College campus protests highlight tensions in Biden’s coalition
CNN
Joe Biden’s hopes of recreating his winning coalition from 2020 is coming under threat as protests against Israel’s war in Gaza spreads across college campuses.
President Joe Biden’s hopes of recreating the coalition that lifted him to office in 2020 are coming under threat as the protest movement against Israel’s war in Gaza spreads across college campuses. Pro-Israel Democrats are now pushing the president to respond more forcefully to antisemitic incidents at colleges and universities, echoing calls from Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who have cast the increasingly combative demonstrations as a mark of incompetence inside the White House. For months, Democrats on Capitol Hill and in the highest echelons of the party have approached the conflict in Gaza with relative caution, but as the protest encampments dig in, college officials weigh canceling commencement ceremonies and Republicans ratchet up their attacks, Biden’s work to hold together a united front are fraying. The White House and congressional leaders seemed to embrace a new, tougher tact Tuesday when discussing the overnight occupation of an academic building by protesters at Columbia University. “President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful. Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful – it is wrong,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said, adding that the president “condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also denounced the protesters at Columbia, suggesting that the demonstrations were poised to “veer into criminality.”
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