Re: Let's go Brandon!

President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt 
some shipments of American weapons to Israel - which he acknowledged 
have been used to kill civilians in Gaza - if Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.

"Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and
other ways in which they go after population centers," Biden told CNN's
Erin Burnett in an exclusive interview on "Erin Burnett OutFront," 
referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last 
week.

"I made it clear that if they go into Rafah - they haven't gone in 
Rafah yet - if they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that 
have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the
cities  - that deal with that problem," Biden said.

The president's announcement that he was prepared to condition American
weaponry on Israel's actions amounts to a turning point in the seven-
month conflict between Israel and Hamas. And his acknowledgement that 
American bombs had been used to kill civilians in Gaza was a stark 
recognition of the United States' role in the war.

The president has come under extraordinary pressure, including from 
members of his own party, to limit shipments of arms amid a 
humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Until now, the president had resisted those calls and strongly 
supported Israel's efforts to go after Hamas. Yet a looming invasion of
Rafah, the city in southern Gaza where more than a million Palestinian 
civilians have been sheltering, appears to have shifted the president's
calculus.

A Palestinian man watches smoke rise following Israeli strikes in the 
eastern part of Rafah on May 7. "We're not walking away from Israel's
security. We're walking away from  Israel's ability to wage war in
those areas," Biden said.

Biden said while the US would continue to provide defensive weapons to 
Israel, including for its Iron Dome air defense system, other shipments
would end should a major ground invasion of Rafah begin.

"We're going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of
Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the 
Middle East recently," he said. "But it's, it's just wrong. We're not 
going to - we're not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells."

Already, the US has paused a shipment of "high-payload munitions" due 
to Israel's possible operations in Rafah without a plan for the 
civilians there, according to the Pentagon, though it said a final 
decision on that shipment hadn't been made. The administration has
said it is reviewing the potential sale or transfer of other munitions.

Israeli officials privately expressed to US officials "deep 
frustration" on the pause in shipments as well as the US media 
briefings on the decision, according to a source briefed on the matter.

Biden's public linking of American weapons shipments to Israel's 
conduct could widen a rift between himself and Netanyahu, with whom he 
spoke by phone on Monday. That conversation came as Israel ordered the 
evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians from Rafah and launched 
strikes near border areas of the city.

Biden said Israel's actions in Rafah had not yet crossed a red line of 
entering heavily populated zones, even if their actions had caused 
tensions in the region.

"They haven't gone into the population centers. What they did is right 
on the border. And it's causing problems with, right now, in terms
of -  with Egypt, which I've worked very hard to make sure we have a 
relationship and help," he said.

He said he had conveyed to Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders that 
American support for operations in population centers was limited.

"I've made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet: They're not going to 
get our support, if in fact they go on these population centers," he 
said.

Later, Biden described warning Netanyahu about the risks of becoming 
bogged down in Gaza, drawing parallels to the American experience in 
Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I said to Bibi, `Don't make the same mistake we made in America. We 
wanted to get bin Laden. We'll help you get Sinwar,'" he said, 
referring to the Hamas leader in Gaza. "It made sense to get bin Laden;
it made no sense to try and unify Afghanistan. It made no sense in my 
view to engage in thinking that in Iraq they had a nuclear weapon."

The conflict in the Middle East has consumed much of Biden's time over 
the past months, even as he works to promote his domestic record to 
American voters. His strong support for Israel has generated protests 
and anger, including on college campuses and at his events, where
signs  have labeled him "Genocide Joe."

Asked about the demonstrations, Biden said Wednesday: "Absolutely, I 
hear the message."

But he warned against protests that veer into hate speech or 
antisemitism.

"There is a legitimate right to free speech and protest. There's a 
legitimate right to do that, and they have a right to do that," he 
said. "But there's not a legitimate right to use hate speech. There's 
not a legitimate right to threaten Jewish students. There is not a 
legitimate right to block people's access to class. That's against the 
law."

