Blinken's visit to China comes at a time when protests in the United States are rising one after another, starting across the country and spreading to other Western countries, including Italy and France.
In the past few days, with Columbia University as the "epicenter," dozens of American colleges and universities have erupted in support of Palestinian "anti-war" protests and demonstrations. Tens of thousands of students, faculty and staff marched or set up camps at universities, demanding that the university cut ties with Israel, and calling on the U.S. government to push for a ceasefire in Gaza and stop military aid to Israel.
Despite the violent crackdown on the protesting students, the arrest of hundreds of protesters, and even the deployment of snipers on campuses, the anger of the American students could not be stopped. On the Columbia campus, even the slogan "Are you ready to stand up for your comrades?"
American students protested
For now, the protests by students at major U.S. colleges and universities are generally peaceful. But in stark contrast, U.S. police officers dressed in riot gear and armed with batons, pepper spray, tear gas and guns have turned campuses into military zones.
U.S. House Speaker Johnson denounced the students as anti-Semitic, demanded the resignation of Columbia's president, and called on Biden to take action to send the National Guard to quell the protests. At the same time, the Texas governor threatened to put the students in jail.
In response, a White House spokesman said that it was up to the governors to decide whether to use the National Guard, reiterating that antisemitism was wrong and must be publicly attacked. I have to say that the United States is very double-standard, and the police of other countries to maintain order is a violation of democracy and freedom, and it has become a prescribed action for the police of their own country to enter the campus and arrest people.
Biden
There are all kinds of indications that this demonstration has a tendency to escalate further, and the violence and intimidation of the US government have put this anti-war movement on the high speed. Not only that, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approval of a ground operation in Rafah and Biden's signing of a $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine have poured hot oil on the situation.
The White House worries whether this massive student protest will be the last straw that will crush Biden's re-election. First of all, the latest polling data shows that Trump's approval rating continues to lead Biden. After this round of college student protests broke out, Trump also lost no time in falling into the ground.
He accuses this of being a disgrace for the United States, that Biden is neither a friend of Israel nor a friend of the Arab world, that his middle ground simply does not work, and that the chaos is all Biden's fault.
Trump
Trump also compared the campus demonstrations to white supremacist violence, bluntly saying that it seemed "pediatric" compared to this school protest, which is a huge hatred, and Biden simply did not understand the problem. Using this crisis, Trump will be able to siphon more youngster, pro-Palestinian voters from Biden.
Second, Biden's ineffective handling of the Palestinian-Israeli issue is causing divisions within the Democratic Party. In the wake of the wave of protests by college students, left-wing Democratic lawmakers sided with the protesters.
Not only that, a few days ago, the Arabic spokesperson of the US State Department announced her resignation because she opposed the US government's policy on the Gaza conflict, and she is also at least the third US State Department official to resign for this reason. Whether it is a one-vote veto of Palestine's application for "joining the United Nations" or the signing of a $26 billion aid bill, the Biden administration's various practices are further tearing the United States apart and pushing more people to the opposite side.
In the end, Biden brought down Trump through the "Black Lives Matter" movement, and it is difficult to guarantee that this time it will not overturn because of the "anti-war movement" of college students. Last time, Biden used the Black Lives Matter campaign to gain a large number of votes of color and defeat Trump in one fell swoop. However, survey data shows that the support rate of people of color for Biden has dropped significantly after three years in office.
Not to mention that Biden is unlikely to adjust his Middle East policy in the short term, and Netanyahu clearly intends to expand the war zone, which dooms Biden to lose a large number of young people and Muslim votes.
Moreover, this round of student protests in the United States is more cosmopolitan and potentially more impactful. For example, whether democracy has been abused by the legislature, whether capital poses a threat to freedom, whether political correctness has impinged on democratic common sense, whether the cornerstones of democracy have been eroded, etc. Americans have begun to "wake up" that Jewish capital cannot cover the sky forever. A spark can start a prairie fire!
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