White House Staffers Slam Biden for Potential “Legacy of Horror”
In two months, Joe Biden will leave office and, soon after, nearly everything he and his administration have accomplished will be undone. One legacy, however, will remain: the administration’s continued backing of Israel in its brutal war in Gaza, which will continue—and likely increase—with Donald Trump in office. Nevertheless, the administration has shown little appetite for changing direction: On Wednesday, the United States vetoed a United Nations cease-fire resolution. A bill sponsored by Bernie Sanders to block arms sales to Israel that is scheduled to go to a vote Wednesday is highly unlikely to pass. There are, however, people within the administration who are working to change its policy. On Monday, nearly two dozen White House officials released an open letter excoriating the Biden administration for its continued support of Israel’s brutal war in Gaza and the Middle East and demanding that, in his final days in office, the president take “concrete measures” to end the war and save civilian lives. The letter calls on the Biden administration to end U.S. military aid to Israel, demand a cease-fire, provide humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, and offer full transparency explaining its continued support for a military campaign that has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and violated “U.S. and international laws.” The signees, all senior members of the Executive Office of the President, chose to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. The New Republic spoke to three of them—two current officials and one who recently left the administration—about why they chose to sign the letter, what they think the administration can accomplish in its final weeks, and how continued American support for Israel has affected their day-to-day work. “Ongoing U.S. support for Israeli military actions in Gaza and the West Bank, in violation of international and human rights law, goes against our moral and professional duties as civil servants,” the letter reads. “It wastes funds on a brutal assault on civilians without benefiting public welfare, either at home or abroad. We implore you to take simple and immediate action to drastically mitigate the humanitarian crisis.”The group had been working on the letter for several months, the signees told me, but Trump’s election victory made the matter far more urgent. The Biden administration now only has until late January to act. For the signees, this was a deeply personal decision. “At this point, watching the genocide unfold, you realize that this is a moment where you will look back on where you were when it started to happen and ask if you did something about it,” one signee, a current administration official, said. “Looking back at other analogous moments in time, it’s important to take action now, even if it can be undone. We need to arc towards peace.” The former administration official concurred. “When you look at history, whether it was the treatment of the Native Americans, civil rights for Black Americans, apartheid in South Africa—these weren’t solved in a year or two or a hundred or sometimes 400,” they said. “But if at any point, even after 200 years, someone [decided progress wasn’t being made and] gave up, we wouldn’t be here.” For the signees, Trump’s victory also crystallized another important factor in their decision to release the letter. When he takes office on January 20, he will quickly undo most of the current administration’s policies. The president’s domestic legacy—one of full employment and strong economic growth with an emphasis on building manufacturing and strengthening the working and middle classes—will be ripped up more or less immediately. Gaza is what will remain. “As the war has expanded, this is increasingly becoming the Biden administration’s legacy,” the current administration official told The New Republic. “We have to think about how the Biden administration began. Its legacy could have been entirely focused on coming out of Covid and fixing the wreckage of the economy. Instead, most likely, this crisis, this war, will be that legacy.” “There is a small but significant opportunity to change that,” they continued. “Will it be a legacy of horror or something else?” The signees said that America’s ongoing support for Israel has made coming to work difficult and jarring. “It is a continual fatigue, this cognitive dissonance,” a second current administration official told The New Republic. “I watch the news and then walk into work where that news happens. It is taxing and demoralizing. It is a constant struggle.” For the first administration official, that support has also made them question the work that they do in the government. “A lot of the reason people end up in the federal government is because it’s mission-driven: It’s meant to help serve the public,” they said. “The less that happens, even outside of our own borders, the less that holds water.” As we ended our call, I asked all three if they would keep working in government i
In two months, Joe Biden will leave office and, soon after, nearly everything he and his administration have accomplished will be undone. One legacy, however, will remain: the administration’s continued backing of Israel in its brutal war in Gaza, which will continue—and likely increase—with Donald Trump in office. Nevertheless, the administration has shown little appetite for changing direction: On Wednesday, the United States vetoed a United Nations cease-fire resolution. A bill sponsored by Bernie Sanders to block arms sales to Israel that is scheduled to go to a vote Wednesday is highly unlikely to pass.
There are, however, people within the administration who are working to change its policy. On Monday, nearly two dozen White House officials released an open letter excoriating the Biden administration for its continued support of Israel’s brutal war in Gaza and the Middle East and demanding that, in his final days in office, the president take “concrete measures” to end the war and save civilian lives. The letter calls on the Biden administration to end U.S. military aid to Israel, demand a cease-fire, provide humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, and offer full transparency explaining its continued support for a military campaign that has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and violated “U.S. and international laws.”
The signees, all senior members of the Executive Office of the President, chose to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. The New Republic spoke to three of them—two current officials and one who recently left the administration—about why they chose to sign the letter, what they think the administration can accomplish in its final weeks, and how continued American support for Israel has affected their day-to-day work.
“Ongoing U.S. support for Israeli military actions in Gaza and the West Bank, in violation of international and human rights law, goes against our moral and professional duties as civil servants,” the letter reads. “It wastes funds on a brutal assault on civilians without benefiting public welfare, either at home or abroad. We implore you to take simple and immediate action to drastically mitigate the humanitarian crisis.”
The group had been working on the letter for several months, the signees told me, but Trump’s election victory made the matter far more urgent. The Biden administration now only has until late January to act.
For the signees, this was a deeply personal decision. “At this point, watching the genocide unfold, you realize that this is a moment where you will look back on where you were when it started to happen and ask if you did something about it,” one signee, a current administration official, said. “Looking back at other analogous moments in time, it’s important to take action now, even if it can be undone. We need to arc towards peace.”
The former administration official concurred. “When you look at history, whether it was the treatment of the Native Americans, civil rights for Black Americans, apartheid in South Africa—these weren’t solved in a year or two or a hundred or sometimes 400,” they said. “But if at any point, even after 200 years, someone [decided progress wasn’t being made and] gave up, we wouldn’t be here.”
For the signees, Trump’s victory also crystallized another important factor in their decision to release the letter. When he takes office on January 20, he will quickly undo most of the current administration’s policies. The president’s domestic legacy—one of full employment and strong economic growth with an emphasis on building manufacturing and strengthening the working and middle classes—will be ripped up more or less immediately. Gaza is what will remain.
“As the war has expanded, this is increasingly becoming the Biden administration’s legacy,” the current administration official told The New Republic. “We have to think about how the Biden administration began. Its legacy could have been entirely focused on coming out of Covid and fixing the wreckage of the economy. Instead, most likely, this crisis, this war, will be that legacy.”
“There is a small but significant opportunity to change that,” they continued. “Will it be a legacy of horror or something else?”
The signees said that America’s ongoing support for Israel has made coming to work difficult and jarring. “It is a continual fatigue, this cognitive dissonance,” a second current administration official told The New Republic. “I watch the news and then walk into work where that news happens. It is taxing and demoralizing. It is a constant struggle.”
For the first administration official, that support has also made them question the work that they do in the government. “A lot of the reason people end up in the federal government is because it’s mission-driven: It’s meant to help serve the public,” they said. “The less that happens, even outside of our own borders, the less that holds water.”
As we ended our call, I asked all three if they would keep working in government if their calls went unheeded. All three said they weren’t sure anymore.
