A 2020 social media post by then-presidential candidate Joe Biden blaming then-President Donald Trump for violence in the U.S. is drawing renewed criticism after violence has erupted on college campuses nationwide stemming from anti-Israel protests.
‘Remember: every example of violence Donald Trump decries has happened on his watch,’ Biden posted on Twitter, now known as X, in August 2020. ‘Under his leadership. During his presidency.’
Social media users have looked back on that post in recent days, given the increased violence and arrests being made as anti-Israel activists have caused chaos on over a dozen college campuses in recent weeks.
‘It’s now the year 2024, three full years into Joe Biden’s presidency and Jewish students are being blocked from their college campuses, and being told to stay home and remote learn,’ conservative political commentator Stephen Miller recently posted on X.
‘Is this the soul of the nation healed?’
‘Joe Biden has looked the other way as Democrat foot soldiers hijack universities across America,’ Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe told Fox News Digital. ‘He’s more concerned about winning votes in Dearborn, Michigan, than condemning the 20-year-olds cheering for intifada.’
Former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer told Fox News Digital that President Biden ‘would be well served by reading his old tweets and taking action.’
‘There are antisemitic uprisings on campuses across the country, and all Joe Biden can do is passively sit there and hope they go away,’ Fleischer said. ‘He’s shown no leadership, despite this being far worse than the two-day Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville.’
David Avella, chairman of GOPAC and a veteran Republican strategist, told Fox News Digital that polling shows Americans feel less safe after three years of Biden.
‘Gallup reported more than 75% of Americans believe there’s more crime in the country than there was in 2022,’ Avella said.
‘Whether Biden’s statements condemning violence are hollow have less impact on his re-election than the fact that Americans feel less safe. Forty percent of Americans said they were afraid to walk alone at night within a mile of their home,’ Avella continued. ‘The last time we were at this level was 1993. In the next election, President Clinton was at 46% approval and Republicans gained 54 seats in the House of Representatives, and gained eight seats in the Senate. President Biden is at 39% approval and Americans are watching violence occur every day.’
Conservatives on social media have recently resurfaced other posts from Biden during the summer of 2020, including a post where he said, ‘Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?’
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response.
President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful,’ White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said Tuesday in a statement. ‘Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful — it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America.’