A majority of Americans now disapprove of Israel’s war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, with support dropping from 50 percent in November to 36 percent this month, according to a new poll.
The number who disapprove increased from 45 percent in November to 55 percent in March, while about 9 percent of respondents in the latest Gallup poll have no opinion on the issue.
But approval of Israel’s war is divided along party lines, with 64 percent of Republicans supporting the military action in Gaza, compared to just 18 percent of Democrats.
Among independents, support for Israel’s military action in Gaza dropped from 47 percent to 29 percent in the same time frame.
Protests calling for a cease-fire and to protect Palestinian lives have become commonplace across the U.S., while others say Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, which invaded the country on Oct. 7 and killed more than 1,100 people, taking roughly 250 hostages with 100 believed to be still alive in custody in Gaza.
But the nearly six-month war shows no end in sight, even as more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed and the United Nations is warning of a famine in northern Gaza.
Democrats are growing furious at the death toll and humanitarian crisis, especially with Arab Americans and young voters promising a protest vote at the polls in November. About 13 percent of Democrats in the primary for Michigan, a key battleground state in November, voted “uncommitted” instead of for President Biden.
The Biden administration is trying to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza while it is also taking a harder stance on the war, abstaining this week from a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire for the next two weeks and the release of hostages. Netanyahu canceled a delegation to Washington after the vote, but the White House has since said his office had agreed to reschedule.
Biden and key members of his Cabinet are also pushing for Israel to reconsider a major ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering from the war.
Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.
A State Department human rights staffer said she is resigning in response to the Biden administration’s policy on Gaza in a CNN opinion piece Wednesday. “For the past year, I worked for the office devoted to promoting human rights in the Middle East. I believe strongly in the mission and in the important work of that office,” Annelle Sheline, who, according to CNN, worked for a year as a foreign affairs officer at the …
An Israeli woman who was held hostage by Hamas for 55 days says she was sexually assaulted by militants, becoming the first former hostage to publicly come forward with claims of sexual violence. In an interview with The New York Times published Tuesday, Amit Soussana said she was forced “to commit a sexual act” at gunpoint by a Hamas militant who was holding her captive. She also said that while in captivity, she was held …
At least 12 Palestinians in Gaza drowned Monday while trying to reach humanitarian airdrops, according to Palestinian health authorities, a revelation that comes as Pentagon officials confirmed three out of the 80 bundles it airdropped into Gaza the same day had parachute malfunctions and fell into the water. Palestinian officials said the individuals drowned off the coast near Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, as they dove into …
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvinwill speak
at a Government Executive Media Group virtual forum on “State of the Air Force,” tomorrow at 2 p.m.
In Other News
Branch out with a different read from The Hill:
Rubio links ISIS threat to US border after Moscow attack
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) drew a connection Sunday between the deadly ISIS attack on a Moscow concert hall Friday and U.S.-Mexico border policy, a top issue for Republicans ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Rubio, the vice chair of the Senate …
The Center for a New American Security will hold a virtual discussion
on “Forging a New Era of U.S.-ROK-Japan Trilateral Cooperation,” at 8 a.m.
The Heritage Foundation will have a conversation
on “The American case for Taiwan,” at 10 a.m.
Defense Priorities will discuss
“Houthi conundrum: Defend, degrade or defer,” at 10 a.m.
The Middle East Forumwill hear
from Iranian opposition leader Vahid Beheshti on Iran’s proxy war in the Middle East and the West, and the importance of countering extremism, at 2:30 p.m.
What We’re Reading
News we’ve flagged from other outlets:
Two days after the U.N. called for a cease-fire, Israeli strikes on Gaza haven’t let up (The New York Times
)
Picture of special forces soldier wearing Nazi patch triggers Army investigation (Military.com
)
Former President Trump is pulling out all the stops to stave off the start of his first criminal trial, but the New York judge overseeing the case … Read more
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Tuesday that it is not her fault if House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is promoted to the House’s … Read more
Opinions in The Hill
Op-ed related to defense & national security submitted to The Hill:
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed an assault weapons ban that passed the state legislature last month, alongside multiple other gun control bills, in a 30-bill veto session on Tuesday.
“I swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of Virginia, and that absolutely includes protecting the right of law-abiding Virginians to keep and bear arms,” Youngkin said in a statement after vetoing the bills.
The governor did sign two more limited gun regulations into law, however, one that bans gun trigger switches that can make firearms fire automatically and a second that allows criminal charges against parents who allow children deemed threats to have access to weapons.
