{"id":43045,"date":"2025-08-02T12:46:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T19:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=43045"},"modified":"2025-08-02T12:46:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T19:46:20","slug":"in-a-biden-era-retread-media-push-bogus-narrative-that-trump-is-helpless-to-stop-gaza-genocide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/02\/in-a-biden-era-retread-media-push-bogus-narrative-that-trump-is-helpless-to-stop-gaza-genocide\/","title":{"rendered":"IN A BIDEN-ERA RETREAD, MEDIA PUSH BOGUS NARRATIVE THAT TRUMP IS HELPLESS TO STOP GAZA GENOCIDE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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POSTED INPOLITICS AND MOVEMENTS: US<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The politics of feigned helplessness are bipartisan and essential to maintaining American Innocence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0ADAM JOHNSON<\/a><\/strong> AUGUST 1, 2025 (therealnews.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives at the White House on April 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photo by Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, US media is helping take pressure off of the White House by parroting US officials and pro-Israel talking heads insisting that the president is more or less helpless to stop anything Israel is doing in the Middle East, up to and including their ongoing mass starvation campaign and genocide in Gaza. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c\u2018He\u2019s a madman\u2019: Trump\u2019s team frets about Netanyahu after Syria strikes,\u201d Axios\u2019s Barak Ravid breathlessly reported<\/a> on July 20. \u201cTrump was agitated all around\u2026in a call with Bibi,\u201d alleged<\/a> Sohrab Ahmari, citing \u201csources in and near the administration.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s frustration with the devastation in Gaza is real,\u201d Semafor insists<\/a>. \u201cAfter angry call from Trump, PM says Israel deeply regrets mistaken shelling of Gaza church,\u201d The Times of Israel claimed<\/a> on July 18. \u201cWashington Struggles to Rein In an Emboldened Israel: Trump administration has expressed frustration with Israeli actions in recent days,\u201d The Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> on July 26. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this particular genre of reportage looks familiar it\u2019s because it\u2019s a pared-down version of a PR campaign pushed out by former President Biden, his aides, and pro-Israel media allies. I wrote about the trope\u2014Fuming\/Helpless Biden\u2014in both TRNN<\/a>, and, in greater detail, for the Nation<\/a> the following year. Now that it\u2019s spanned party and administration we can simply call it Fuming\/Helpless President.<\/em> Put simply: it\u2019s any report, analysis, or opinion that describes the president as unable to do anything to stop Israel from committing war crimes or end the genocide overall or, relatedly, any reporting that gives readers the impression that not only is the president helpless, but is very upset\/angry\/sad at not being able to change Israel\u2019s behavior. It\u2019s an essential media convention because it allows the president to continue all material support to Israel\u2014the endless flow of bombs, military and intelligence support, vetoes at the United Nations\u2014while distancing themselves from the deep unpopularity of Israel\u2019s campaign of indiscriminate bombing and mass starvation<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The primary conduit for Fuming\/Helpless President nonstories is Axios\u2019s Ravid, who, as I noted in the Nation last year, had written 25 different examples<\/a> of this genre up to that point for then-President Biden, quoting either US officials directly or a string of anonymous \u201cUS officials\u201d\u2014often as alleged scoops\u2014claiming that Biden and White House officials were some variation of \u201cbreaking with Netanyahu<\/a>,\u201d \u201cincreasingly frustrated<\/a>,\u201d \u201crunning out of patience<\/a>,\u201d or \u201cdeeply concerned<\/a>\u201d about civilian casualties. Ravid, a former member of Unit 8200<\/a>, Israel\u2019s \u201csecretive cyber warfare unit<\/a>,\u201d was awarded<\/a> for his endless Fuming\/Deeply Concerned reports with the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association\u2019s award for journalistic excellence in April 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ravid has emerged again as the most aggressive practitioner of the Fuming\/Helpless President routine for the new Trump administration. In just the last two weeks, he has published:<\/p>\n\n\n\n