 Do you not think the tone is changing given the mounting death toll? Slightly, but it is it is performative, performative rage. Like the the world reader are so enraged about Israel killing the seven workers. And you know, we talk about that, but I find that there's more rage about killing seven foreign workers more than the rage about 30,000 Palestinians. I mean, look, remember when we say that? Remember when 30,000 was too much? Remember when 30,000 Palestinian was too much? You know what happened? 30,000, you know, tomorrow 300,000 Palestinians killed? Nobody cares. Nobody cares. Numbers don't mean anything. Why do you think that is? Because they don't look at Palestinians as equal human beings. You just heard comedian Bassem Yusuf say what a lot of us have been thinking. The world just doesn't view Palestinians as equal human beings. And that's become especially crystal clear as of late for the fact that it took the deaths of non-Palestinian aid workers to finally get politicians to even entertain the idea of conditioning aid to Israel. For example, Chris Coons didn't raise the specter of conditioning aid to Israel after they bombed a refugee camp or carried out the flower massacre. And Nancy Pelosi didn't sign a letter calling for aid to Israel to be cut off after 14,000 Palestinian children have been slaughtered. It literally took the deaths of non-Palestinians to get them to finally criticize Israel, which is why Bassem Yusuf said what he did. And he's absolutely correct about that. But with that being said, the politicians who only recently chose to start tepidly criticizing Israel are only doing so for performative reasons, which Bassem Yusuf also pointed out. And he's right about that too. And I say this because Nancy Pelosi signed this letter, which reads, in light of the recent strike against aid workers in the ever worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfer. And after she signed that letter, can you guess what she did? She walked it back on a recent episode of Morning Joe. Do you think that conditions on aid should be put in place? And if they are put in place, what would they be? Well, I've not been a fan of having conditions on aid to Israel. We give Israel the aid. We give them because it's in our national security-issued interest to do so. And that has been our tradition. So why have you been signed the letter in the first place? Because, as Bassem Yusuf said, it is all performative in the same way that the U.S. abstained on a ceasefire vote on the UN Security Council, then subsequently undermined it by emphasizing that it's not binding. It's all performative. I mean, after six months of the Biden administration feigning concern about Israel's behavior, most of us who have been paying attention now know that this is all performative and Israel is never going to be held accountable. The best that we get is finger-wagging from the Biden administration and from Democrats. And this is another point that Bassem made when discussing the global outrage over the murder of WCK workers. What's really, for me, what's very interesting is the outrage, the global outcry. It's like, oh, how could you do that, Israel? But we forget. We forget James Miller, a British filmmaker that was also killed by Israeli snipers. We forget Tom Hartland, which he was also the British activist who was killed in the head. We forget Shireen Abu-A'la, the American Palestinian reporter. It's like every time, oh, Hamas did it. Oh, we did it. We're so sorry. Let's continue. There's no accountability. And I know, and I said everywhere I go, if Israel today ended the war, they will be actually praised. It's like, thank you so much for not killing more Palestinians. Maybe they even give a Nobel Peace Prize to Netanyahu. This will happen. This will actually happen. Israel will be praised. There will be absolutely no accountability of what they did in Gaza for the past six months. He's right again. It's cynical, but we have too much evidence to suggest otherwise, right? There's not even going to be a minimal amount of accountability on Israel. At worst, Netanyahu loses the next election, but he's never going to see a day in jail. Israel will never be sanctioned for their crimes against humanity, for their genocide and ethnic cleansing. And I say this because if that were going to happen, it would have already happened. I mean, our politicians are trying to undermine the genocide case by South Africa that is being made at the ICJ. I mean, there's ample evidence that there's a genocide. And when politicians finally acknowledge that this is a genocide 10, 20 years down the line, which I believe will be the consensus, is there going to be any accountability for Israel? Of course not. The best we get is the Biden administration officials saying how concerned they are about what Israel is doing. Now, while it happens, they continue to express concern about Israel's policies, but they're not changing their policy towards Israel. And this tonal shift is welcome. Don't get me wrong, but a shift in tone or rhetoric isn't going to stop the slaughter in Gaza. A policy change will. And the performative nature of the Biden administration's response was also highlighted on the last episode of The Daily Show as well. Over 30,000 have died in Gaza since the war started. Some of them are my soldiers. 