“I am pleased to sign … public safety bills which are commonsense reforms with significant bipartisan support from the General Assembly,” he added.
Tuesday marked a rare test for Youngkin on gun control, as the previously-split state legislature did not advance any significant gun control measures until Democrats took both chambers last year.
The trigger switch ban outlaws the device known as an “auto sear,” a simply modification that allows semi-automatic firearms to be converted to be automatic. The devices have come under intense scrutiny in recents months as a target for gun control activistis.
The City of Chicago sued Glock
, the handgun manufacturer, earlier this month over the devices, claiming the company is criminally negligent is allowing its firearms to be so easily modified.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) reported a 400 percent increase
in recoveries of illegally modified machine guns from 2020 to 2021 and a 570 percent increase in auto sears from 2017 to 2021 as compared to the previous five-year period.
Youngkin also proposed six amendments to gun control measures instead of vetoing them outright.
Gun control activist groups praised Youngkin for signing the two gun control bills, but pushed him to do more.
“Getting two gun safety bills signed by Governor Youngkin is a step in the right direction. It shows that we don’t have to accept America’s gun violence crisis as inevitable,” Students Demand Action volunteer Grace Varughese said in a statement. “While we’re happy these bills are now law, we can’t ignore that the Governor also vetoed a lot of other bills that could’ve saved lives.”
“Our work doesn’t stop here,” she added. “Young people in Virginia are committed to making our state safer so the next generation doesn’t have to grow up in constant fear of gun violence.”
Nevertheless, the activists acknowledged the progress in getting Youngkin to sign the bills, noting his campaign positions as a strong defender of the Second Amendment.
“It speaks volumes about the changing political calculus around gun safety that the Republican governor of Virginia, which is the longtime home of the NRA, just signed legislation to prevent gun violence,” Everytown for Gun Safety President John Feinblatt said in a statement.
In the ongoing saga of geopolitical theatre surrounding Gaza, the recent episode involving the United States and its much-hyped ceasefire proposal offers a stark portrayal of diplomatic maneuvering at its most disingenuous. Russia, China and Algeria’s veto of the U.S. resolution
, purportedly in the name of an immediate ceasefire, underscores the stark disparity between rhetoric and action in Washington’s approach to the crisis and the glaring chasm between political posturing and genuine commitment to peace in the region.
After vetoing three consecutive U.N. resolutions on Gaza
, the United States found itself in a perplexing predicament when its own ceasefire proposal was rejected
. The crux of the issue lay in the resolution’s wording, which fell short
of calling for an immediate ceasefire. Instead, it merely asked to “recognize the importance” of a ceasefire and to support American negotiation efforts. This toothless gesture falls short of addressing the urgent humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.
It is safe to assume that the current situation underscores the duplicitous nature of U.S. policy in the region since Washington betrayed its role as an impartial mediator by effectively endorsing Israel’s negotiation parameters due to conditioning any ceasefire on the release of all hostages—an unreasonable demand unlikely to be met by Palestine’s officials because it undermines the urgency of ending the violence and perpetrates the cycle of suffering for 2 million innocent Gaza civilians
, positioning them as hostages in the geopolitical machinations.
The political motivations behind this maneuver are glaringly apparent, exposing it as not a sincere effort toward peace but a calculated move predominantly aimed at domestic optics. With the specter of impending U.S. presidential elections looming large, the Biden administration sought to appease a war-weary populace clamoring for peace. Public opinion polls reflect a palpable shift in sentiment, with a clear majority of Americans advocating for a ceasefire and expressing dwindling support for unconditional backing of Israel’s actions.
According to a survey
conducted by Reuters/Ipsos in November 2023, only 32 percent of respondents advocated for unqualified backing of Israel, while a staggering 68 percent called for a ceasefire. This sentiment has only solidified in the months since, with over 70 cities
in the country rallying in support of a ceasefire.
The sentiment cuts across religious and political divides, as evidenced by the findings of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) survey
published in February 2024. Regardless of faith affiliation, a majority of Americans, including Muslims (75 percent), Catholics (71 percent), Protestants (60 percent) and even Jews (50 percent), expressed their desire for an end to the violence in Gaza.
Even among traditionally staunch supporters of Israel, such as white evangelicals, there has been a notable shift towards advocating for a ceasefire. Despite initial endorsements
of Israel’s right to defend itself, 58 percent of white evangelicals now stand in favor of de-escalation, underscoring the complex and evolving nature of public attitudes towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Generational divides further highlight the shifting landscape of opinion within the United States. A February AP-NORC poll
indicates that 50 percent of U.S. adults believed Israel’s military offensive had exceeded the bounds of proportionality, with significant disparities among political affiliations. While 63 percent of Democrats expressed concerns over Israel’s actions, only 33 percent of Republicans shared similar sentiments.
