of time before Biden declares, “You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”
Sure, on Sunday, the White House press office released a statement attributed to Biden about Passover that hit all the right notes:
The ancient story of persecution against Jews in the Haggadah also reminds us that we must speak out against the alarming surge of Antisemitism — in our schools, communities, and online. Silence is complicity. Even in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant Antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous – and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.
But the White House press office issues lots of written statements attributed to the president every day, and who knows how closely Biden reviews the issued written statements put out in his name. How much time did Biden spend on the statement issued in his name on the anniversary of the Columbine shooting, or the disaster declaration for the Hoopa Valley Tribe, or his proclamation on National Park Week, or his proclamation on “Education and Sharing Day”?
No, the on-camera statement Monday was our chance to get the president’s thoughts and perspective straight from the horse’s mouth. And in that moment — in a once again exceptionally brief exposure to reporters — Biden’s first instinct was to say that campus antisemitism, which had manifested in the form of violent assaults, is bad, but insufficient sympathy for the Palestinians is equally bad. (How thankful is Biden for the reporter who, just as he was flubbing the easy layup of denouncing antisemitic violence, wanted to change the subject to the Biden campaign’s favorite issue, abortion?)
In March 1980, a prank headline slipped past the copy editors at the Boston Globe, declaring a speech by President Jimmy Carter was “More Mush From the Wimp.”
Yesterday, Columbia University deactivated the keycard of a Jewish professor who had been critical of the university’s administration and how it’s responding to increasingly violent anti-Israel protests. The explanation from the administration was that it was not allowing him on campus for his own safety.
This is Columbia University’s administration blaming the victim and punishing the victim and pretending that it is trying to help everyone. It has chosen to stand with the bullies.
As I have pointed out before, notice that these people, who often insist that they’re just anti-Zionist, not antisemitic, take out their anger on any Jewish people they can find. They’re not marching over to the Israeli consulate. They’re not going down to Washington to protest outside the Israeli embassy. Nope, they’re protesting and harassing people outside campus Hillels, synagogues, and JCCs.
These bitter little hatemongers keep claiming they’re upset about Israel, but they keep taking out their rage on any Jew they can find. Folks, that’s antisemitism! Do not judge people by what they say, judge people by what they do.
Biden could have spat hot fire about the maniacs who have decided they’re entitled to push around and assault Jewish Americans, who have the same right to live in safety and freedom as anyone else. We’ve seen Biden snap at people, and we keep hearing that behind the scenes, “Biden has such a quick-trigger temper that some aides try to avoid meeting alone with him.” Apparently, Biden curses and swears frequently. Nor is Biden unwilling to denounce someone in the most incendiary and scorching terms. (“Gonna put y’all back in chains!”)
Biden can get very angry. But the continuing assaults on Jewish students on college campuses just aren’t the sort of thing that angers him.
Instead, we got more mush from the wimp.
The guy who began his campaign announcement in 2019 with the words “Charlottesville, Virginia” is AWOL and mumbling when there’s another horrifying explosion of hatred on an American college campus. And we all know why. Biden is completely comfortable denouncing intolerant, threatening antisemites when they come from the right, when they wear polo shirts and carry tiki torches and chant “Jews will not replace us.” (Nobody wants to be you, pal.) But the moment the snot-nosed punks chanting against the Jews cover their heads in keffiyehs, Biden loses his voice.
Biden is terrified of losing Michigan in November, because of the sentiments of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans. He’s pathetic. Much like the war in Ukraine and the Israeli–Iranian conflict, Biden wants the ongoing controversy and chaos on America’s college campuses to just go away so he can go back to playing the old classic hits: abortion, union jobs, “I give you my word as a Biden,” and telling stories of Corn Pop.
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