Biden’s Gaza Critics Start an Anti-Trump Campaign

The Rev. Michael McBride was an early backer of a cease-fire in Gaza, publicly breaking with President Biden’s support for the war months before many other Democrats arrived in a similar place.

Nearly five months before Election Day, Mr. McBride, a co-founder of the group Black Church PAC, remains critical of how the administration has stood by Israel. But he is now leading an effort, alongside other progressive Black activists, strategists and faith leaders, that would indirectly help Mr. Biden by working to defeat former President Donald J. Trump.

It is one of the clearest signs yet that at least some of Mr. Biden’s critics on the left will still work to stop Mr. Trump — even if they are lukewarm on the incumbent president.

“We need to continue to push the president to shift his course on how he is addressing a number of issues, primarily which is Gaza,” Mr. McBride, the lead pastor at The Way Christian Center in Berkeley, Calif., said in an interview, noting that the campaign was not an endorsement of Mr. Biden. But, he said, “we can’t wait for the Biden administration to change their course before we start to sound the alarm.”

“We do realize,” he added, “that defeating Trump is our north star.”

The effort, called “Defeat by Truth,” is in fact a political action committee.

The project, in its early stages, works like this: Supporters sign up to automatically donate as little as one cent when Mr. Trump posts on social media, especially Truth Social. Contributors can cap their monthly donations at any amount. And the money raised will support a coalition of progressive organizations in swing states.