The emergence of social media platforms as catalysts for shaping public discourse has also played a significant role in galvanizing support for the Palestinian cause among younger generations
. The proliferation of pro-Palestinian sentiment on platforms like TikTok
has not gone unnoticed, prompting concerns within political circles and leading to calls for censorship and banning of the popular medium in the U.S.
The evolving landscape of public opinion is mirrored in nuanced policy preferences, as evidenced by recent surveys conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
and Reuters/Ipsos
. Most Americans, 56 percent, favor maintaining neutrality in the conflict, with Democrats and Independents leading the charge. However, Republicans overwhelmingly support siding with Israel, reflecting deep-seated partisan divisions on the issue.
Moreover, there is growing support for imposing restrictions on U.S. military aid to Israel, with 53 percent of Americans endorsing such measures
. Such sentiments, intricately intertwined with political affiliations, underscore the precarious balancing act faced by policymakers navigating the Israeli-Palestinian quagmire.
On the other hand, despite this sea of changing attitudes, a troubling lack of awareness about the human cost of the conflict remains. A Pew Research Center poll
reveals that half of Americans are unaware of the vast disparity in casualties, with approximately 32,000
Palestinians and 1,200
Israelis killed since the conflict’s inception, marking a staggering ratio of 26-to-1. This underscores the disproportionate nature of the violence and the urgent need for greater transparency and accountability in media coverage and political discourse.
As the death toll mounts in Gaza, amidst these grim statistics lies a more profound moral quandary. The deliberate targeting of civilians and the systemic deprivation of basic necessities constitute clear violations of international law, with the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, likening
Israel’s actions to war crimes and genocide.
The recent passage of a bill in Congress that received Biden’s approval further highlights the U.S. baffling stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The document
not only ratifies the de-funding of UNRWA, the leading humanitarian agency in the region but also pledges allocation of $3.8 billion in aid to Israel, further underscoring the moral bankruptcy of the U.S. foreign policy in the region and undermining the country’s credibility on a global stage.
If this was not enough, the passage of the same bill also conditions aid
to the Palestinian Authority on refraining from obtaining U.N. membership and no cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC), effectively shielding Israel from any legal accountability for its actions in Gaza, further perpetuating a cycle of impunity and injustice and epitomizing the Faustian nature of this sinister bargain.
As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will highly likely move forward
with military assaults in Rafah, despite tepid warnings from President Joe Biden, the actual cost of U.S. complicity becomes increasingly apparent. Israel’s actions not only jeopardize regional stability but also undermine America’s strategic interests. Hence, the blind support for Israel may prove to be a liability rather than an asset
in the long run as the international community grows increasingly disillusioned with U.S. inaction.
In fact, Gaza’s blood-soaked sands may well mark the graveyard of not only Biden’s presidency but also the Western-led rules-based order
as national and international condemnation mounts and U.S. complicity becomes increasingly untenable. As the global community celebrates its Pyrrhic victory
concerning the Ramadan ceasefire
, the time for unequivocal action is now. The U.S. must decide which side of history it wishes to be on—for the sake of Gaza, for the sake of Israel, and most importantly, for the sake of humanity, and for the sake of its own soul.
Adriel Kasonta is a London-based political risk consultant and lawyer. You can follow him on X @Adriel_Kasonta or visit his website.
A special election in Alabama is the latest sign for Democrats that reproductive rights are a major motivating force for voters ahead of this fall’s elections.
Democrat Marilyn Lands beat Republican Teddy Powell in a special election for a state House seat in the Yellowhammer State on Tuesday, after she leaned into the issues of abortion and in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Lands’s landslide win in the purple district underscores the political staying power of reproductive rights as an election issue, one that could make the difference as Democratic control of Congress and the White House falls to a handful of states.
“I feel like [reproductive health care] was a very powerful motivator to get people out to vote in this election,” Lands told The Hill.
Lands, a licensed professional counselor who has also worked in Republican politics, defeated Powell, a Madison City Council member, for the special election in state House District 10, in the Huntsville area.
Lands spotlighted IVF and abortion in her ads, including recounting her own personal experience with abortion. Meanwhile, Powell leaned into issues like the economy and infrastructure.
Reproductive issues became particularly relevant as the race came against the backdrop of an Alabama court ruling last month that prompted IVF services to be temporarily paused.
