On "Forbes Newsroom," political scientist Charles Lipson discussed protests on college campuses and cities.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Let's talk about those college protests right now. It's really divided the country. It's really been a flashpoint. Started at Columbia. We've seen
00:09 encampments and protests move nationwide. What do you think this does to President Biden right now. Because they've been going on for about
00:18 two weeks. As we sat here today just a few hours ago Columbia canceled their graduation.
00:25 Boy that's going to make parents happy. And you have. So you have two related things that are going on. You have these encampments all
00:34 over campuses all over the country. And you have sit ins on the Golden Gate Bridge on some of the bridges coming into Manhattan. You
00:45 have them out near O'Hare. And in almost all these districts you have very left wing prosecutors Soros D.A. who don't prosecute anybody.
00:56 In fact if they cleared it's going to be an interesting question actually Brittany about what Alvin Bragg does to the people who've been
01:06 arrested at Columbia. He's got a huge trial. The first trial ever of an ex president for what amounts to a bookkeeping error. And he's
01:18 going to let people who who openly back terrorists trashed buildings occupy them without permission. All the rest he's just going to say
01:28 well done. You know see you next fall. So he's got a problem. But I think these two things come together and they hurt Biden in two
01:39 ways. They hurt him because as I said earlier when there's tumult in the country
01:46 people expect the leader in the White House to calm the country. And of course Joe Biden promised to bring the country together.
01:58 But I went to a meeting that appeared today in The Spectator the English magazine that has a big U.S. Web site and said at the University of Alabama. There was one group that was yelling an expletive Joe Biden against him from the left and another group separated from yelling the same thing from the right. So I said he really has brought the country together.
02:28 Charles I actually had that written down. That was going to be my very next point in these protests. The one point of unity but both sides that you saw pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups on one campus started chanting F Joe Biden. And that was the only moment of unity you saw between those two groups. So it begs a larger question here doesn't seem like either side is too happy with the Biden administration the president the White House. And you said this
02:57 in a recent piece. President Biden is trapped between Israel and Michigan and Minnesota. Can you talk about where he is right now when it comes to his policy in the Middle East.
03:07 There's an old southern phrase
03:11 that he's caught between the dog and the hydrant on this
03:19 for Biden. I think a two state solution means Michigan and Minnesota not something about Gaza and the West Bank. But he's got a real problem. And I don't know how he solves it. The vast majority of the country is pro-Israel.
03:40 The Democrats people who say that they're Democrats according to polling are less pro-Israel. The only group that's really clearly in favor of Israel are older Democrats but younger Democrats is substantially more sympathetic to the Palestinians.
04:01 That puts him in a difficult position because Israel is a real American ally strategic ally and a military ally. They have a very high tech military that cooperates extensively with the Pentagon
04:16 developing all kinds of
04:21 laser weapons and all the other kinds of things that we're developing to and that they exchange. So if Biden plus it is also the case that
04:31 Israel is really the anchor of the anti Iran coalition in the region. That's hard for some of the Arab countries Saudi Arabia UAE and so forth to say right now in the midst of the Gaza conflict. But Israel is a key ally.
04:50 And Biden has been wishy washy on all of this. The more he leans to appease these younger pro-Palestine voters and campus encampments and so forth, the more he alienates the vast middle of
05:08 the electorate. The more he appeals to the middle of the electorate, the more he alienates the younger voters. You remember as a kid, Brittany, when you had two magnets and you put the wrong ends toward each other and how they pushed apart. That's kind of what Biden's situation is now.