Biden says dissent must not lead to disorder and his support for Israel remains unwavering amid college protests | CNN Politics

Washington CNN — President Joe Biden on Thursday attempted to balance the right to free speech and his desire for law and order in his first extensive remarks on campus protests against the war in Gaza – but insisted he has not changed his support for Israel.

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“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” Biden said. “… Peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues.”

“But,” Biden added, “neither are we a lawless country.”

Destroying property, Biden said, “is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law.”

“Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancelation of classes and graduation – none of this is a peaceful protest,” the president said. “Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law.”

Biden said dissent “is essential to democracy” but that it “must never lead to disorder, or to denying the rights of others.”

  • nat_turner_overdrive [he/him]
    hexbear
    98
    18 days ago

    Destroying property, Biden said, “is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law.”

    powercry-1

    they're destroying PROPERTY

    powercry-2

    • PKMKII [none/use name]
      hexbear
      83
      18 days ago

      America: where you can kill people over violating your property but don’t you dare violate property over 34,000 people being killed.

      • Ivysaur@lemmygrad.ml
        hexbear
        46
        18 days ago

        Fuck it I don’t even care anymore. These people deserve their toothbrush seizure. “That’s not really a thing” yeah well you should have thought of that before the world got like this; hand it over.

    • RNAi [he/him]
      hexbear
      60
      18 days ago

      Someone tell him children hospitals in Gaza used to be property

      • NewLeaf [he/him]
        hexbear
        28
        18 days ago

        Could you imagine your whole fifty year political career leading up to this kayfabe ass set of elections where he is barely doing better with voters than Donald fucking trump?

        What is it all for? It's not even like Biden is rich or got to go visit Epstein island or whatever people like him strive for. You get to invite Bruce Springsteen to the white house occasionally. That's the big prize.

        • the_post_of_tom_joad [any, any]
          hexbear
          17
          edit-2
          18 days ago

          I know youre joking, but to take you too seriously, don't discount the presidency in this form.

          This man is free. For at least the past 4 years, maybe till the end of his life, he has unlimited power. no matter what he does, with the DNCs and medias help his actions will always be better than an imaginary trump. Every action he takes, unlike any time in memory, he has no detractors with a voice. He's "better than" forever. No matter what he has backers, political and in journalism, legitimizing this sham of a democracy. If he loses the election? It's America's falling to facsism, not because he himself is...Like seriously, he's in a position where he has nothing to lose, and he's making hay.

          • NewLeaf [he/him]
            hexbear
            9
            17 days ago

            That's a great point, but he seems to be squandering it in my opinion. Unless he's just that boring

    • KoboldKomrade [he/him]
      hexbear
      10
      18 days ago

      I would say the CIA would kill George Washington and/or the Boston Tea party nerds, (or Sherman or any/all of the Union leaders) but at this point I think Liberals would take matters into their own hands.

  • emizeko [they/them]
    hexbear
    88
    18 days ago

    “We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” Biden said.

    the Big Lie must be constantly repeated

  • krolden@lemmy.ml
    hexbear
    76
    18 days ago

    pick and choose which laws benefit them while they ignore the UN and ICCs laws.

    • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
      hexbear
      49
      18 days ago

      And ignoring US domestic laws about selling weapons. We do have laws against what’s happening, and I really need some rogue sheriff to decide to start enforcing them when some of these politicians happen to be in their county.

  • T34_69 [none/use name]
    hexbear
    66
    18 days ago

    Biden is the one who denied the rights of others! The protests are peaceful until the cops show up! It's against the law because the authorities declared it as such. Oh, everyone's a criminal because you declared everyone a criminal? The assembly is unlawful because you said so? Damn that's crazy!

    galaxy-brain

    • BurgerPunk [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexbear
      26
      18 days ago

      They are also mow antisemitic because the government up a definition that makes them antisemitic. Everything is 1984 to these lib dipshits except actual 1984 shit lol

  • Moss [they/them]
    hexbear
    62
    18 days ago

    “We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” Biden said. “… Peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues.”

    "But,”

    Take yourself a little bit seriously Joe

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
    hexagon
    hexbear
    52
    18 days ago

    From Bluesky

    Definitely don't squash dissent. Flatten, maybe. Perhaps squeeze. Maybe quell. But definitely not squash.

  • regul [any]
    hexbear
    51
    18 days ago

    I've had about enough of this guy.

  • Awoo [she/her]
    hexbear
    48
    18 days ago

    We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent

    You could write a multi page list going back 30 years of events where this is not true.

  • OrionsMask [he/him,any]
    hexbear
    42
    18 days ago

    "Dissent must not lead to disorder" is just a fancy way of saying "we'll let you protest, up until the point where any real change might conceivably come of it."

    Fuck your order, old man. Hurry up and croak.

  • QueerCommie [comrade/them, she/her]
    hexbear
    40
    18 days ago

    Biden: peaceful protests ≠ effective protests. Westerners’ capital being infringed upon is a greater crime than any murders

    • Teekeeus [comrade/them]
      hexbear
      14
      17 days ago

      America can have two emperors. The eastern emperor rules over the province of europe, the western emperor rules over the province of americanada

    • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexbear
      14
      17 days ago

      We'll have co-dictators, one Republican and one Democrat, to keep things bipartisan after elections are indefinitely suspended

      • NewLeaf [he/him]
        hexbear
        9
        17 days ago

        I'm surprised nobody's floated a trump/Biden unity ticket yet

        • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
          hexbear
          12
          17 days ago

          It'd be a hard sell, tbh. Despite having a lot in common, their followers think the other is the worst thing possible.

          • NewLeaf [he/him]
            hexbear
            8
            17 days ago

            I could see libs eating it up somehow. They're really good at rationalizing being nice to Nazis. If Ron desantis was teed up to beat Biden in November, I bet they would be rehabilitating trump right now.

            • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
              hexbear
              4
              17 days ago

              If only Harry Potter or another franchise popular with the worst libs had something like Dragon Ball, where the previous villain joins up with the heroes to fight the new bigger villain lol

    • Maoo [none/use name]
      hexbear
      10
      17 days ago

      Anti-leftness was always the impetus for the previous bipartisan regime.

      It's no accident that, "okay we can fight" happened immediately after the fall of the USSR.

      We've got a new cold war and a new domestic left and whaddaya know suddenly it's urgent to fight "the enemy" during peacetime and to crack down on those pesky protesters at home.

  • zed_proclaimer [he/him]
    hexbear
    30
    18 days ago

    "stop the genocide or we will increase pressure"

    "no"

    increases pressure

    "nooooo whyyy"