13,000 of them children. Our response. Since the early hours, we've been urging our Israeli counterparts to act with as much precision as they can in their targeting. Our constant efforts to urge the Israelis to be as precise and careful as possible, we can still continue to urge Israel to be more careful and more precise in the need for the Israeli defense forces to act with precision. We continue to work with the Israelis to make sure that they are as precise as they can be. See, they're not listening. Yeah, I mean, we can all see it at this point. And what makes Stuart's commentary so biting is the fact that if you watch the full bit, he actually juxtaposed the US's response to Israel with their response to Russia. It's pretty devastating, honestly. See, censoring the press using starvation as a weapon of war and brazen land grabs, that's all unacceptable when Russia does it. But when Israel does it, we're concerned. But that's the best that you get from us. Not unequivocal condemnation, not cessation of weapon sales to them. You get concerned. So the question is, why even bother with the performative outrage that Bassem Yusuf is talking about if the Biden administration doesn't actually believe what they say? And the answer is this is an election year and the feigned concern is all an attempt to placate voters who are angry with the Biden administration's complicity and genocide. Democrats think that window dressing and tonal shifts are sufficient when that's no longer the case. It worked before, but it's not going to work anymore. And it's led to this disconnect between Democrats and their own base where they don't understand why voters are still outraged over this issue since they've responded to their concerns by saying they're also concerned. For example, let's go back to Nancy Pelosi and listen to her defense of Joe Biden. The president has been advocating for humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians. The Republicans in the House of Representatives have held it up. And yet, they hear these people go out there and say, oh, genocide, Joe, all that, not to repeat what they said, but nonetheless, he's the one who's been advocating for it. That clip is so insightful because it demonstrates how Democrats just don't get it. It's not clicking for them, right? Voters want the genocide to end. You are not going to satisfy voters with your advocacy for certain things. So long as you are in a position of power and you assist Israel with their genocide, your advocacy means shit. We are past the days where you can dupe voters into thinking that you're listening by saying the right thing. They want action. And the Democratic Party's unwillingness to change has jeopardized their chances of winning in November. For example, CNN actually spoke to a couple of firsts and second-time voters who previously backed Biden in 2020, but now they're not going to vote for Biden because he's not listening to them. And their demands are pretty clear. If I were to vote tomorrow, I wouldn't vote, period. Ideally, I would like to vote third party. Oh, for an independent candidate. I'm considering either voting for Claudia de la Cruz or Cornell West at this point. If there is no substantive policy change when it comes to the genocide in Gaza, then there's not really a discussion for me. When we met at this barbecue restaurant in Atlanta, all four told me they were raised and originally registered as Democrats. But this year, the president's handling of the Israel Gaza War has turned them away. I think what Biden has done in aiding and abetting and genocide is just something I cannot stand for. You're willing to withhold your vote in the presidential election unless there is a ceasefire? Yes. And it's implemented? Yes. Not voting could mean Donald Trump gets into office. Do you think he'll be better on Gaza? Trump would probably say flatten Gaza and make it into a golf course. I have absolutely no faith in him. Would you not say that also the people who are not voting for one of the two people who are the likely people to really be in this race have a role to play in kind of giving the race to Donald Trump in a state like Georgia where it's going to be like razor thin? Yeah, no, I'll do you one better, actually. I think that just means that's why the Democrats should listen. We are holding their election in the palm of our hands and they're not listening. We're tired of just hearing him say these things, these empty promises. We have no trust in Joe Biden. What could President Biden do to change your mind as far as how you'll vote in November? Call for a permanent ceasefire and actually implement it. I would like us to stop giving aid to Israel. If he doesn't get elected, that is his fault. That's not our fault. That's not the black voters here. That's not X, Y, and Z. No, it's on him. Exactly. You are not going to bullshit these voters. They're telling you what they want and you're not doing it. You're not listening to them. And Democrats just can't comprehend how their flowery rhetoric isn't sufficient any longer. They're like, we said what you wanted us to say. Why aren't you taking yes for an answer? It's because they're demanding actual policy concessions. They don't want more feigned concern or calls for Israel to do X, Y, or Z. They want the bloodshed to stop. These voters are tapped in and they know bullshit when they see it. And Biden has the power to end this by cutting off weapons to Israel. That's what these voters want. And they know that Biden can do that, but he's choosing to allow this to continue. Again, this is what former presidents have done. Ronald Reagan called up a former Israeli prime minister and demanded that they end their actions in Lebanon and they did it 20 minutes later. Why? Because he threatened