Because the mud slowly settles on this election, and Kamala Harris stands earlier than the wreckage of a marketing campaign that didn’t win over a single swing state, the Democratic Occasion and its liberal supporters are eagerly in search of somebody, anybody, aside from themselves accountable for his or her catastrophic defeat. And, it appears, they’ve already discovered handy scapegoats: Arab People, Muslims and anybody else who refused to solid their vote for the administration that eagerly enabled the genocide of my folks, Palestinians.
All through the night time of November 5, as electoral votes from key states like North Carolina, Indiana and Ohio rolled in for Trump, social platforms grew to become overrun with offended Democrats blaming the end result on Arab and Muslim People who didn’t vote for Harris and wishing extra demise and destruction on our brethren within the Center East as punishment for this perceived “betrayal”.
“I hope each f*cking Muslims [sic] who voted Trump will get to look at Bibi flip Gaza right into a glass car parking zone,” wrote one. “[Green Party leader Jill] Stein voters are going to see what Trump does to Gaza,” recommended one other.
Their argument seems to be that by rejecting Harris, we gifted Trump the presidency and “sacrificed” the way forward for American democracy on the altar of overseas coverage.
They appear to consider not solely that we’re highly effective sufficient to determine the destiny of democracy on this nation but in addition that, merely attributable to our minority standing, we “owe” our vote to the Democratic Occasion.
Certain, it’s true that in modern US elections, minorities persistently confirmed help for Democratic candidates at a lot larger charges than white voters.
In 2016, Trump’s victory in opposition to then-Democratic presidential nominee, Hilary Clinton, was secured primarily by white voters, with 57 p.c of white males and 47 p.c of white girls voting for him. Eighty-eight p.c of Black voters and 65 p.c of Asian voters supported Democrats in that election. Equally, three-quarters of Muslim voters and a few 60 p.c of Arab People mentioned they solid a poll for Clinton that yr. The sample endured in 2020, with minorities, together with Muslims and Arabs, exhibiting up in giant numbers to help the Biden-Harris ticket.
However this historic help, which undoubtedly bolstered Democratic victories previously and helped Clinton maintain the favored vote in 2016, doesn’t imply that we “owe” something to the get together, or that we could be held chargeable for its “magnificent” defeat in opposition to Trump on this election.
Politicians, irrespective of their get together affiliation, are usually not entitled to the votes of any given demographic. It’s their responsibility, certainly their prerogative, to earn our votes. On this election cycle, nevertheless, the Democratic institution labored tirelessly to make sure we’d not vote for them. So this defeat is on them, and on them alone.
Simply have a look at how the Democrats campaigned within the state I stay in, Michigan. An important swing state the place elections can hinge on mere 1000’s of votes, Michigan is residence to some 200,000 Muslim People. Over the previous yr, these voters made it clear, in each method they might, that their vote was conditioned on the get together pledging to finish its monetary, political and army help of massacres of Palestinians, Lebanese and Yemenis. The “uncommitted” marketing campaign – seeking to finish the Democratic Occasion’s help for Israel’s genocide – secured greater than 100,000 votes within the state’s Democratic major.
The Democratic Occasion didn’t pay attention. Harris not solely refused to desert Biden’s staunchly pro-Israel insurance policies on Palestine but in addition personally supported continued bloodshed in Gaza by publicly insulting anti-genocide campaigners within the state. When pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a Harris rally in Detroit by merely stating that they “gained’t vote for genocide”, she shut them up together with her catchphrase, “I’m talking”. She then despatched former President Invoice Clinton to the state to ship a speech that attempted to justify the mass killing of Palestinians. Liz Cheney, the Republican daughter of Iraq warfare architect and warfare prison Dick Cheney, additionally made an look within the state to marketing campaign for Harris. Congressman Ritchie Torres, who spent the previous yr accusing anybody demanding an finish to the bloodshed in Gaza of being an anti-Semitic terrorist, was one other surrogate Harris despatched to Michigan.
Consequently, understandably, Muslims in Michigan didn’t vote for Harris. They didn’t vote for Harris, as a result of they didn’t owe her their vote, and he or she did nothing to earn it.
