Don’t dare blame Arab and Muslim Americans for Trump’s victory

The Democratic Party and its liberal supporters are eager to find someone else to blame for their catastrophic defeat as the dust settles on this election and Kamala Harris stands before the wreckage of a campaign that failed to win over a single swing state. And, it seems, they’ve already found convenient scapegoats: &nbsp, Arab Americans, Muslims and anyone else who refused to cast their vote for the administration that eagerly enabled the genocide of my people, Palestinians.

As electoral votes from important states like North Carolina, Indiana, and Ohio rolled in for Trump, social media became rife with angry Democrats who blared the outcome on the side of our Arab and Muslim neighbors in the Middle East and wished for more destruction for our brethren in the Middle East as punishment for this alleged “betrayal.”

“I hope every f*cking Muslims]sic] who voted Trump gets to watch Bibi turn Gaza into a glass parking lot”, wrote one. “]Green Party leader Jill] Stein&nbsp, voters are going to see what Trump does to Gaza”, suggested another.

They make the claim that we “sacrificed” the future of American democracy on the altar of foreign policy by rejecting Harris.

They appear to think that the Democratic Party is in charge of our elections and that we are powerful enough to determine the future of democracy in this nation.

Yes, it is true that minority voters consistently showed support for Democratic candidates in contemporary US elections.

In 2016, Trump’s victory against then-Democratic presidential nominee, Hilary Clinton, was secured primarily by white voters, with 57 percent of white men and 47 percent of white women voting for him. Democrats were favored in that election by 80% of Black voters and 65% of Asian voters. Similarly, &nbsp, three-quarters of Muslim voters and some 60 percent of Arab Americans said they cast a ballot for Clinton that year. The pattern persisted in 2020, with minorities, including Muslims and Arabs, showing up in large numbers to support the Biden-Harris ticket.

However, this historic support, which undoubtedly bolstered Clinton’s popularity in 2016 and helped her win more popular votes than Trump, does not imply that we “owe” anything to the party or that we can be held accountable for its “magnificent” defeat in this election.

Politicians, no matter their party affiliation, are not entitled to the votes of any given demographic. It is their duty, indeed their prerogative, to earn our votes. However, the Democratic establishment worked tirelessly to prevent us from voting for them during this election cycle. So this defeat is on them, and on them alone.

Just take a look at how the Democrats ran the Michigan state where I live. A crucial swing state where elections can hinge on mere thousands of votes, Michigan is home to some 200, 000 Muslim Americans. Over the past year, these voters made it clear, in every way they could, that their vote was conditioned on the party pledging to end its financial, political and military support of massacres of Palestinians, Lebanese and Yemenis. The “uncommitted” campaign – looking to end the Democratic Party’s support for Israel’s genocide – secured more than 100, 000 votes in the state’s Democratic primary.

The Democratic Party did not listen. By publicly disparaging anti-genocide campaigners in the state, Harris not only refused to back Biden’s steadfastly pro-Israel policies toward Palestine, but also personally supported continued bloodshed in Gaza. When pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a Harris rally in Detroit by simply stating that they “won’t vote for genocide”, she shut them up with her catchphrase, “I’m speaking”. The state was then able to host former US President Bill Clinton for a speech in which she argued the widespread massacre of Palestinians. The state’s campaign for Harris also featured Liz Cheney, the Republican daughter of Iraq war architect and criminal Dick Cheney. Another surrogate Harris was sent to Michigan, Congressman Ritchie Torres, who has spent the past year accusing anyone who wanted to stop the bloodshed in Gaza of being an anti-Semitic terrorist.

As a result, understandably, Muslims in Michigan did not vote for Harris. They chose not to support Harris because she lacked the support she deserved and did not deserve it.

In the city of Dearborn, where some 55 percent of residents are of Middle Eastern descent, Trump won with 42.48 percent of the vote over Vice President Kamala Harris, who received just 36.26 percent. The Green Party’s Jill Stein, who campaigned heavily on ending Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, received 18.37 percent. A staggering 74.20 percent of city voters cast ballots for Biden in 2020.

In fact, what we are seeing in Michigan depicts betrayal. However, the Democratic Party was the one who trampled the electorate afterward, not the other way around.

In any case, data from Michigan and other battleground states shows that Arab and Muslim voters are the only ones to blame for the Democratic losses.

The Senate, for example, flipped as a result of Democratic losses in places like Ohio and West Virginia, where results cannot be tied to the supposed “betrayal” of Muslim and Arab voters. Because the DNC failed to listen to the primary demands and desires of both Muslims and Arabs and the vast majority of potential Democratic voters, these races, and eventually the Senate and the White House, were lost.

They did not offer answers and solutions to the American people on key issues like healthcare, climate change, and, yes, ending genocide.

Indeed, unlike what Harris and her surrogates may suggest, most Americans want to see an end to US&nbsp, support for Israel’s brutal war on Gaza. According to a February survey of 1232 likely voters conducted by &nbsp, Data for Progress, 67 percent of Democrats and independents voted in favor of the US’s call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and limiting military aid to Israel.

Before Israel countless more massacres, invaded Lebanon, and began ethnic cleansing North Gaza using starvation as a weapon of war, it was about eight months ago. Even more Americans are likely to want their nation to stop supporting Israel right now.

Because a particular demographic “betrayed them,” Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party did not lose this election. Because they deceived the majority of their electorate, which included Arab and Muslim Americans,

Kamala Harris could have easily won their support and that of many others by running on a humane and humanitarian ticket, with assurances that the United States will uphold international law and put an end to its involvement in the genocide against Israel. Instead, the administration chose stubbornness, apparently willing to gamble with both human lives and electoral success.

The Democratic establishment cannot have both ways. They can’t ignore, dismiss, and antagonise communities while simultaneously expecting their unconditional support. Palestinians, Arab and Muslim Americans, and others who have walked away from the Democratic Party over its support for Israel, aren’t asking for special treatment – they’re asking for basic human dignity and moral consistency in foreign policy.

This isn’t just about foreign policy; it’s also about democratic representation itself. Those who remained silent throughout the months of the humanitarian crisis reveal that their choice was to continue speaking out now about electoral politics. It was a choice that had profound impact on values and priorities. They now profess, “Trump will be worse”. There is nothing worse for those who have witnessed their children being killed and their land destroyed.

We are well aware that Biden or Harris will not be any less supportive of the genocide of my people. That was made crystal clear by his first-term in office by his actions. He is a rot that has grown out of a decades long history of white supremacy, racism, and bigotry. However, this does not imply that we could have voted for the woman who directly defended and helped to facilitate their murder and crossed the shredded remains of tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children who had been killed by American bombs dropped by Israel. We couldn’t, and we didn’t.

Democrats should stop giving the country and the world responsibility for the choices they make as a second Trump presidency approaches. Not because of what Americans who are Arab and Muslim did or did not do, we are here. We are here because the Democratic Party, first under Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris, &nbsp, insisted on perpetrating genocide while ignoring the fundamental principles of “democracy” and “freedom” they supposedly cherish.

So, Vice President Kamala Harris, Gaza is speaking now. Was it worthwhile to slaughter our children?

Source: Aljazeera