to cut off munitions to them. Biden can do what Reagan did, but he's chosen to not do that. He's continuing to sell them weapons. And that's just not acceptable. Anything short of stopping the sale of weapons to Israel and being complicit directly with their genocide, that is going to lose him votes. They're not going to vote for Trump, as they stated. They're either going to stay home or vote third party. And even though that is a small sample size that we saw in that clip, these voters are echoing what others have already said. Stop supporting genocide or you lose our votes. It's not like the Democrats haven't gotten the message because they're being protested at every fucking event. But again, the problem is that they're choosing to not listen and they think that the rhetoric is enough when it's not. For example, listen to Pelosi's Trumpian response to pro-Palestinian protesters because she's aggravated, right? They've been outside of her house for months now, everywhere she goes and everywhere Democrats go, they get protested. So listen to how she responds to them. Where do you see the stakes? What do you say to even some of those progressives who are protesting outside your house saying, we're not going to vote for Joe Biden because of what he's doing in Israel? What do you say to voters who may be shaky on Joe Biden about the stakes of this one-on-one matchup? Well, I don't know if they're progressives outside my house. I don't even know who they are outside my house. But in terms of protesting his handling of the war, yeah. Yeah, but I know my protesters, you know, I've represented my district a long time. I got the biggest vote of any Democrat in California. They said, oh, you're not reflecting your district. No, I got the biggest vote of any Democrat in California. So I, some of these people are, I don't know who they are. Some are the usual suspects, but largely they are. I don't know what they are. But nonetheless, for those who are saying that, oh, you want Donald Trump? Donald Trump of Muslim ban fame? You want Donald Trump who says he wants people coming from nice countries? You want Donald Trump who's anti-LGBTQ, anti-Women's right to choose? You want Donald Trump who was standing in the way of the Republicans in the House of Representatives giving humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, to the tune of billions of dollars? What is their agenda? Some of it is spontaneous, sincere, and real, and organic. Some of it, I make a distinction between astroturf and grassroots. And some of it is astroturf. So what, who benefits from it? Donald Trump. Who benefits from Donald Trump? Putin. There's, in my view, a connection there. Unfucking real. The cognitive dissonance is just something that she is not able to fight through. I'm definitely not out of touch. It's the protesters that are fake. They're being astroturfed. I mean, at this point, you might as well conspiracy monger about them being funded by George Soros or some shit while you're at it, Nancy, because that's the same shit that Trump says and Republicans say when they see protesters that they don't like as well. But notice how she tries to flip the script and say, well, you know, if you're the one protesting us, you must want Trump. No, you are the ones helping Trump. They are telling you that they're still gettable. So go get their fucking votes. If you don't, that's on you. Genocide is a moral red line to them. So you don't get to blame them for your refusal to listen. They've told you what they want. You represent them. And if you fail to get their votes, that's on you. You can't blame them for it. That's a you problem. And really, it would behoove Democrats to listen sooner rather than later because this genocide could spiral into an even bigger conflict in the Middle East thanks to Israel's aggression. Because now the Biden administration is worried that Iran might retaliate against them after Israel shows to attack an Iranian embassy in Damascus. And if Iran does retaliate against Israel, what's Biden going to do then? He's going to listen to the neocons who will be screeching at the top of their lungs to retaliate against Iran. And then that could spell war between the U.S. and Iran, which would be absolutely catastrophic. The whole thing could spiral into a major war in the Middle East. So listening to voters is important not just for the sake of Palestinians whose lives matter. It's not just important for the sake of Biden's electoral chances in November. It is important for the sake of also averting a regional war in the Middle East. But to bring it back to Basem Yusuf and John Stuart and their criticism of performative outrage by media and Democrats, Democrats have always relied on political theater to placate frustrated voters. And when that fails, they often turn to how bad the Republicans are. In this case, they have Trump to use as the political equivalent of holding a gun to our heads, right? But all of those old strategies, they no longer work. It didn't work in 2016. And Democrats have now been backed into a corner and I think that as dense as they are, they realize that they've been backed into a corner and their options are limited. But let me make it very clear for them, they have two options. Continue their support for genocide and lose the election or stop supporting genocide and then defeat Trump and save American democracy. I mean, pretty obvious to me, right? But the choice is up to them. And if they opt for the former as opposed to the latter, they will have nobody to blame but themselves.