The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling in February, which found frozen embryos could be considered children under state law, set off a national furor around IVF access as providers across the state halted fertility services because of concerns about litigation.
Amid a chorus of criticism, including from many Republican leaders, the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature hastily drew up and passed legislation protecting IVF providers from prosecution and legal action. But fertility groups argued the bill didn’t go far enough, as it did nothing to temper the high court’s ruling.
Ahead of the election, some Republican strategists argued abortion and IVF were separate issues.
Nonetheless, Lands beat Powell by a whopping 25 points in a district that just barely went for former President Trump in 2020.
Krishana Davis, a senior vice president at the Democratic consulting firm Precision Strategies, said one thing Lands did right in her campaign was be unapologetic about her stance on reproductive rights.
“So many times we see candidates who will give very top-level language, they kind of skirt the issue, they give a lot of innuendos about what they mean,” said Davis, who noted Lands instead was “very vocal” about her position.
Davis argued other Democratic candidates could take Lands’s win as a sign they too can be forthright in their stance on reproductive rights.
The special election is also not the first to underscore the salience of reproductive rights. During last November’s Virginia state legislative races, Democrats honed into the issue of abortion, which allowed them to keep their edge in the state Senate and flip the state House.
In “special elections like this, in which there’s nothing else to turn out your vote, it’s much more about identifying your voters and then inspiring them to turn out,” said Republican strategist Angi Horn. “And I mean, nobody can question the results that her campaign absolutely identified their voters and then inspired them to turnout.”
“If I was a Democrat in Alabama, and I saw this happen, sure … I would try to copy it, do the same thing … I think it would be ridiculous not to,” Horn added.
But the GOP strategist also cautioned about extrapolating too much from the special election in terms of what it means for the state’s politics.
“I think it’s important to not try to paint this as what Alabama is or the state of Alabama for two reasons: One it’s a special election and two, it is a very — going into a very purple district,” she said, noting that Lands’ strategy likely would not have worked in southeast Alabama, for example.
Though Alabama is extremely unlikely to turn blue in a presidential election anytime soon, Lands’s victory suggests reproductive issues can still make the difference in critical swing seats.
The salience of reproductive rights is particularly important given that a handful of swing states will determine who wins the White House and control of Congress in November.
According to KFF pollster Ashley Kirzinger, 12 percent of voters nationally say abortion is an important issue for them — lower than during the midterms, when about a quarter said it was the most important issue to them. When it comes to motivating issues, voters generally don’t pay close attention to court battles, according to Kirzinger, but the after-effects do catch the public’s attention.
“I think when it starts to motivate voters and they’re starting to pay more attention is when some sort of right or access is taken away,” said Kirsinger. “We didn’t specifically ask about IVF, but I think what we saw was the attention around that Alabama Supreme Court decision.”
Kirzinger added the view that voters are only staunchly for or against abortion is misleading. She noted there is a segment of Republicans who supported overturning Roe but don’t believe in banning all abortions, with about 8 in 10 saying they want abortion protected for patients experiencing pregnancy-related emergencies.
“There is nuance within the Republican attitude on abortion. And I think that’s always important to point out,” she said.
Reproductive rights advocates have previously scored wins in purple and red states. Months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Kansans rejected a ballot measure that would have given the state legislature the authority to restrict abortion.
Voters in Michigan and Ohio passed ballot measures to enshrine abortion protections within their state Constitutions. Voters had also earlier handily defeated a separate ballot measure in Ohio that would have sought to raise the threshold to amend the state Constitution, a move that was largely seen as a way to thwart reproductive right advocates from passing the abortion ballot measure that fall.
Abhi Rahman, communicators director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), noted that Michigan will be holding several special elections next month in the suburbs of Detroit, which will determine control of the state House. He noted the Democrats running in those races are also spotlighting reproductive rights.
During a press briefing with the reproductive rights PAC EMILYs List in January, Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez said their reelection bid’s strategy on reproductive rights would highlight Trump’s anti-abortion stance.
The campaign did just that following Lands’s win on Tuesday, with Chavez Rodriguez saying in a statement, “Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, paving the way for attacks on women’s freedoms like we saw in Alabama – now he’s running to ban abortion and gut access to IVF nationwide. Tonight’s results should serve as a major warning sign for Trump.”
Davis, from Precision Strategies, said that while highlighting potential Republican action on abortion in the future is “fair,” Democratic candidates should focus on their own personal position instead of what their opponent is running on.
“Candidates need to define themselves very clearly about who they are. Because, also, we’ve all been very clear who Trump is,” Davis said. “That has been overly saturated in media across social media online.”
