Pro-Palestinian protestors are the real story of “Genocide Joe’s” Presidential Campaign so far

What are the odds that a man who regularly slurs his words and whose ability to stand trial was questioned by his own Justice Department doesn’t lash out and create a potential viral spectacle after being repeatedly confronted by members of his own party in outright rebellion?

Last week, President Biden held a glitzy fundraiser with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall, as part of what they claimed was a “grassroots” effort to raise upwards of $25 million at several thousand dollars per attendee because nothing says normal people like big bucks in Manhattan.  The media took this as yet another opportunity to assure us that President Biden was officially back and at the top of his game since his State of the Union address earlier in the month.  For example, CNN’s Stephen Collinson claimed “the president put on a show of Democratic unity and invoked the party’s glory days at an event in New York with ex-Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama that the campaign said ahead of time had raised more than $25 million.”  This occurred in the “in the wake of his strong State of the Union address earlier this month.”  In the intervening time, he has unveiled “a huge investment in an Intel chip processing plant in Arizona and the launch of a new health care push in North Carolina,” “targeted Black voters, women voters and younger voters,” and showcased “his policy wins – including a bipartisan infrastructure bill that the White House says will ignite a renaissance in heavy industry,” while “relishing harsh attacks on his rival this week, adopting a tone of mockery apparently designed to bruise Trump’s dignity and to get under his skin.”  Other headlines described the fundraiser as “record-breaking” for the amount of money it raised (here, I thought money in politics was bad, very bad), “historic,” and “star-studded” for featuring the likes of Stephen Colbert, Mindy Kaling, and Lizzo in addition to the politicians.  So infatuated was the media in general, that the current and former President’s choice to not wear a tie made it into headlines from The New York Times, GQ, and NPR, who wondered if ties were going out of style.  Axios, meanwhile, appears to be the only outlet who covered the substance of the event, which they did by promoting “‘The world needs him’: Obama, Clinton make case for second term.”  Why do we need him?  Because of democracy itself, of course.  “Democrats have argued that democracy is on the ballot in the upcoming presidential election, a point Biden and the former presidents emphasized at the record-setting fundraising event Thursday,” they reported.  Not surprisingly, Mr. Colbert agreed, “I think our democracy is at stake,” he said. “Not a joke. I think democracy is literally at stake.”  Presidents Obama and Clinton, however, both agreed that it’s more than that because President Biden has done “an outstanding job in the presidency,” to quote Obama, and “He’s been good for America, and he deserves another term,” to quote Clinton.  

Beneath the glowing coverage, President Biden was confronted outside Radio City Music Hall by hundreds of pro-Palestinian protestors, mocking him as “Genocide Joe” for his support of Israel and chanting obscenities.  Protests accompanying a president or presidential candidate are nothing new, except these protestors represent a key part of President Biden’s base and are unrepentant progressive Democrats who would not vote for President Trump under any circumstances.  In other words, these are not Trump supports chanting “Let’s Go Brandon,” they are Biden supports screaming “fuck Joe Biden” in public.  Incredibly most media outlets chose to bury this news at the very bottom of their stories while failing to mention the protestors political affiliation.  Axios tucked it away under “The big picture, People protesting the war in Gaza and Biden’s support for Israel interrupted the event several times” in the second to last paragraph, and CNN did the same, “ahead of the president’s appearance at Radio City Music Hall with Clinton and Obama, hundreds of protesters gathered outside, angry at Biden’s support for Israel and its war against Hamas that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.”  Left unmentioned are two inconvenient facts for the President’s electoral hopes:  He cannot win without these voters and they are, at least so far, absolutely incensed about what they perceive as a genocide in the Gaza Strip.  This was not a casual protest of a handful of people hoping to have their voices heard on a matter of only medium importance.  It was instead a fired up, in your face crowd, unafraid to confront the President, “Genocide Joe has got to go,” taunt the New York City police, “Oink Oink, Piggy Piggy,” and even accost random people walking by, referring to one woman as a “baby killer” and preventing another man, who claimed to be on his way to see his dying mother, from passing through.  Since the Hamas massacre on October 7, research by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project determined that there have been more than 7,200 other pro-Palestinian protests around the world, what has been described as the “largest pro-Palestinian mobilization in US history” with some 1 million people participating even as early as December last year.  There is no other way to describe this than as a significant contingent of the President’s own voters in open rebellion barely seven months before an election that could very well be decided by a hundred thousand votes or less.

Nor were the fireworks only outside the building.  President Biden was personally heckled multiple times during his remarks, as has happened at many recent appearances.  As The New York Post described it, “Several waves of protesters disrupted President Biden’s grandiose fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall Thursday, where he kicked it with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton to raise cash and enthusiasm for his 2024 re-election bid.” These included a woman blowing a whistle, holding a “war pigs” sign about a potential “nuclear war” with Russia.  Another shouted “Shame on you,” Joe Biden and multiple people yelled, “Blood on your hands.”  The hecklers also took aim at his predecessor, prompting former President Obama to scold the audience, “No, listen. You can’t talk all the time. Sometimes you have to listen,” and “You can’t just talk and not listen.”  President Obama also seemed to suggest that the protestors themselves were misguided, rationalizing that the Presidency is a “a lonely seat.  One of the realities of the presidency is that the world has a lot of joy and beauty, but it also has a lot of tragedy and cruelty.”  People “understandably, oftentimes, want to feel a certain purity in terms of how those decisions are made,” he added. “But a president doesn’t have that luxury,” which presumably is a license to equivocate as President Biden has done, so far unsuccessfully.  Earlier this month, the President was heckled at a campaign rally in Georgia by a protestor that yelled out, “You’re a dictator, Genocide Joe.  Tens of thousands of Palestinians are dead. Children are dying.”  In January, it was much the same.  At event in Pennsylvania, hecklers vowed that “We will remember in November,” and promised “No vote for genocide Joe.”  A few days earlier, it was a speech in South Carolina.  Protestors have even targeted First Lady Jill Biden, “It’s genocide!” A male demonstrator yelled. “You and your husband support the genocide of the Palestinian people!”  When she attempted to continue, the protesters resumed yelling and interrupted her again.

If these protestors were members of the opposing party, we might call this business as usual, but the great majority of these individuals undoubtedly voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and under normal circumstances, should be expected to again later this year.  This makes the phenomena distinct from even the Never Trump movement, which was opposed to his candidacy from the beginning, meaning the former President won the White House in 2016 without these voters.  The potential loss of votes presents a significant challenge to President Biden’s re-election hopes, as does the overall optics throughout the campaign.  While these protestors are unlikely to vote for former President Donald Trump under any circumstances, it is highly unusual for a sitting President to be repeatedly heckled by members of his own party.  In fact, I cannot recall any similar situation in recent memory and one needs to go back to the 1960’s anti-war movement for a true parallel, suggesting this is an unprecedented occurrence over close to the last 50 years.  That this particular president has never been very quick on his feet or adroit with the public, calling them liars, challenging them to push ups, and even referring to one person as “dog faced pony soldier,” represents its own unique challenges.  What are the odds that a man who regularly slurs his words and whose ability to stand trial was questioned by his own Justice Department doesn’t lash out and create a potential viral spectacle?  The media will certainly try to pretend it is otherwise, but even beyond the potential lost voters, the prospect of a sitting President repeatedly protested, heckled, and harassed by members of his own party over the next seven months is the real story of the campaign so far.