Biden was speaking Wednesday in Racine, Wisconsin, where he'd just 
promoted new economic investments that could result in thousands of
new  jobs.

In the CNN interview, he sought to reframe perceptions of the American 
economy, touting strong job growth and efforts to combat corporate 
greed while questioning surveys showing voters still pessimistic about 
the country's direction.

"We've already turned it around," Biden said, responding to a question 
on whether, less than six months before Election Day, he was running 
short on time to improve his standing among Americans on his handling 
of the economy.

Biden pointed to surveys showing many Americans view their own economic
situation favorably, even as they look negatively on the nationwide 
economy.

"The polling data has been wrong all along," he said, questioning the 
effectiveness of phone surveys.

And he said his own record on job creation following the Covid-19 
pandemic was as clear an indication as any that conditions had markedly
improved for American workers.

"The idea that we're in a situation where things are so bad that folks 
- I mean, we've created more jobs. We're in a situation where people 
have access to good paying jobs," he said.

President Joe Biden speaks about his Investing in America agenda, at 
Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, on May 8, 2024. 
Biden is highlighting a major investment by Microsoft in Racine, 
Wisconsin, a city on the shores of Lake Michigan, as part of the 
president's plan of "growing the economy from the middle-out and 
bottom-up," the White House said.
Still, he acknowledged there were good reasons for Americans to worry, 
including the cost of goods and housing.

"The last I saw, the combination of the inflation, the cost of 
inflation, all those things, that's really worrisome to people, with 
good reason," he said.

"That's why I'm working very hard to bring the cost of rentals down, to
 increase the number of homes that are available," he went on. "Let me 
say it this way - when I started this administration, people were 
saying there's going to be a collapse to the economy. We have the 
strongest economy in the world. Let me say it again - in the world."

Biden has spent much of the last year working to promote his economic 
accomplishments, including new investments made possible by 
infrastructure and manufacturing legislation.

That includes in Wisconsin, where he spoke Wednesday at a site where 
his predecessor Donald Trump once promoted an investment by the 
Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn that later failed.

"He's never succeeded in creating jobs, and I've never failed," Biden 
said in the interview, adding later: "When has he even done anything
he said? I'm not being facetious. Think about it."

Full Interview: Biden sits down for an exclusive interview with CNN 
Video Full Interview: Biden sits down for an exclusive interview with 
CNN Biden voiced little concern about his reelection prospects in the 
interview. But he warned Trump was unlikely to accept the results of 
the election if he loses.

"I promise you he won't," Biden said, "which is dangerous."

Asked what advice his former boss, President Barack Obama, had provided
in their conversations about the race, Biden said it was simply to 
"keep doing what I'm doing."

"I think I'm feeling good about the trajectory of the campaign," he 
said. "And you know as well I do, most people don't really focus and 
make up their minds until the fall. There's a lot going on, and we'll 
see what happens."

But surveys have shown voters giving Biden little credit for his 
economic record.

In CNN's most recent poll, Biden's approval ratings for the economy 
(34%) and inflation (29%) remain starkly negative, as voters say 
economic concerns are more important to them when choosing a candidate 
than they were in each of the past two presidential contests.

Biden said on Wednesday that "no president has had the run we've had
in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation."

"It was 9% when I came to office. 9%. But look, people have a right to 
be concerned. Ordinary people."

Inflation actually peaked at 9.1% in June 2022. In January 2021, when 
Biden was sworn in, it was 1.4%.

He touted his efforts to combat fees - including on bank accounts and 
credit cards - that the White House has said will lower Americans' 
bills.

"The idea that you bounce a check and you get a $30 fee for bouncing 
the check? I changed that - can't charge more than eight bucks for 
that. Or your credit card. Your late payment. $35. I mean, there's 
corporate greed going on out there and its got to be dealt with," he 
said.

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Let's go Brandon!