A State Department human rights staffer said she is resigning over the Biden administration’s policy on Gaza in a CNN opinion
piece Wednesday.
“For the past year, I worked for the office devoted to promoting human rights in the Middle East. I believe strongly in the mission and in the important work of that office,” Annelle Sheline, who, according to CNN, worked for a year as a foreign affairs officer at the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said in her piece.
“However, as a representative of a government that is directly enabling what the International Court of Justice has said could plausibly be a genocide in Gaza, such work has become almost impossible,” Sheline continued. “Unable to serve an administration that enables such atrocities, I have decided to resign from my position at the Department of State.”
In October, Josh Paul, who
served as the director of congressional and public affairs in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in the State Department, said he was resigning for a similar reason. He said in a letter that he was exiting his role due to harm resulting from the “provision of lethal arms to Israel” being more than the good he could do in the position.
“We cannot be both for freedom, and against it,” Paul said. “And we cannot be for a better world, while contributing to one that is materially worse.”
In an apparent response
to Sheline’s decision to resign, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a press briefing Wednesday that “there is a broad diversity of views inside the State Department about our policy with respect to Gaza, just as there is a broad diversity within the State Department about our policy, in a number of important foreign policy issues, as there is a broad diversity of views and opinions throughout American society about this issue, and others.”
On Monday, at least 12 Palestinians in Gaza drowned
while attempting to retrieve humanitarian airdrops, according to Palestinian health authorities. Over 31,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing war in Gaza since its start back in October of last year.
President Biden has struggled to link the benefits of his signature infrastructure laws to disaffected Black labor. When he touts the jobs created by federally-backed construction projects — such as his recent remarks
in Arizona about a semiconductor chip factory — it only reminds some Black working-class men about their exclusion from the industry.
The collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge
is an opportunity for Biden to change the storyline. The bridge, a major conduit over the Baltimore Harbor, collapsed after being struck by a cargo ship on Tuesday. It spans more than 1.5 miles across the Patapsco River and, as a major connecting point for the region, will need to be rebuilt.
Biden can use the rebuilding process to champion Black labor in the construction industry. If done right, he can incorporate the issue in his efforts to generate enthusiasm
among Black working-class men broadly. He can use it to demonstrate awareness of how the civil construction industry needs to address a history of excluding Black labor.
Throughout his term, Biden has fumbled moments to crusade for racial reforms in construction and, in particular, to stand with Black men seeking skilled jobs and contracting opportunities. The high rates of displacement and discouragement
stem from a history of union racism and contractor preference for immigrants. As such, the racial demographic in the construction industry
is now 60 percent white, 30 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Black American, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has documented rampant racial discrimination in the industry. In its 2023 report, “Building for the Future: Advancing Equal Opportunity in the Construction Industry,
” EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows wrote, “for years, some of the most egregious incidents of harassment and discrimination investigated by the [EEOC] have arisen in the construction industry.”
The EEOC has uncovered discrimination
in recruitment, apprenticeships and hiring; unequal treatment in training, hours, pay, promotions and layoffs; and many instances of hostile work environments and retaliation for reporting problems such racist graffiti, nooses on job sites, racist slurs, discriminatory union practices and increased danger in assignments.
To be sure, the problems of today have a long origin. In the 1970s, Black workers demanded inclusion through the United Construction Workers Association (UCWA)
. It was a union for equity established after a federal court found that Seattle unions were operating in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The UCWA expanded across the country, held protest rallies to demand inclusive hiring and helped people get skilled labor jobs.
However, the surge of immigration since the 1980s provided a source of cheap labor that contractors desired and unions could not hold off, and Black labor was the odd man out. Even during disasters like Hurricane Katrina, federal contractors opted to use the labor of immigrant work crews
rather than hire and train Black men from the region.
Today, the consequences can be seen at most construction worksites. In New York City, the construction industry
employed 374,000 people in 2020 — 53 percent of whom were immigrants — even as Black men experienced the highest unemployment levels. In Boston, Black labor is largely excluded from construction jobs due to union and contractor bias, according to Travis Watson in “Union Construction’s Racial Equity and Inclusion Charade.
” NPR reported
on the issue as well.
Congress attempted
to address the problem of exclusion in the infrastructure law. The Congressional Black Caucus supported a provision to encourage the hiring and training of under-represented populations. It did so in the expectation of thousands of good-paying jobs
for their constituents in renovating the highway, bridge, tunnel and public building projects in Newark, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Baltimore and other cities.
