With the ongoing unrest across college campuses over Israel’s war in Gaza, Joe Biden continues to deal with chaos within his party’s base. Biden needs Jewish voters to win in 2024, a bloc that’s become increasingly uneasy with the Democrats’ enabling and reluctance to call out vicious antisemitism. He also needs young voters, who appear to be more loyal to Hamas than to our country.
The political reality it that Joe Biden will have to kiss up to antisemites to stay alive in 2024. To prevent further discord among core Democratic Party voter groups, he’s ditching a menthol ban to avoid a rebellion among black voters (via WSJ):
The Biden administration is reversing course on its plan to ban menthol cigarettes, after the White House weighed the potential public-health benefits of banning minty smokes against the political risk of angering some Black voters in an election year.
The administration said Friday that it is delaying a decision on whether to impose a ban, contending that it needs more time to consult with outside groups on the matter. There is no timeline for the administration to revisit the decision, as President Biden competes with former President Donald Trump for votes in November.
Menthols account for more than a third of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. each year and are predominantly used by Black and Hispanic smokers. Some 81% of Black smokers used menthols in 2020, compared with 30% of white smokers and 51% of Hispanic smokers, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Some Black community leaders had fought the measure, saying a ban would expand the illicit market for cigarettes and lead police to racially profile Black smokers. The American Civil Liberties Union and some members of the Congressional Black Caucus expressed similar concerns.
Such a stupid policy—why is this presidency so laughably incompetent? The initial report is that the policy was going to be delayed. Now, it’s being trashed altogether in an appalling act of pandering that might be worse than Hillary Clinton telling black radio hosts in 2016 that she loves hot sauce, even always carrying a bottle with her.
Not that I’m complaining here, but did anyone in this pigheaded administration know about who buys and smokes menthol cigarettes? This politically embarrassing predicament could have been avoided if Biden and his clown car hadn’t gone off-roading into areas of public policy where there is no winning. Doing something for the sake of doing something is always a fatal and stupid maneuver in Washington. Then again, look who we have as president: a shriveled, decrepit, and half-brain-dead president who can’t remember when his son died.
That does explain a lot.
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