Within the metropolis of Dearborn, the place some 55 p.c of residents are of Center Japanese descent, Trump gained with 42.48 p.c of the vote over Vice President Kamala Harris, who obtained simply 36.26 p.c. The Inexperienced Occasion’s Jill Stein, who campaigned closely on ending Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, obtained 18.37 p.c. In 2020, a formidable 74.20 p.c of voters within the metropolis had solid their poll for Biden.
What we’re seeing in Michigan is certainly an image of betrayal. But it surely was the Democratic Occasion that betrayed the voters who supported it election after election, not the opposite method round.
In any case, numbers rising from Michigan and different battleground states are exhibiting that the Democratic losses are just too massive to be blamed solely on Arab and Muslim voters.
The Senate, for instance, flipped on account of Democratic losses in locations like Ohio and West Virginia, the place outcomes can’t be tied to the supposed “betrayal” of Muslim and Arab voters. These races, and finally the Senate and the White Home, had been misplaced as a result of the DNC refused to hearken to the first calls for and needs of not solely Muslims and Arabs however the overwhelming majority of potential Democratic voters.
They didn’t provide solutions and options to the American folks on key points like healthcare, local weather change, and, sure, ending genocide.
Certainly, not like what Harris and her surrogates might counsel, most People need to see an finish to US help for Israel’s brutal warfare on Gaza. A February survey of 1232 possible voters by Data for Progress discovered that 67 p.c – together with 77 p.c of Democrats and 69 p.c of independents – would help the US calling for a everlasting ceasefire in Gaza and conditioning army assist to Israel.
This was some eight months in the past, earlier than Israel dedicated numerous extra massacres, invaded Lebanon, and started ethnically cleaning North Gaza utilizing hunger as a weapon of warfare. Even the next share of People possible need their nation to cease supporting Israel now.
Kamala Harris and the Democratic Occasion didn’t lose this election as a result of any specific demographic “betrayed them”. They misplaced the election as a result of they betrayed their core base, together with Arab and Muslim People.
Kamala Harris may have simply secured their votes, and the votes of many others, just by operating on a humane and humanitarian ticket, together with guarantees to uphold worldwide regulation and to deliver an finish to American complicity in Israel’s genocide. As a substitute, the administration selected stubbornness, apparently prepared to gamble with each human lives and electoral success.
The Democratic institution can’t have it each methods. They will’t ignore, dismiss, and antagonise communities whereas concurrently anticipating their unconditional help. Palestinians, Arab and Muslim People, and others who’ve walked away from the Democratic Occasion over its help for Israel, aren’t asking for particular remedy – they’re asking for fundamental human dignity and ethical consistency in overseas coverage.
This isn’t nearly overseas coverage – it’s concerning the nature of democratic illustration itself. Those that remained silent via months of humanitarian disaster however now emerge to debate electoral politics reveal that their prior silence was certainly a alternative. It was a alternative that spoke volumes about priorities and values. They now profess, “Trump can be worse”. However for many who have watched their youngsters maimed and land destroyed, there’s nothing worse.
We, after all, know that President Trump won’t be any much less supportive of the genocide of my folks than Biden or Harris. His actions throughout his first time period in workplace made that crystal clear. He’s a rot that has grown out of a many years lengthy historical past of white supremacy, racism, and bigotry. However this doesn’t imply we may have stepped over the shredded stays of tens of 1000’s of Palestinian males, girls and youngsters killed by American bombs dropped by Israel to vote for the girl who personally defended and facilitated their homicide. We couldn’t, and we didn’t.
It’s time, because the nation and the world gear up for a second Trump presidency, that Democrats cease passing the buck and take duty for the alternatives they made. We’re right here not due to something Arab and Muslim People did or didn’t do. We’re right here as a result of the Democratic Occasion, first beneath Joe Biden after which Kamala Harris, insisted on perpetrating genocide whereas ignoring the elemental ideas of “democracy” and “freedom” they supposedly cherish.
So, Vice President Kamala Harris, Gaza is talking now. Was the slaughter of our kids value it?
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
