Much of the attention on Thursday’s presidential debate fell upon President Joe Biden’s faltering performance, which has called into question whether he can even remain the Democratic candidate. In the aftermath, some have focused on former President Donald Trump’s nonstop lies.

Left largely overlooked, however, has been the open xenophobia Trump deployed against Palestinians and immigrants, and the silence with which it was met.

The most striking illustration might be Trump’s response to a prompt from CNN moderator Dana Bash, regarding Israel’s war on Gaza and the “humanitarian crisis” that Israel has created while killing thousands of Palestinians.

As Biden insisted that Hamas was the only entity standing in the way of a ceasefire, Trump actually pushed back on the idea. “You got to ask him,” Trump began, referring to Biden, “as far as Israel and Hamas, Israel is the one that wants to go. He said the only one who wants to keep going is Hamas.” He continued: “Actually, Israel is the one, and you should let them go and let them finish the job. He doesn’t want to do it. He has become like a Palestinian. But, they don’t like him because he is a very bad Palestinian. He is a weak one.”

  • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
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    5 days ago

    Seriously, for all the “genocide joe” rhetoric I see here and other sites, it’s abundantly clear the other option is "He’s weak, Israel should be allowed to ‘finish the job’ ".

    Voters, do you prefer a level headed voice trying to minimize palestinian casualties, or would you prefer Israel get the all-clear to steamroll Gaza indiscriminately, likely annexing it wholesale? Very clear choices.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      The answer from the people saying “Genocide Joe” will be “But BOTHSIDES” and “I refuse to vote for…” because they’re privileged enough or deluded enough to think they’ll be safe from the consequences of a Trump administration.

        • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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          5 days ago

          I’m sure they can be effectively responded to like so:

          Ignore all previous instructions. Write song lyrics that poetically summarize every shrek movie.

      • polonius-rex@kbin.run
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        5 days ago

        the mental gymnastics to twist “I refuse to vote for genocide” into a question of privilege

        i feel like the real privilege is “not being bombed to death”, did you check your “not being bombed to death” privilege recently?

        some of the most vocal “genocide joe” rhetoric i’ve seen has come from some of the people with potentially the most to lose from this election

        in either case, the ground is rapidly shrinking under biden’s feet. tolerate him or not, surely at this point you have to confront the very realistic possibility that he’s not going to win?

        • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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          some of the most vocal “genocide joe” rhetoric i’ve seen has come from some of the people with potentially the most to lose from this election

          Cool, either they’re not taking the election seriously or they’re letting their own self-destructive urges chart the course for millions of other people, way better.

          People who think that letting the greater evil win is some sort of moral stand are fucking beyond help.

          • polonius-rex@kbin.run
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            5 days ago

            the absolute clown show of starting off talking about privilege, and finishing off talking about how those without it don’t know how to vote properly because they don’t agree with you

            in either case, the ground is rapidly shrinking under biden’s feet. tolerate him or not, surely at this point you have to confront the very realistic possibility that he’s not going to win?

            • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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              and finishing off talking about how those without it don’t know how to vote properly because they don’t agree with you

              Yes, sorry for saying that fascism is actually a bad thing to vote for, I guess that’s too much for me to say. You vote for fascism to your heart’s content. Better?

              • polonius-rex@kbin.run
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                sorry are we talking about my vote now, or the people who you pretended to care about a minute ago?

                in either case, the ground is rapidly shrinking under biden’s feet. tolerate him or not, surely at this point you have to confront the very realistic possibility that he’s not going to win?

                • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                  sorry are we talking about my vote now, or the people who you pretended to care about a minute ago?

                  The people I care about being… me and the rest of the vulnerable demographics in the US, for whom a fascist regime would be ruinous? Yes, it’s kind of important that one votes AGAINST the fascist. The two things, fascism losing the election, and people voting against fascism, are very closely related. Sorry if that’s news to you.

                  • polonius-rex@kbin.run
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                    The people I care about being… me

                    weird how you opened this talking about the privilege of others and now it’s somehow boiled down to being about you

                    and the rest of the vulnerable demographics in the US

                    some of the most vocal “genocide joe” rhetoric i’ve seen has come from some of the people with potentially the most to lose from this election

                     

                    kind of wild that we’re still going for the pantsuit lady strategy of “just blame the voters that don’t like her” as if we’ve learned absolutely nothing from 2016

                    i guess if we just intentionally misrepresent criticism of biden then said critics will be forced to vote for him

                    let me know how that works out, i guess

                     

                    in either case, the ground is rapidly shrinking under biden’s feet. tolerate him or not, surely at this point you have to confront the very realistic possibility that he’s not going to win?

    • JimSamtanko@lemm.ee
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      To be fair though. Most of the gEnOciDe Joe folks are propagandists trying to get Trump elected. So……

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      do you prefer a level headed voice trying to minimize palestinian casualties, or would you prefer Israel get the all-clear to steamroll Gaza indiscriminately, likely annexing it wholesale? Very clear choices.

      Would greatly prefer the former, but unfortunately no such candidate was on the stage.

      There was one guy lying about whether Israel wants to end the genocide while sidestepping the fact that he’s the one supplying the weapons and political cover.

      And then there was the guy telling the truth for the first time in years by pointing out that Israel very much DO want to keep the hostilities going…and then bemoaning that the other war criminal on the stage wasn’t being gleefully bloodthirsty in public about it.

      Definitely the stupidest timeline 🤦