Joe Biden wins Michigan primary but faces voter backlash over Israel policy
Joe Biden has won Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary – but has been hit by a significant protest vote from those angry at his support for Israel’s military action in Gaza.
With most of the counting complete, the US president easily defeated his rival candidates by securing more than 80% of the vote.
However, nearly 14% of voters – almost 100,000 – backed “uncommitted”.
It follows a campaign which urged Democrats to vote for the “none of the above” category to express their opposition to Mr Biden’s support for Israel’s “genocidal” actions towards Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Israel strongly denies accusations of genocide and other war crimes.
The results are a major boost for campaigners, who were hoping to achieve 10,000 votes for the “uncommitted” category.
The level of dissatisfaction among the Democrat base could be significant during the presidential election in November later this year, as Mr Biden only narrowly won the state – which has a large Arab-American population – during the last election.
The president made no reference to the protest vote in his victory statement – but did urge his party to “come together” to help defeat Donald Trump.
Mr Biden said on Tuesday he hoped a ceasefire in Gaza could be achieved by this weekend.
The US president has previously described Israel’s offensive as “over the top” and has privately described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an “asshole” on at least three occasions, according to reports.
Campaigners angry at Mr Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war at a rally in Dearborn, Michigan. Pic: AP
However, campaigners have accused Mr Biden of not doing enough to push for peace, and argue Israel’s actions would be limited without the military and economic backing it receives from the US.
The Listen to Michigan campaign said in a statement: “Our movement emerged victorious tonight and massively surpassed our expectations.
“Tens of thousands of Michigan Democrats, many of whom who voted for Biden in 2020, are uncommitted to his re-election due to the war in Gaza.”
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud. Pic: AP
Protesters are planning to take their campaign to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
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It came as Mr Trump continued his winning streak and won the Republican primary in the state on Tuesday, securing more than 68% of the vote.
His main rival Nikki Haley secured just over 25%.
The former UN ambassador vowed to stay in the race despite the disappointing result, which comes following a string of other recent defeats.
She told CNN: “We’ve only seen a handful of states vote. We’re taking this one state, one day, at a time.”
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Mr Trump told supporters: “We have to win on 5 November, and we’re going to win big, and it’s going to be like nothing that anybody has ever seen. It’s going to be fantastic.
“We win Michigan, we win the whole thing.”
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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