Harry Holzer, a Georgetown University professor of public policy, wrote
that the civil projects will require hundreds of thousands of skilled workers, many with high school and some college education. And the construction projects will trigger employment to produce the equipment and materials needed to complete the infrastructure projects.
Biden can use the Francis Scott Key Bridge tragedy to raise another issue of Black inclusion in construction as well. He can point out the broad array of employment and contracting opportunities denied to Black middle-class job seekers. Most people think of construction employment as the worksite crews seen on the streets — in fact, the industry is directed by general contracting companies that are among the largest corporations in America.
According to industry analyst Kathryn Thompson
, the construction industry is experiencing a golden age due to the federal infrastructure investments. These general contractors employ thousands of people for positions supplemental to construction worksite occupations: managers, administrators, purchasing agents, quality control inspectors, designers, site permitting agents and more. Yet Black middle-class professionals are often as excluded from such opportunities as the working class from the skilled construction jobs. Biden can champion reforms across an industry if the administration has the resolve.
To date, the administration has failed to hold states to account for equity planning as encouraged in the infrastructure legislation. According to John Warren, publisher of the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint, prime contractors fail to place ads for construction jobs
in Black news sites, despite state and federal mandates.
The Biden administration, to be fair, has shown signs of concern. For example, Maryland received $7 billion
in infrastructure monies to renovate six passenger rail projects, including the construction of the Frederick Douglass Tunnel, which will replace a 150-year old tunnel in Baltimore. And the Department of Labor awarded
$65 million to states to expand access to apprenticeships in high-demand industries like civil construction, of which Maryland received $650,000 in federal grants
and matched it with $6 million in competitive funding under Gov. Wes Moore.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse is a moment for Biden to show concern for rebuilding a vital bridge — and for building a bridge of inclusion for Black American workers in the construction industry as well.
Roger House is professor emeritus of American Studies at Emerson College and the author of “Blue Smoke: The Recorded Journey of Big Bill Broonzy” and “South End Shout: Boston’s Forgotten Music Scene in the Jazz Age.” His forthcoming book is “Five Hundred Years of Black Self Governance” (Louisiana State University Press).
The House Education Committee announced Wednesday it has sent a letter to Rutgers University requesting information regarding its handling of antisemitism on campus.
“The Committee on Education and the Workforce (the Committee) is investigating Rutgers University’s response to antisemitism and its failure to protect Jewish students. I have grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Rutgers’ response to antisemitism on its campuses,” Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said in her letter, which is similar to ones the committee has sent out to Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Columbia University.
It contains incidents of antisemitism the committee says the school did not adequately address and requests information since 2021 on antisemitic activity, what disciplinary actions have been taken and communications that have occurred between university officials on the subject.
“Rutgers stands out for the intensity and pervasiveness of antisemitism on its campuses. Rutgers senior administrators, faculty, staff, academic departments and centers, and student organizations have contributed to the development of a pervasive climate of antisemitism,” the letter reads.
Republican lawmakers vowed to start investigating schools after a December hearing where the presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT could not say if calls to genocide Jewish people would be considered harassment on campus.
The investigations began with those three schools, with Harvard’s investigation escalating to a subpoena from Foxx.
Officials from Columbia University will be testifying at a hearing in April in front of the committee about antisemitism on campus.
The daughter of the Manhattan trial judge overseeing former President Trump’s hush money case was caught in the crossfire of Trump’s rage on Wednesday.
In a rant about a gag order Judge Juan Merchan recently imposed against Trump, the former president railed against Merchan’s daughter, Loren, who is a Democratic political consultant.
Loren Merchan served as an executive
at the progressive political consulting firm Authentic Campaigns, which has worked on campaigns
for prominent Democrats, including Vice President Harris, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and President Joe Biden, Trump’s 2024 rival.
An account appearing to belong to the judge’s daughter on X, formerly Twitter, at one point used a photo illustration of an imprisoned Trump as its profile picture, according to the Associated Press. The profile, which was previously linked to by her consulting firm, has since been made private and the profile picture has been changed.
“So, let me get this straight,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. “The Judge’s daughter is allowed to post pictures of her ‘dream’ of putting me in jail, the Manhattan D.A. is able to say whatever lies about me he wants, the Judge can violate our Laws and Constitution at every turn, but I am not allowed to talk about the attacks against me, and the Lunatics trying to destroy my life, and prevent me from winning the 2024 Presidential Election, which I am dominating?
“Maybe the Judge is such a hater because his daughter makes money by working to ‘Get Trump,’ and when he rules against me over and over again, he is making her company, and her, richer and richer. How can this be allowed?” Trump continued.
