Many who oppose the current administration’s unconditional support for Israel have argued that, with Trump as the alternative, Biden and Harris still represent the “lesser evil.” But this reasoning ignores both the consequences of their empty, distracting rhetoric on domestic and international opposition, and the fact that the Biden and Harris administration’s policy resume, even long before October 7, closely mirrors its predecessor’s.

Since day one, the Biden administration has upheld Trump’s most controversial moves: keeping the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, failing to reopen the PLO mission in Washington, and desperately seeking normalization agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors that erase Palestinians entirely. While Biden restored funding to UNRWA, his administration promptly cut it again under pressure from an Israeli smear campaign.

To this day, the biggest difference has been the rhetoric. But when Trump says that he would let Israel “finish the job” in Gaza, at least he is honest, making U.S. complicity impossible to ignore. Trump’s blunt, jarring racism — using “Palestinian” as a slur, for instance — creates a clear target. In contrast, Biden and Harris cloak their support for Israel behind the language of humanitarianism, lulling voters and activists into complacency while allowing Israel to “finish the job” anyway.