Donald Trump and Joe Biden wait to exit the east front steps for the departure ceremony during the 58th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2017. Photo: Staff Sgt. Marianique Santos/Public Domain.
By Don Fitz – Jun 23, 2024
During the 2016 election Trump fanatics chanted “Lock her up,” referring to Hillary Clinton. The tables have now turned. Trump is a convicted criminal and Biden violates international law.
In one of the most twisted forms of logic ever to appear in politics, liberals believe that screaming “Trump is a fascist” somehow proves that Biden is not. If what Biden is helping the Zionists do in Gaza is not a fascist war crime, it is difficult to know what is.
The word “fascism” has historically been used when a rich world government begins committing the same atrocities against its own (white) people as has been done for centuries against colonialized peoples. Some find it offensive to use the word “fascist” to describe the treatment of Native Americans, slaves, or peoples of Africa, Asia or Latin America. Thus, they shudder in horror that anyone would describe as “fascist” what Zionists and their European and American supporters do to Palestinians. Using the same word, “fascism,” for Biden as for Trump is essential for an anti-colonial perspective.
Biden’s apologies for Israel’s hideous acts scream “Palestinian Lives Do Not Matter.” Should Biden be applauded for suggesting that he “might” withhold weapons unless Netanyahu slows the rate of mass murder? This is like telling someone who bombs a hospital, blows up schoolchildren, and uses an automatic rifle against a crowd lined up for food that you “might” withhold giving him bullets unless he kills fewer the next time.
Put Trump and Biden in the Same Jail Cell
On May 31, 2024 Biden approved the Zionist demand that Hamas “not be allowed to rearm” itself – yet he allows Israel to have the most deadly weapons on the planet. Biden claimed “Hamas began this war,” pretending that 76 years of Zionist attacks never occurred. Biden announces that he “will bring those responsible for October 7 to justice” to stamp in the idea that those who have slaughtered Palestinians will never even face trial.
This blustering by Biden was on the same day that Trump was found guilty of all charges against him. Biden pompously proclaimed that “No one is above the law.” The very same Biden was outraged that the International Criminal Court is examining charges against the mass murderer Netanyahu. Perhaps he worries that he could be the next to be indicted.
The Democratic Party acts like its political opponents “are not above the law;” but their own bosses should not face any legal consequences. The American socialist Eugene Debs famously said “It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don’t want and get it.” Liberals whine that everything is lost if Trump wins the election. They want us to believe that all power comes from elections and zero power comes from mass movements.
… vote for what you want …
They forget that the criminal Richard Nixon won 49 states in 1968, yet mass movements forced him to accept what he despised. A mass movement forced the US to end its criminal war against Viet Nam. Nixon had to accept the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and decriminalization of abortion. The Food Stamp Program, Clean Water Act, Freedom of Information Act and recognition of China were gained during the presidency of the fascist Richard Nixon.
There are two hidden paths that support Biden. One is to not vote. This will be interpreted as not caring about the war on Palestine. The other route is to write in a candidate for whom there will not be a vote tabulation. The only way to vote against the Biden/Trump violence machine is to have a peace candidate on the ballot and vote for that person.
United States: The Problem of Elections in an Undemocratic System
The more success the anti-war movement has, the more repression increases. Liberals say that it would get worse with Trump. They pay no heed to arrests of the African Peoples’ Socialist Party for the absurd claim that they are “Russian agents.” But Biden’s attacks on the APSP reflect a broad attack on communities of color which includes mass incarceration, no Medicare-4-All, mis-education, lack of decent housing, and un- and under-employment. The similar pattern of arrests of campus encampments across the country suggests that Biden’s team is actively coordinating them.
When he is not designing wars Biden is applying life-threatening sanctions to Venezuela and Cuba.
Think about China. Trump tried to get people to call Covid the “China virus.” It was clearly a hate campaign. Trump flopped and no one bought it. Now Biden is being much more effective in fomenting hostility toward China via reports on the “threat” it poses to Taiwan and trade and Tic-Toc restrictions.
Biden is backing a regime in Ukraine that actually has a Nazi battalion within its armed forces. Turning over Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to Nazis would not be a good way to attain peace.
None of the above is meant to suggest that Biden is worse than Trump – only that they are horrible in different ways. Trump extols what could be called “hard core fascism.” Hate this group, hate that country, etc. In contrast, Biden is far more effective at attaining media compliance for his most recent military excursions. He oozes diplomacy for the same colonialist goals – it could be called “soft core fascism” for its unspeakable effects on its victims.
Though Biden apologists love to say “Now is not the time to leave the Democratic Party, they do not say what time that would be. Their hidden answer is clear: they believe it is never the time to build our own political party.
Ask them when we should create new environmental groups that actually challenge growth-oriented poisoning of the world and stop fossil fuel extinction. Their silent answer will be “never.”
It is not possible to stop never-ending wars by voting for never-ending warriors.
A core difference between Biden liberalism and revolutionary politics is believing that it is never the right time for fundamental change vs. understanding that it is always the right time to ask how to build a new world. Now is the time to support the LandBack! demand of Native Americans that has spread across the globe. Regaining land is central to efforts by the colonized to assert their existence. It advocates decolonization, dismantling white supremacy, and reclaiming stewardship to save their land,
The partition of Palestine was based on the assumption that Israel would eventually drive out the people who lived there. It has always been a scheme for slow but certain genocide of Palestinians. The solution for the crisis must begin with Israel’s withdrawing from occupied territories, acknowledging its criminal history, and providing reparations to its victims.
Don Fitz (fitzdon@aol.com) writes for and is on the Editorial Board of Green Social Thought where this article first appeared. He has been the St. Louis Green Party candidate for County Assessor and candidate of the Missouri Green Party for State Auditor and Governor. He is author of Cuban Health Care: The Ongoing Revolution (2020).
DF/OT
