In the latest vivid demonstration that once-durable Democratic constituencies are being completely shattered in 2024, former President Donald Trump on Saturday welcomed Michigan Muslim leaders onto a stage and heartily accepted their endorsements. “I’m thrilled to accept the endorsement of these highly respected leaders,” Trump told the crowd in Novi, a Detroit suburb.
The principal motivator of the endorsements appears to be outrage over the Biden-Harris administration’s support of Israel’s long, astoundingly destructive war on Gaza — and a belief that even ardent Israel-backer Trump would be far more likely to bring the carnage to an end. Imam Belal Alzuhairi took to the stage in the Detroit suburb of Novi to voice that very sentiment:
“We, as Muslims, stand with President Trump because he promises peace, not war! We are supporting Donald Trump because he promised to end war in the Middle East and Ukraine. The bloodshed has to stop all over the world, and I think this man can make that happen. I personally believe that God saved his life twice for a reason.”
Alzuhairi also commended Trump’s commitment to protect children from school curricula that undermine family values, and to creating a strong border and stopping illegal immigration:
Jill Stein and Donald Trump will win most of the Muslim votes in Michigan and nationwide. Kamala Harris losing this election is the best revenge for mercilessly waging a genocide. pic.twitter.com/sBrd9YicSZ
— Nemat Sadat (@nematsadat) October 26, 2024
Dearborn Heights mayor Bill Bazzi likewise embraced Trump as potential peacemaker, telling the crowd, “We’re going to stop the wars, we’re going to make the United States safe again, and we’re going to make the world safe.” Amer Ghalib, Muslim mayor of Detroit suburb Hamtramck, endorsed Trump on Oct. 20. Liberals celebrated when Hamtramck elected a majority-Muslim city council in 2015, and then Ghalib as its first Muslim Mayor in 2021, but they recoiled and even felt betrayed when the council barred LGBTQ Pride flags from city flagpoles last year.
As is the case with seemingly every other issue, Kamala Harris has chosen not to stake out a position on the Israel-Gaza war that’s even modestly different from that of the Biden administration — such as merely putting conditions on the billions of US dollars shoveled into the country. Here she is lamely dodging the issue in her train wreck of a town hall performance in Philadelphia on Wednesday night:
Kamala Harris says clearly and fairly succinctly that we must accept her sponsorship of the Gaza genocide as a trade off for more affordable groceries pic.twitter.com/HlNzKj2LP7
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) October 24, 2024
That approach could well cost Harris Michigan’s 15 electoral votes and the 2024 election, as Michigan has one of the largest Muslim populations in America. The issue could also be decisive in states with lesser Muslim populations but tightly-contested races. An Arab News/YouGov poll released last week found that Trump is narrowly winning the Arab-American vote, 45% to 43%. In 2020, 86% of Muslims voted for Biden, with just 6% backing Trump.
As if her refusal to take a different approach to Israel weren’t doing enough damage with Muslims, Harris has put herself in an even deeper hole by embracing the endorsements of arch-Middle-East-interventionist Dick Cheney and his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney — and even toting Liz along for multiple appearances in Michigan. By some estimates, upwards of one million people have died as a result of the Dick Cheney-orchestrated invasion of Iraq on false premises.
Kamala Harris doesn’t care about genocide. If she did, she would state permanent ceasefire and suspension of arms trade to 🇮🇱 as part of her campaign.
She’s gonna lose the Muslim & Arab American vote. pic.twitter.com/LJ86v2MJxm
— Jaded Kamala Khan (@TamTV_) August 8, 2024
Sharing a view that’s no doubt widely held among Michigan Muslims, Hamtramck Mayor Ghalib told reporters last week:
“It was surprising for us as Arab Americans to have Kamala Harris bringing someone whose family name always reminds us of war crimes in the Middle East….To bring this person to our backyard, to remind us all of the tragedies that happened in the Middle East, is something that tells us that there would be more wars coming if Kamala Harris is elected.”
While it’s certainly not universal, the substantial Muslim embrace of Trump is particularly remarkable given Trump’s demonstrated devotion to the State of Israel and relentless pandering to its backers inside the United States.
Trump’s political campaigns have been fueled by enormous donations from the late Sheldon and still-living Miriam Adelson, a billionaire couple whose foremost policy concern has been ensuring steady financial, military and political support for the State of Israel, and aligning Washington with the agenda of Israel’s right wing. The Adelsons have been closely allied with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even publishing a free Israeli newspaper that boosts Netanyahu and his Likud party.
The couple donated a jaw-dropping $90 million to Trump’s 2020 campaign, rewarding him for his Israel-catering policies, including relocating the US embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem, exiting the Iran nuclear deal and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in 1967’s Six-Day War. Trump also awarded Miriam Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In the 2024 race, Miriam Adelson has donated another $100 million to a PAC that works to elect Trump.
The remarkable fracturing of Muslim support of the Democratic Party comes alongside similar erosion of other once-reliable cornerstones of the Democratic electorate, including blacks, