Two Cheers for Commencements

Plus: Which potential veep pick will catch Trump's eye by abasing themselves the hardest?

An Israeli invasion of Rafah is looking more inevitable than ever after ceasefire talks continued to sputter Monday. Hamas announced Monday afternoon it had agreed to accept a ceasefire—but it quickly came to light that this had not been the proposal put forward by Israel, but one side-channeled between Hamas and Egyptian and Qatari mediators the text of which Israeli negotiators hadn’t even seen before Hamas agreed to accept it.

Israeli tanks moved overnight to seize control of the Gaza side of Rafah’s border crossing into Egypt. They have also stepped up bombardment of the eastern part of the city.

Smoke billows from Israeli strikes on eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images.)

Whether Israel will move quickly into a full-scale invasion of the city remains to be seen. 

Meanwhile, President Biden prepares to address the nation today on the topic of antisemitism, and Judge Juan Merchan has threatened Donald Trump with jail time if he can’t stop making public statements about the jury in his New York trial. Happy Tuesday.

---

Two Cheers for Commencements

Why am I offended—even appalled—even angry—that some college commencements this year are being canceled?

I am not a big commencement enthusiast. I skipped my own. I’d already begun a summer job, and didn’t want to bother coming back to campus for the ceremonies. And I was going on to grad school at the same place, so it didn’t feel like a real moment of departure, or commencement.

I also missed my grad school commencement a few years later. I’d left Cambridge the year before and was already teaching in another city, and I was happy enough to get my diploma in the mail.

It’s great to live in a free country. You can skip your commencement if you want.

But expressing contempt for those who do enjoy the ceremony? Mocking those families for whom their kid’s commencement is important or meaningful, or perhaps just pleasant or fun?

That’s bad. It’s not kind, and it’s not right.

---

Yesterday, aspiring Trump vice presidential pick Elise Stefanik tweeted:

Columbia’s commencement cancellation is an unbelievable failure of leadership after they weakly negotiated with the proHamas terrorist encampment. They have lost control of the school. Hardworking students and their families will now go without this celebratory event after years of hard work. This is a disgrace and the entire governance of Columbia has failed - the President and the entire Board.

Needless to say, Stefanik is trying to exploit the campus protests and the failures of college administrators for her own purposes. And those purposes—which include not just advancing her career, but also helping Trump become president again, and helping him advance his authoritarian agenda—are dangerous. And they’re a lot more dangerous to the country than foolish or offensive student protests, or failures of university governance in dealing with them.

So I’m anti-Stefanik.

But I’m also anti-this response to Stefanik, from the popular lefty podcast host, Will Menaker: “Any student who actually cares about attending their commencement is a rube of the highest order.”

---

I know, I know. Menaker’s being arch or witty or ironic or outrageous. I should lighten up.

Maybe I should. But it’s a free country, so maybe I won’t.

Because the supercilious contempt by lefty elites for other Americans, who may be proud to see their kids graduate from college, is foolish and annoying, and indeed offensive.

I have my issues with middle America, if I can use that phrase as a shorthand. Way too many middle Americans have been seduced by Trump and Trumpism, or have even rallied to Trump and Trumpism. That’s bad, and we should say it’s bad, and we should make clear that these Americans have agency, and we should hold them accountable for the damage they’re doing to the country.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t respect the hard work, the sacrifice, the pride in achievement that college commencement can embody for many Americans.

---

I’ve spoken only once at a college commencement, a couple of decades ago. I wasn’t so foolish as to think that the students or the parents were there to hear me, so I didn’t try to be too clever. I congratulated the kids and their parents, and I kept my remarks short. I’m sure they weren’t memorable, but my goal was simply not to detract from the enjoyment of the day on the part of friends and family, and I hope I succeeded in that.

And as I mixed and mingled a bit afterwards, I thought: This was a nice event. The parents were proud and pleased to be there. And the students actually seemed to be enjoying their commencement.

Maybe I should have gone to mine? Well, let’s not go overboard.

But in America you can skip your own commencement and still respect others who appreciate and enjoy the moment.

And you can think it’s bad—not end-of-the-world-bad, but still bad—that they’re being deprived of this moment by foolish protesters.

And you can worry about the political implications of all this. Because history suggests that it’s decent liberals who end up paying a price for, and indecent authoritarians who end up benefiting from, the idiocy of the kids and the haughty disdain of the Left.

 —William Kristol

---

Catching up . . .

• White House scrambles to keep shifting Gaza peace talks afloat: New York Times

• Hamas’s offer to hand over 33 hostages includes some who are dead: New York Times

• Israelis frustrated with U.S. handling of hostage talks: Axios

• Stormy Daniels to testify at Donald Trump’s hush-money trial: Wall Street Journal

• Marjorie Taylor Greene backs off immediate vote to oust Speaker Johnson as she seeks deal: NBC News

---

Quick Hits: Meet the (Potential) Veeps

Will Saletan’s been keeping an eye on the ongoing public audition process for Donald Trump’s vice-presidential nod, and up on the site today he’s got quite the rundown on all the self-abasing moves the pols in the running are making to try to catch Trump’s eye. And while there’s plenty of contenders, there’s no denying a few rise to the top. Here, for instance, is South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott: 

On Jan. 28, after a civil jury found that Trump had sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, ABC’s Martha Raddatz asked Scott whether the verdict gave Scott “any pause in your support” for the former president. Scott batted the question away, scoffing that Democrats who support Joe Biden “don’t pause when they think about Hunter Biden.” Three weeks later, on Face the Nation, Scott refused to say whether as vice president he would have the right to reject electors, calling it a “hypothetical question.”

Then, this Sunday, Scott upped his VP game. On Meet the Press, he was asked about Trump’s refusal to commit to accepting the 2024 election results. Scott replied that this wouldn’t be an issue, because Trump would win the election. The moderator, Kristen Welker, followed up:

Welker: Will you commit to accepting the election results of 2024, bottom line?

Scott: At the end of the day, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump. . . .

Welker: Yes or no? Will you accept the election results of 2024, no matter who wins?

Scott: That is my statement.

Welker: But is it—just yes or no? Will you accept the election results of 2024?

Scott: I look forward to President Trump being the 47th president. . . .

Welker: Will you commit to accepting the election results?

Scott: This is why so many—this is why so many Americans believe that NBC is an extension of the Democrat party. . . .

Welker: I’m asking you as a potential VP nominee, will you accept to commit to the election results in this election cycle, no matter who wins? Just simply yes or no.

Scott: I expect President Trump to win the next election. And, listen, I’m not going to answer your hypothetical question. . . .

The transcript doesn’t do justice to this exchange. In the video, you can see Scott doggedly refusing to concede two basic rules of democracy—the possibility of defeat, and the sanctity of the peaceful transfer of power—because he knows those concessions would antagonize Trump.

Read the whole thing. (But you may want to take a shower after.)

---

Cheap Shots