Michael Tracey Re-Redux

[Roshan]

Enneaforum thread Michael Tracey redux

These posts of his on Twitter (x) about the Biden administration's relationship to the conflict in Gaza seem very FiSe to me:

"Some reasons why it’s a huge political gift to Israel that a Democratic President is currently in office:

- If a Republican President was sponsoring the Gaza war, Democratic opposition would be exceptionally more virulent and rancorous, however substantial people may think it is today

- Biden’s overtures to (fake) international law keeps Dem opposition largely confined to polite technical criticisms, such as calling for “humanitarian pauses” to make the war seem more palatable to liberals than if (say) Trump were in charge of the PR strategy

- The main political pressure is coming from Republicans who invent fake criticisms of Biden somehow not being “pro-Israel” enough, even though he’s providing Israel with a political buffer that GOP could likely not provide

- The marginal opposition coming from within the Democratic Party (the “Squad,” college activists) is perfectly fine and even desirable for Biden, because he can triangulate against them and present himself as the reasonable moderate alternative to both left-wing Dems *and* Trump

- The war policy is essentially the same as it would be under a GOP administration, but framed in a way that better enables the maintenance of an international support coalition, by appealing to (fake) international law nostrums that Trump or some other GOP wouldn’t even bother with

- Biden/Dems emphasize the secular case for “supporting Israel,” while Republicans must cater to the Rapture-awaiting Evangelicals, alienating foreign actors (eg Europe) that Dems are better positioned to keep within the pro-Israel fold

- Protests against the war would almost certainly be dramatically bigger under a GOP administration, especially Trump, who acts as a hysteria accelerant to everything. Whereas under a Dem administration, the protests are comparatively more tepid, however significant they may have seemed lately

- Under Trump in particular, US support for the war would be connected to all manner of domestic left-liberal fixations, such as Trump allegedly imposing Fascism, being Racist, Nazi, Transphobic and so forth

- In short, with a Democrat in office, Israel gets the same unwavering pro-war policy from the US, but with fewer political headaches than if a Republican were in office
3:04 PM · Nov 9, 2023"

"Should also add that it's a political godsend for Israel that Joe Biden in particular is the Democratic President currently in office

At 80 years old, Biden is of a generation where support for Israel was viewed as a predominantly *Democratic* cause. His conception of the conflict is informed by dealings with an older generation of Israeli leaders, such as secular/left figures like Golda Meir, whom he always tells the story of meeting as a freshman senator in 1973

Biden likely still sees Israel through the prism of this earlier generation of Israeli figures, who had stronger connections to the Democratic Party than the Republican Party -- with American Jews obviously voting overwhelmingly Democratic, and liberal Jewish donors playing a powerful role

Like most 80 year olds, Biden is set in his ways, and Biden's way (for decades) has been a muscular liberal interventionism with Israel a key centerpiece of his worldview

Biden has less personal familiarity with the rising tide of religious/right-wing Israelis who hold rapidly increasing sway in Israel (and are more likely to affiliate with the Republican Party)

Although he probably has some misgivings about Netanyahu politically and personally, they're still of a similar generation (7 years apart) and Biden likely believes he can "do business" with him. Netanyahu commonly boasts of how he's known Biden since the 1980s

Netanyahu is also not personally religious, despite presiding over the most hardline religious governing coalition in Israeli history

In short, Biden's past experiences with Israel likely inform his current understanding of the conflict, even though the political and demographic composition of Israel has changed enormously
6:07 AM · Nov 10, 2023"

[Roshan]

I was going to go into an analysis here, but having just reread the long Michael Tracey Redux thread on Enneaforum, I think I'll wax metaphorical and just go with this concluding--or intended to be concluding--post.