this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2024
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United States | News & Politics
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I assume you're referring to popular sentiment, and I agree, but there's another electoral vector in play here that has more to do with AIPAC support and fundraising, which I think is in conflict with popular sentiment and might keep Biden on his current strategy of vague deflections. If you've caught any broadcast media coverage in the last day or two on these protests, you might notice a distinct focus on the 'antisemitism' framing, and I think that has a lot to do with those institutional structures.
Yeah, agreed. I was absolutely talking about AIPAC. The popular sentiment is definitely majority on the Palestinian side.
I think even in purely institutional impact, AIPAC's power and the reason people are afraid to get on their bad side has diminished quite a lot though. Back in the 80s, you could say some "anti-Semitic" thing against Israel and you would pretty much guaranteed get primaried in the next election. Now, we have people like Rashida Tlaib or Bernie Sanders talking straight about Israel, and as far as I can tell, nothing happens to them beyond some people getting mad and press releases and things.
Maybe Biden's being nice to them because AIPAC has got money and some number of votes, and those are nice things if you're wanting to win an election. But it's not like the game-changing power they used to have.
It might be a little better now but the entire 'squad' is being targeted by pro-israel super PAC money.. It might just be because popular sentiment has swung so far against Israel that it's getting lost in the noise, but it's definitely still there.
I hope you're right, though.
Yeah, let's see. If half the squad is gone by the end of the year then I will have been wrong. It could happen.