President Joe Biden’s reelection bid came to an abrupt conclusion on Sunday as the president posted on social media, “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.” Despite speculation from some Democratic officials that Biden’s withdrawal would lead to a “mini-primary” in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention, Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris triggered a wave of enthusiasm and runaway fundraising that appears to have secured the nomination for Harris. Biden’s announcement was also followed by a deluge of accolades from U.S. officials and world leaders. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised Biden personally and politically, saying, “He’s a great man, and everything he does is guided by his love for his country.” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is reportedly being considered as a potential running mate for Harris, wrote, “President Biden is a patriot who has served our country honorably in the Senate, as Vice President, and as one of the most consequential presidents in modern history.” While much of the praise Biden has received has been underscored by quiet relief — in Magic 8 Ball terms, I would say the Democratic Party’s prospects in November have shifted from “outlook not so good” to “ask again later” — these conciliatory rehabilitations of Biden’s crumbling image warrant correction. While “history” is often characterized as an all-knowing, future moral arbiter, the burden of recording truths that should be reiterated across time falls to those living in the present. In addition to ensuring that Biden is remembered as an architect of mass incarceration, a persecutor of Anita Hill, and a friend to segregationists, we must also resist any sympathetic framing of his political descent. While Biden’s supporters have characterized the president as an old man with a stutter who was bullied and betrayed, the truth of Biden’s last act is far more horrific. It is a tale that should be told in ever-climbing death tolls, in the testimonies of doctors who have pulled maggots from the flesh-torn bodies of children, and through the cries of bereft orphans, parents, and grandparents who have lost the “soul of [their] soul” to U.S.-backed Israeli military assaults. As Palestinian scholar, author, and activist Eman Abdelhadi told me this week, “Biden’s name should never be spoken without the names of the dead of Gaza. It was within his power to stop this genocide, and he chose not to.”
Abdelhadi bristled at the praise Biden has received in recent days. “It is incredibly offensive to applaud Biden when he is actively funding and arming a genocide. In 10 months, 40,000 Gazans have been slaughtered and countless more injured, maimed or displaced,” she said. As the violence in Gaza continues, Abdelhadi expressed horror at the harm Biden could still cause in the remaining months of his presidency. “He is still president, and he’s still genocidal. Nothing can ever erase that.”
The Palestinian activists and Palestine solidarity organizers I spoke with this week were clear in their condemnations of Biden and in their insistence that his legacy would be one of mass murder and genocide. Ahmad Abuznaid, the Executive Director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, said, “[Joe Biden’s] political career spans decades, but I think the final chapter, his role as ‘Genocide Joe,’ is what he’ll be ultimately judged for.” Abuznaid believes that the genocide in Gaza will serve as a lasting moral indictment of President Biden “and U.S. imperialism.”
Scholar Nadine Naber, who organizes with INCITE! Palestine Force, Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition & Solidarity, and the Palestinian Feminist Collective emphasized the need for specificity when defining Biden’s legacy. Naber told me, “It’s not only the horror endured by the loved ones of the more than 50,000 people Biden’s genocide has killed or presumably killed because they are stuck under rubble, but it is also the horror of waiting for hundreds and thousands more deaths to come from disease and starvation.” Naber stressed the debilitation and mutilation that many Palestinians living in Gaza have experienced. “Biden’s unfathomable support of the amputation of thousands of children’s legs will endure. Jaundice, bloody diarrhea, and death from Biden’s help in the destruction of water treatment plans and sewage pumps will endure,” she said. Naber also emphasized the lasting psychological damage Israel has inflicted upon Palestinians with weapons provided by the Biden administration. “PTSD from Biden-sponsored bombardments among kids with virtually no access to mental health professionals will endure,” she said. Naber also spoke to the enduring impacts of the widely publicized torture of Palestinians — horrors that had no impact on Biden’s support of Israel. “Physical and psychological trauma from Biden-backed Israeli soldiers circulating photos of Palestinians while denuding, torturing, and urinating on them will endure,” Naber said. “Long-term shock, anxiety, confusion, and trauma from the sexualized torture of Palestinians will endure. Physical and psychological distress from Biden-backed Israeli soldiers using iron bars, electric shock, dogs, and cigarette burns on Palestinian bodies will endure.”
While Biden’s poor debate performance in June marked the final descent of his political campaign, news coverage and protests highlighting the horrors Naber described had already caused measurable harm to Biden’s reelection campaign. A Harvard Institute of Politics’ Youth Poll, held shortly before campus protests in support of Palestine erupted around the country, found that 76 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds in the United States disapproved of Biden’s handling of the genocide. Biden further damaged his prospects with young voters, who proved to be a crucial demographic in the 2020 presidential election, by condemning campus protesters as violent and antisemitic. Biden defended violent police action against student protesters, saying that “dissent must never lead to disorder.”
