Palestine did cost the Democrats the election, though not how some imagine. In Palestine’s fate millions finally understood their calls for change would remain unanswered. In this, Palestine revealed the malaise and dissonance of the American empire.
Democrats’ open endorsement of genocide opened the eyes of millions, stripping away the illusion of moral high ground they once claimed over the likes of Trump. Liberal guilt and Palestine – Mondoweiss The Democrats found themselves in a state of collective denial as soon as Trump was announced as the victor. Blame was scattered in every direction—Biden, the economy, the Arab and Muslim vote, Latino men, protest votes, and even the non-voters themselves. It was a spectacle of mass hysteric deflection, a desperate attempt to divert from the uncomfortable truths lying at the heart of their loss, truths they were unwilling, or perhaps unable, to face directly. In essence, the Democrats understand that their steadfast support for Israel, amid its genocidal actions in Gaza, is morally indefensible. Yet rather than face this disquieting truth or recalibrate their policies, they shift the blame outward, a gesture designed not to confront but to externalize their own failing. Democratic strategists are unlikely to openly acknowledge that Palestine played an important role in their defeat. Such an admission would not only expose the hypocrisy in their professed values but also demand a reevaluation of their foreign policy—a policy steeped in imperial ambitions that will now clash with sensible electoral politics. In other words, to recognize this would open a Pandora’s box, forcing the party to reckon with contradictions they’d rather keep under wraps. What is perilous in this moment is not just the ease with which the Palestinian movement is raised up as the scapegoat for the Democrats’ failings; it is the ominous reality that, rather than reckon with their unrestrained allegiance to Israel, the Democrats will choose to turn inward, punishing their own base for failing to heed the cries of the looming threat of Trump. They will find ways to silence dissent within their ranks, to broaden legal definitions until they criminalize the very activism that threatens to awaken a moral consciousness, or shift policy on Israel. This, then, will be the Democrats’ answer to Palestine—a tightening of the noose, a reassertion of a distinctly liberal brand of fascism, cloaked in the language of order, civility, and law. But this election’s defeat isn’t just about Palestine; it’s about how Palestine crystallizes a multitude of other failures: the deafening silence from elected officials confronted with the crisis of a large base of supporters, a foreign policy dictated by an insular class of imperial managers, the unchecked power of lobbying, and the entrenchment of war at the core of corporate interests. Palestine, in this sense, is a mirror—revealing the rot at the heart of American liberal politics, a rot so deep that no amount of rhetoric can cover it, including the complicity of mainstream media. The reality is that Palestine did indeed cost the Democrats the election, though not in the crude, singular way that some might imagine. Palestine is not just a foreign policy issue; it has become emblematic of a deeper structural malaise within the Democratic Party. It speaks to an alliance that has, without remorse, shifted economic burdens onto the working class, reaping profits through the quiet violence of inflation. Palestine represents the point at which the Democrats’ distinctions from their domestic adversaries vanish, revealing a moral indistinction that is increasingly hard to ignore. And in Palestine’s fate, millions have glimpsed their own—a collective understanding that their cries for change, their demands for justice, would remain unanswered. Palestine, in this sense, is more than itself; it is a prism, reflecting a dissonance within American politics, where ideals are wielded yet rarely lived, where a rhetoric of compassion collides with the indifference of imperial pursuits. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#33495): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/33495 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/109518730/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
