I want to challenge liberals who support Biden’s run for a second term based on the view that Trump must be defeated because he represents “the greatest threat to our democracy.”

I agree that Trump presents a threat to our constitutional order, but a vote for Biden is a vote for a war criminal, given his blanket support of Israel’s genocide, manifest in an ever-growing supply of lethal weapons, without which Israel could not have leveled Gaza. Biden’s refusal to make weapons to Israel contingent on allowing aide trucks into Gaza has made starvation a horrific reality, which is increasingly taking the lives of Gaza’s infants and children.

Biden has willfully defied bedrock humanitarian laws that have been a cornerstone of U.S. international policy. Chief among these is the Leahy Law, which prohibits the U.S. government from arming countries engaged in human rights abuses.

I will cast my vote for a third-party peace candidate, like Jill Stein or Cornel West, who stand for a cease-fire. Liberal friends mock my position, insisting that a vote for a third-party candidate is a vote for Trump. But a vote for Biden gives him carte blanche to continue to defy humanitarian laws, placing America’s international standing in danger of continual erosion, and where the prospects for world peace are threatened.

Pat Taub
Portland