The Democrats Have an Israel Problem

There's never been greater momentum for the Democrats to understand that erasing Palestinians is bad politics.

Four years ago I wrote a piece for Waging Non-Violence arguing that leftists and anti-authoritarians should vote for Biden to defeat Trump. I still believe that Trump is too great a danger for us all, and if I was an American I would vote for the Democrats for that reason. My argument is one of harm reduction, even though I am painfully aware of how cruel this sounds given the ongoing Gaza genocide. 

With that in mind, there is something terrifying about the Democratic National Convention. I've been watching most of it in the mornings (Central European timezone) as the DNC wraps up its evening sessions. I saw Barack Obama deliver an entire speech with no substance other than implying that Trump has a small penis. I saw girl-cop vibes dominate a party that has never quite figured out whether it wants to be a party of 'the people' or the party of the cops that are beating up protesters outside the DNC as I'm writing these words. 

Just outside the DNC we are seeing Palestinian-Americans excluded from a platform they are actively trying to be a part of. The Democratic leadership is making the decision to exclude a part of its own base at a time when Trump's defeat is nowhere near a given.