On Tuesday, Merchan barred Trump from publicly commenting about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff or their family members “if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with” the case.
Trump is not precluded from attacking Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) – or their families.
However, Merchan did write that Trump’s attacks on his daughter informed his decision to gag the former president. The judge initially chose just to admonish Trump, but said his order reflected the “nature and impact” of statements made against him, his “family member” and two prosecutors.
Trump’s lawyers previously demanded Merchan resign from the case in part due to his daughter’s profession, but after consulting the state’s judicial ethics advisory committee, he declined to do so.
Merchan’s gag order is the third Trump has faced in recent months, following orders limiting his speech issued in his New York civil fraud case and his Washington, D.C., federal criminal case linked to efforts to subvert the 2020 election results.
Trump faces 34 counts in New York alleging he illegally falsified business records when reimbursing his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, for making a payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels to conceal an affair ahead of the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty.
Merchan has set a trial date of April 15 in the case.
NBC is coming under heavy criticism from the right for terminating a deal to use former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a contributor.
McDaniel’s abrupt exit followed vocal protests from some of the network’s most prominent on-air hosts, who took issue with her past rhetoric on the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Former President Trump, who has had his own up-and-down relationship with McDaniel, was among the Republicans criticizing NBC.
“Wow! Ronna McDaniel got fired by Fake News NBC. She only lasted two days, and this after McDaniel went out of her way to say what they wanted to hear,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website Tuesday.
“The sick degenerates over at MSDNC are really running NBC, and there seems nothing Chairman Brian Roberts can do about it,” the former president wrote in another post attacking Comcast, the network’s parent company.
Conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt, who moderated a GOP primary debate hosted by NBC News last fall, said he had “never seen anything this brutal since I got started in media in 1990.”
“I think they made a terrible decision, and they allowed the MSNBC bleed to take over their network,” he said, referring to the sister cable channel of NBC, which leans left.
“It’s going to hurt. The 74 million people who voted for Donald Trump are not going to watch NBC News,” he said.
Kayleigh McEnany, a Fox host who worked for McDaniel for two years before serving as Trump’s White House press secretary, blasted MSNBC hosts for “taking a victory lap for silencing a conservative.”
“They do have some Republicans at NBC,” McEnany noted in reference to pundits like former RNC chairman Micheal Steele and Marc Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. “But Ronna came as close as you could to any voice on the network that supported the current nominee of the party who represents half the country.”
In a note to staff announcing the decision to terminate its agreement with McDaniel, NBCU News Group Chair Cesar Conde wrote her hiring was initially “made because of our deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a widely diverse set of viewpoints and experiences, particularly during these consequential times.”
Conservative critics see NBC’s reversal as a direct contradiction to that pledge, and a stifling of viewpoints sympathetic to Trump and that of his supporters more generally.
“No one’s allowed to represent the voice [of Trump] on NBC,” exclaimed the popular Fox News host Jesse Watters hours after news first broke McDaniel could be ousted. “And now we’re hearing the inmates are running the asylum. That just tells me NBC is not a business, it’s a political operation.”
On cable news channel NewsNation, pundit Geraldo Rivera called the outcry from MSNBC talent that ultimately led to McDaniel’s ouster a “tsunami of pretentious b——-.”
Rachel Maddow, one of the longest-serving and most prominent hosts on MSNBC, who a night earlier had called for the former RNC head’s firing, said her opposition to McDaniel joining the Peacock family was not about politics.
“It’s not even about hiring somebody who has Trump ties, this was a very specific case because of Miss McDaniel’s involvement in the election interference stuff,” Maddow said late Tuesday after she had been ousted. “And I’m grateful our leadership was able to do the bold, strong, resilient thing.”
While much of the criticism of the McDaniel hire came from progressive pundits on MSNBC, the decision to oust her may have negative consequences for journalists working behind the scenes at NBC.
The online media outlet Semafor reported late Tuesday several that reporters at NBC were fielding complaints about the McDaniel saga from Republican sources, some saying the decision confirmed what they see as the network’s bias against conservatives.
“Those are the ones who I feel the worst for, because they’re getting screwed over by their left-wing activist bosses,” one national Republican strategist told The Hill on Wednesday. “They know as much as anyone this makes the entire company look in the tank for Democrats.”
NBC did not return a request for comment, but Conde, in his note to staff, reiterated the company will continue to work to broaden the range of viewpoints it is putting on the air.
“We continue to be committed to the principle that we must have diverse viewpoints on our programs, and to that end, we will redouble our efforts to seek voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum,” he said.
