I’ve been listening to college kids and faculty being interviewed on cable TV all day and I’m feeling overwhelmingly depressed by so many of them saying they won’t vote for Biden and some even saying they’ll vote for Trump instead. That’s crazy talk. The last time we played this game we got George W. Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I understand the emotion over Gaza. It’s beyond horrible. I wish Biden had handled it differently. I also wish the congress had handled Ukraine differently. And I wish the whole world was handling the current genocide in Darfur differently. (What, you haven’t heard about that one?)
Protests are valuable. I don’t quarrel with that at all. It’s giving Biden the support he needs to pull back from supporting that maniac Netanyahu. But voting is a different story. Biden is not Trump. He is the one who had the guts to get out of Afghanistan which both Obama and Trump promised and didn’t do it. He has dramatically scaled back the drone war that Trump actually ramped up. And you can be sure if Trump wins in November he will pull back all assistance to Ukraine, ramp up support for Israel and give the green light to both Putin and Netanyahu to completely take the gloves off. And nobody should dismiss what he’s going to do with Muslims, latinos, LGBTQ, women and everyone else he sees as his enemies here at home. If they have a heart and truly care about this world there is no choice. The stakes in this election are so high that to choose Trump (which is what failing to vote for Biden really is) will result in a nightmare beyond our imagination.