Trump tries to paint college campus anti-Israel protests as a Biden political liability
Joe Biden’s advisers believe that tensions over U.S. support for Israel in the war in Gaza spreading through college campuses will soon flame out.
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden’s advisers believe that tensions over U.S. support for Israel in the war in Gaza spreading through college campuses will soon flame out and that there is neither a need nor an upside for him to weigh in more directly.
For now, Biden is taking a hands-off posture toward the unrest and has no plans to step up his involvement in escalating clashes between police and protesters, White House and campaign advisers said, even as Donald Trump looks to capitalize on the issue.
Biden's view is that it’s up to university leaders to decide how to cope with campus demonstrations that are emerging as the latest flashpoint in the presidential race, advisers said. In keeping with that approach, he didn’t intervene or publicly object as police swept onto the Columbia University campus Tuesday night and arrested about 230 protesters, including about 40 who’d seized a building and erected an encampment calling attention to their demand for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Inside the Biden re-election effort, advisers seem hopeful that the protests won’t distract from their message that the economy is improving and that Biden is providing more competent and stable leadership than Trump did as president.
The academic calendar may play a role as classes come to an end for the summer. What’s more, a White House official said that the overall number of protesters is relatively small and that the war between Israel and Hamas is far from a top-of-mind concern of young voters, who were a key part of Biden’s 2020 electoral coalition.
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