Ronna McDaniel, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, was hired by
NBC News on Friday to be a contributor. “It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team,” said top NBC exec Carrie Budoff Brown.
Four days later, she was unceremoniously
fired after making a single appearance on the network, putting an end to one of the biggest media debacles in recent memory.
Every aspect of the decision immediately went off the rails, with NBC hosts melting down hysterically over the hire. It was a failure on nearly every level that will reverberate for months, if not years.
This episode perfectly encapsulates the state of both our political landscape and the corporate media. It exposed the fraud of the so-called journalists at NBC like Chuck Todd, who was one
of the first to take to the airwaves on Sunday to blast the hiring. If Ronna McDaniel, a fairly benign mainstream political lifer who happens to be a Republican, is unacceptable at NBC, what does that say for the mission of providing the audience with a diverse set of viewpoints?
Is Mike Pence unacceptable? Nikki Haley? Surely an actual current Trump supporter — like approximately half the country — would be persona non grata.
And Todd was just the tip of the iceberg. MSNBC had a day-long, on-air therapy session. Nicolle Wallace, a former GOP hack herself, lamented that McDaniel
would be “one of us,” who would get to speak as a paid contributor on “our sacred airwaves.”
Jen Psaki, Biden’s literal former press secretary and now a cable news network host, contrasted her
own past political experience with McDaniel’s, claiming that hers was “paired with honesty and good faith.” Rachel Maddow devoted more than half her show during her one-hour-per-week gig to this very important topic, hyperbolizing the gravity of the situation by claiming
McDaniel is “part of an ongoing project to get rid of our system of government.”
That a news network paying a few hundred-thousand dollars to a talking head to occasionally give opinions on-air would cause the entire journalistic operation to throw an extended, exaggerated temper tantrum sums up legacy media. It was already embarrassing on its own. But then the bosses at NBC gave in to this uprising — not just against themselves, but against basic principles of journalism.
As with the New York Times’s Tom Cotton op-ed debacle
, when the “paper of record” pushed out its opinion editor after a public pressure campaign from lower-level employees, this incident will embolden self-styled resistance warriors who have infiltrated the industry to continue their tactics in the future. Fire McDaniel, and you appease the mob today, but you will only empower it tomorrow.
But there’s another, even more pernicious failing that relates to the reported bidding war among the establishment media elite in the first place. These people may understand instinctively that they have blind spots when it comes to half the entire country’s population, but they have no idea what sort of hire would actually resonate with the conservatives they are theoretically trying to reach.
Did anyone stop to consider why McDaniel is on the market for a contributor gig in the first place? Her track record leading an organization saw disappointing results in 2018, 2020 and 2022. Her conflicts with the more closely Trump-aligned groups such as Turning Point USA caused her to out of favor with the MAGA movement long ago. She was finally pushed out of the RNC after yet another disappointing fundraising round. She is, of course, a Romney — despite having dropped the name
at Trump’s urging.
I’m sure she’s very nice and smart. But did NBC think they were getting some great communicator about what’s driving the direction of the right today? She’s like the ChatGPT of the Grand Old Party, trained on the Romney model, despite the insistence from NBC’s entire staff that she’s some kind of insurrectionist-enabling “election denier.” The Trumpian phoenix built
in the ashes of her RNC the minute she left should tell everyone all they need to know about her MAGA-adjacency. And a poll last year found
just 6 percent of Republicans wanted her elected for another term, with 73 percent saying someone else should lead the RNC.
Maybe the only thing less popular with Republicans than McDaniel is NBC itself. Yes, America’s trust in the media
is at all-time lows — and not just with the right, but with independents too. After this fiasco, it’s only going to get worse. In that light, maybe the pushback from within was some professional jealousy.
NBC’s journalists and hosts couldn’t process sharing a break room with a prominent and actual Republican. Fail one. The bosses gave in to their childish employees, who clearly don’t understand the role of a journalist. Fail two. And the entire news outlet apparently thought McDaniel was a GOP voice that would resonate with conservatives in America to begin with. Fail three.
Just a total resounding flunking by NBC.
“No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned,” said NBCU head Cesar Conde in his
announcement Tuesday about McDaniel’s dismissal.
The only cohesion and alignment right now at NBC News is how collectively isolated it is from the average American, hopelessly stuck in its Acela media bubble.
Steve Krakauer, a NewsNation contributor, is the author of “Uncovered: How the Media Got Cozy with Power, Abandoned Its Principles, and Lost the People” and editor and host of the Fourth Watch newsletter and podcast.