These anti-American college protests will only help Trump win the election

Protests on college campuses and universities around the country have escalated in size and severity.

What began as pro-Palestinian pleas for a cease-fire or for Israel to stop defending itself after enduring a brutal attack from Hamas on Oct. 7 has now escalated into violence, occupying or damaging university property, antisemitic tirades and anti-American gestures. This is happening on campuses nationwide, from UCLA and the University of Texas to Columbia University and the University of North Carolina.

This reckoning of progressivism at universities that morphed from pro-Palestine to anti-American could hurt President Joe Biden the rest of the way and win Trump this election.

Columbia University protests escalate to colleges across the country

New York City police made 300 arrests at Columbia, where protesters occupied a building on campus, breaking glass and barricading themselves. At UCLA, a pro-Palestine encampment was in place for days. On Tuesday, bouts of violence raged for hours, sparked by counter-protesters, before police intervened.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, according to a local CBS station on the scene, “protestors rushed to the middle of the quad on UNC’s campus, replacing the American flag with the Palestinian one, while chanting ‘From the River to the Sea’ and ‘Free Palestine.’”

Even after police escorted Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts to the middle of the quad to restore the American flag, protesters tried to remove it again. A fraternity intervened, holding up the American flag with their hands to keep it from being removed.

Biden should condemn antisemitism: Biden has his own 'fine people on both sides' moment. He's as wrong now as Trump was then.

What we’re seeing on college campuses isn’t healthy, peaceful protests, hate speech protected under the First Amendment, or “kids being kids.” The video clips from UCLA to Columbia are no longer about supporting Palestine or an ancient land war American students under the age of 30 barely understand or articulate. Many of the protests dotted around the country are blatantly anti-Jewish, pro-Hamas, or anti-American.

Biden has not yet condemned the escalated protests, but it wouldn't matter if he did. The same group of kids trying to tear down American flags at their schools are also leftists who also think that Biden is too supportive of Israel. There are Republicans, Democrats, and especially Independents who will not support a president who seems indifferent, soft or unsure of how to handle a group like Hamas, or leftists who support terrorism. This is a line in the sand for many people, a line that's been brought to the surface again after Oct. 7 with these campus protests.

Trump stands to gain from the perception war Biden is losing

If protests continue like this or reconvene when campuses do in the fall, a swath of Americans – Democrats and Republicans alike – will begin to make value assessments about the men running for office. Voters will do that knowing these things to be true: They condemn rank antisemitism. They reject bigotry. They do not fully support students at state or Ivy League universities, reeking with privilege, saying they hate America – even if it is just a few thousand campus outliers, compared to the millions of college-aged kids.

They will want a president who projects this pro-American sentiment too.

Most Americans love this country and millions try to reach this land to build a life here, such is the promise of the pursuit of happiness. However, patriotism has declined most among Gen Z. In a poll last year, only 18% of those between the ages of 18 to 34 said they were "extremely proud" to be American.

This is where Americans – including Trump – will draw the line. Biden has previously condemned the protesters but it doesn't matter now, they've gone too far. Now the protesters don't just hate Israel, they hate America too. Ongoing, radical protests stemming from war abroad communicate the perception that Biden cannot be the leader America needs. Regardless of Biden's support of Israel and his condemnation of the protesters, the damage is done and could continue into November. Trump, even with his false bravado, is poised to use this to his advantage. Whether Trump is better suited to lead remains to be seen.

Listen to Gen Z: College students are telling you exactly how they feel about the Israel-Hamas war

Voters know America was better before Biden

It might be true that these protests and anti-American demonstrations are not entirely a result or reflection of the Biden presidency, but unfortunately, that’s not how elections work. Biden’s approval rating is already low. The economy is struggling. Even if the administration says wages have grown and unemployment is low, anecdotally, that’s not what people see at the grocery store or when they're looking for employment.

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

Whether it’s rational or true, they know Hamas didn’t attack Israel when Trump was president. They know campuses were not self-destructing, with administrators standing idly by as kids openly spew bigoted language and anti-American sentiments. They know America before Biden was better, even if it wasn’t necessarily due to Trump. Who would want four more years of this? It cannot hold. No one is sure that Trump could handle war only that there was no war when Trump was in office.

It's important to understand what's happening on college campuses, with or without an upcoming election. We cannot descend into anti-American progressivism. This is not who we are and the election magnifies this. We might find ourselves looking at these campuses and then at social media and our neighborhoods and asking the questions: Are you cheering on antisemitism? Are you smugly observing that destroying campus property and harassing Jewish people somehow falls under First Amendment protections? Do you secretly disdain this country because it’s not a Marxist hellscape?

You know who doesn’t? Trump.

Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids.

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Columbia protests, UCLA violence will help Trump win this election