The protests pose two political risks to Joe Biden. They could worsen his estrangement with the left and feed into a narrative that he has presided over disarray.
Already a subscriber?When students took over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University in April 1968, a young Joe Biden was studying law 400 kilometres away, just weeks from graduation. Protests and chanting and tie-dye shirts were not his style. “I was in law school,” he later recalled. “I wore sport coats.”
Demonstrators march along Independence Avenue near the Capitol during a Vietnam War protest, the day before the inauguration of Richard Nixon in 1969. Later in the day, the president issued a proclamation for Jewish American Heritage Month that denounced what he called “the ferocious surge of antisemitism” on social media and in public places such as colleges.
Democratic strategists say they are confident that young voters will still turn out in force for Biden, pointing to data showing that outside the klieg lights of campus protests, young voters care more about other issues such as abortion rights and the economy. With the academic year about to end, campuses should calm down by the US summer, and they may remain that way in autumn if the president can orchestrate a cease-fire by then.
Some Republicans have gone so far as to call for the National Guard to be deployed, even though there is no indication that local police forces cannot handle protesters who by and large have been unarmed. The history of military troops dispatched to campus demonstrations is fraught, marked by the searing memory of Kent State University where guard members opened fire and killed four students in 1970.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
What do the US campus protests mean for Joe Biden in November?Thousands of students have rallied for Palestine, after hundreds of thousands of Democrats declined to vote for Biden in the primary
Read more »
Joe Biden says campus protests won’t make him reconsider Middle East policiesPresident also says he will not send in the national guard to deal with encampments across US universities
Read more »
ICYMI: Joe Biden pokes fun at Donald Trump at 2024 White House correspondents' dinner, and moreJoe Biden jokes that he's 'a grown man running against a six-year-old' at annual journalists' dinner. Plus all the entertainment and pop culture news you may have missed this weekend.
Read more »
‘Speaks for most of us’: NYC worker goes viral with two-word message to Joe BidenA New York City construction worker has been backed by tens and thousands of Americans after revealing his honest thoughts on both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Read more »
Joe Biden has signed legislation banning TikTok, so what happens now?A ban on TikTok is now almost inevitable in the US as President Joe Biden signs legislation banning the app unless the Chinese-based parent company ByteDance sells the app to an approved buyer. Here's what you need to know.
Read more »
Joe Biden just had a significant win, but he’s still in the warsOngoing wars in Ukraine – and especially in Gaza – remain politically problematic, and potentially fatal, for US President Joe Biden.
Read more »