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Deutschmeister's avatar

"For many Americans, it is increasingly difficult to reconcile Biden’s soaring rhetoric about America with such scenes of civil disorder. What happens if America is an idea a growing number of its younger people no longer believe in—or actively despise?"

And what happens if we see those protesters, or more likely a subset among them, for what they are: a small fringe group of extremists who do not represent the beliefs or the behavior of the vast majority of Americans? It's easy to see these people as making a statement when they stick out like a sore thumb. But reasonable people also know that there is a big difference between peaceful protest and out of control activism. We've all hashed this out before -- it is possible to be pro-Israel and pro-Palestine at the same time while opposing Hamas. Those same reasonable people understand that the graffiti warriors and avowed Hamas sympathizers, perhaps acting out of emotion rather than forethought, are a distinct minority among us. They harm rather than help their cause when they go past the boundaries of appropriate behavior. If someone believes that this small group is empirical evidence that more and more young people do not believe in America as a concept -- never mind despise it -- I'll ask them to show me the receipts for verification. I don't see it as I'm on my college campus. Or at my grocery store. Or at a park or a ballgame or my church. Blowing the issue out of proportion is more likely to cause a crisis than the deeds of a very small fringe group of activists who lose credibility the moment that they take the law into their own hands and vow support for a known terrorist group. We are smart enough to know that, and we should act like it as the adults in the room.

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Ellen Thomas's avatar

I listened to the post-speech livestream as a podcast this morning and was surprised by the negativity. I feel confident that Biden will do all of the endorsing of Kamala that was being called for in the coming weeks and months--most especially at the convention. Why not let him have a night to tell Americans that he has done a lot for the country, and that he experienced this as a painful relinquishment of personal ambition and hope, in favor of the good of the country?

To me, the bumpiness of the delivery did highllight why he had to do what he did, but I thought the content was just right for the moment.

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