Famed conservative journalist who hates Trump says Biden’s weak stance on campus chaos is hammering final nails into president’s re-election campaign
Biden’s weak stance on student pro-Palestine protests will spell disaster for him in the election, a famous conservative journalist has warned.
Andrew Sullivan says Biden’s lax approach to campus chaos is enough to get him kicked out of the White House.
This combined with the “chaotic” border policy and Biden’s stance on transgender rights will be enough to eliminate any chances of re-election, said Sullivan, a gay conservative journalist.
“Biden rightly loses this election,” he wrote on his election letter Substack. “And if he can’t achieve an all-powerful pivot — and I suspect he really can’t at this point — this election is really Trump’s business.”
To explain his reasoning, he pointed to the student protests over the Vietnam War in 1968, which are largely responsible for the costs to Democrats in electing Richard Nixon.
Biden’s weak stance on students’ pro-Palestine protests will spell disaster for him in the elections, a famous conservative journalist has warned
Andrew Sullivan says Biden’s lax approach to campus chaos is enough to get him kicked out of the White House
Pro-Palestine protesters, like this one at UCLA, have clashed with police all week in violent scenes reminiscent of the student demonstrations against the Vietnam War
Sullivan, a staunch critic of Donald Trump, now fears that the ex-president will be able to take advantage of Biden’s mistakes to return to power.
“This is how you got Trump re-elected: keep pandering to the far left, suck up the rich students, let millions of fraudulent ‘asylum seekers’ enter the country, keep insisting that men are women, discriminate against whites and Asians and men, all the while giving the impression that they merely react to events rather than create new political realities,” Sullivan wrote.
His comments echoed those of Stephen Collinson, a political analyst for the left CNN.
“President Joe Biden cannot afford a long, hot summer of protest that comes to a boil in time for the Democratic National Convention in August and then culminates in the final weeks of an already toxic clash with Donald Trump,” he wrote.
More than 76 universities have seen pro-Palestine protests emerge in recent weeks and more than 2,000 activists have been arrested.
On Thursday, Biden finally addressed the escalating unrest, following scenes of protesters destroying university property and replacing Old Glory with the Palestinian flag.
However, he was careful not to further alienate progressive voters, who have already become disillusioned with his stance on the war in Gaza.
“I understand that people have strong feelings and deep beliefs,” he said.
California Highway Patrol officers clear a pro-Palestinian encampment after a dispersal order was issued at UCLA. Biden finally released a statement on the unrest on Thursday
CHP officer detains a protester at UCLA on May 2. Sullivan warned that Biden’s comments were not strong enough and were too late
A skirmish during a pro-Palestine rally at Rutgers University, New Jersey. A student camp had been set up on campus in scenes reminiscent of many across the country
Georgia State Patrol officers detain a protester on the campus of Emory University during a pro-Palestinian demonstration, Thursday, April 25, 2024
“In America, we respect and protect the right to express that. But that doesn’t mean anything happens. It must be done without violence, without destruction, without hatred and within the law.”
In contrast, Trump took a tougher stance, accusing protesters of disrupting education and order, denouncing them as “raging lunatics and Hamas sympathizers.”
“I say to every university president: remove the encampments immediately. Destroy the radicals and take back our campuses for all normal students who want a safe place to learn,” he told a campaign rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
Responding to the comments, Sullivan said: “It was fine as far as it went, but it was only given when he had no choice, after Trump teased him. […] He was reactive, not proactive. His quiet words were overwhelmed by the noise of the street.’
Sullivan said Biden’s “far-left” positions on abortion and transgender rights — including supporting so-called “gender-affirming care” for children are further alienating voters.
The journalist and several other prominent gay figures have said aspects of trans orthodoxy are homophobic because they encourage children who are struggling to come to terms with their gayness to believe they are actually trans – and undergo irreversible medical procedures.
Protesters have clashed with police at places including UCLA, Columbia, CUNY and Emory University in recent weeks.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders warned that Biden could face a similar fate to Lyndon B Johnson, who saw his Democratic support disappear over the Vietnam War and resulting student protests.
Johnson was forced to withdraw from his re-election bid and his successor Hubert H. Humphrey subsequently lost to Nixon.
As far as his campaign goes, I think back and other people make the comment that this might be Biden’s Vietnam,” Sanders told CNN.
Columbia University protesters smashed windows, overturned furniture and caused damage throughout Hamilton Hall during their brief occupation
Members of the NYPD surround and breach Hamilton Hall, where protesters barricaded themselves on the campus of Columbia University on April 30, 2024 in New York City
“Lyndon Johnson was a very, very good president in many ways. He chose not to participate in ’68 because of opposition to his views on Vietnam.’
Meanwhile, a forecaster who has correctly predicted every presidential winner over the past four decades also identified the campus protests as a potential weak spot for Biden.
Allan Lichtman said social unrest is one of the keys that could cause Biden’s downfall.
Lichtman, a professor of history at American University in Washington, DC, devised a system for the White House, which he calls “13 keys,” and wrote a book in the 1980s explaining the idea.
However, he still insisted that “a lot would have to go wrong” if Biden were to lose to Trump in November.