Abdelhadi denounced Biden’s treatment of student protesters and noted that the president had always been on shaky ground with young people and marginalized voters. “Progressives, young people, voters of color – none of us were enthusiastic about Biden in 2020. Many of us voted for him to keep Trump out of office,” Abdelhadi said. “Instead of valuing this base, he showed us just how little he cared about us when he continued to malign protesters while students and professors were beaten and arrested.” Abdelhadi emphasized that Biden’s support of political repression was representative of a larger disregard for marginalized communities whose support had been pivotal to his election in 2020. “Over and over, he signaled to the left side of the Democratic voter base that he did not care to win our support.”
Biden’s unwavering support of Israel became a political liability due to the efforts of protesters like the students whose repression he endorsed. Abuznaid emphasized the role of the Palestine Solidarity Movement in Biden’s political downfall. “I think that the Democratic Party is signaling that this decision has been made because of his cognitive failure, his health failures, and the debacle of the most recent debate,” Abuznaid said. “The reality is this movement has had a clear impact.” Abuznaid said that the role of the Palestine Solidarity Movement was apparent in the months-long decline of Biden’s approval ratings and in “the posturing that we’re noticing between Vice President Kamala Harris and Netanyahu.” Abuznaid said that Harris’ decision not to attend Netanyahu’s congressional address “and sort of staying out of the limelight in relation to Netanyahu” is evidence that the vice president understands the power of the Palestine Solidarity Movement. “I think this is all part of the impact of the movement, the growing movement that we’ve seen in the last 10 months.”
Abdelhadi believes activists should be heartened by the fact that Biden suffered political consequences for his support of genocide. “I think we should celebrate the fact that we built enough power to reduce Biden’s polling,” Abdelhadi said. “His polls started dropping in the fall and continued to do so. Protests, direct actions, and pressure to center Gaza helped make that happen,” she said. While Abdelhadi applauds the humbling conclusion of Biden’s political career, she also recognizes the limitations of that victory. “While Biden’s withdrawal is a win, we have not won material changes for people in Gaza,” she said. “We need to make it clear to Harris that we want to see real change, and nothing less will earn our votes or our support.”
Abuznaid also stressed the need to pressure Harris. “This is no time to hold back on our demands, on our escalation, and on the use of all the tactics that we have at our disposal,” he said. “The demands that we had for President Biden are now being issued to candidate Kamala Harris.” Abuznaid said those demands include “an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an arms embargo against the state of Israel, the end of the siege, and the end of the occupation.”
Naber urged activists to continue to build power at the grassroots level. “The international community, including both U.S. political parties, have failed to stop Israel from its violations of international law since 1948 until now,” she said. “We must continue to grow the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.” Naber urged people of conscience to join and support the BDS movement “on college campuses and across the U.S.” Naber also stressed the need for principled struggle. “We must maintain BDS as a Palestinian-led movement that strives for justice and self-determination for all Palestinians, including those living in the West Bank and Gaza, within Israel, and in the diaspora.” Naber said that, in addition to calling for an end to Israel’s ongoing assaults in Gaza and the West Bank, activists must also demand “an end to occupation, colonization, and apartheid” and insist on the right of return for all displaced Palestinians.
Abdelhadi also called on activists to continue to apply pressure in the wake of Biden’s withdrawal. “We should make ourselves impossible to ignore,” she said. “We need to bring Palestine to the center in our workplaces, in our streets, and in our communities. We need to continue to demand that every sector of our society sanction, boycott, and divest from Israel.”
Amid the political chaos of Biden’s withdrawal and the rise of Vice President Harris, Abuznaid reflected on the state of the Palestine Solidarity Movement. “I would say that we had no idea when this genocide started that we’d still be here 10 months, almost a year in,” he said. While the genocide continues, Abuznaid believes that ideological ground has been gained. “The contradictions are becoming more clear for those of us in the United States,” he said. “We are being bamboozled and shortchanged here domestically [and] those policies are intertwined with militaristic, violent, and warmongering foreign policy.” Abuznaid believes that the political awakenings many people in the United States have experienced in relation to Palestine will continue to affect the course of world politics. “I am hopeful that, in this moment, we can rally not only to save as many lives as possible for our people in Gaza but also to chart a new trajectory for what’s possible for us in the United States.”
Organizing My Thoughts is a reader-supported newsletter. If you appreciate my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber today. There are no paywalls for the essays, reports, interviews, and excerpts published here. However, I could not do this work without the support of readers like you, so if you are able to contribute financially, I would greatly appreciate your help.
YOUR HELP urgently NEEDED
Truthout needs to raise $19k before midnight to support our work. Will you chip in a few bucks to get us closer?
As we face increasing political scrutiny and censorship for our reporting, your tax-deductible donation is critical in allowing us to do our work.
Please do what you can to help.