On the 23ed of April, “Genocide Joe” Biden foolishly visited Tampa, home to the largest Palestinian community in Florida and one of the largest in the whole US. The largest pro-Palestine protest I have seen in months descended on his campaign event. Speakers called out not only his genocidal war in Gaza, but his do-nothing hypocrisy on abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, and migrant rights. Biden came to Tampa to peddle the “vote for me or face a national abortion ban” message, but this message fell flat with the protesters.
It has been two years since the Dobbs decision to allow state level abortion bans. A Federal ban would presumably be blocked by a Democratic fillibuster in the Senate (assuming the Dems have any spine left at all). In 2021-2022 before the Jan 2023 Congress began, Biden could have rammed through Federal legislation to codify Roe v Wade, blocking the state bans in all 50 states. Manchin and Sinema could have been reeled in with threats to fund primary opponents against them, and on abortion they probably would have both kneeled. Instead, the only thing Biden has done on abortion or on the wave of anti-LGBTQ hate unleashed by Dobbs is talk. He cares about abortion VOTES only, not about abortion rights.
As for the rights of Palestinian women, Biden and Trump seem to speak as one on this issue: if you are Palestinian, your only “right” is to die under a storm of US bombs and missiles shipped to Netanyahu’s extreme-right regime in Israel.
Activists are not having it: Biden events are being protested everywhere, and the message “remember in November” has been going out since October. Trump and Biden both support genocide in Gaza. Remember Trump’s Muslim ban and move of the U$ Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Casting a vote for either major party candidate is consent to and endorsement of genocide in Gaza. Such a vote is tantamount to joining the IOF.
Also present in the area of the Biden event were a half dozen Trumpers including an “Ultra MAGA” flagged pickup truck. Note that “Ultra MAGA”is a dog whistle for neo-Naziism. A few pro-Biden protesters also showed up, and a dozen or two antiabortion extremists. None had anything close to the numbers of the pro-Palestine protest, not even within the same order of magnitude.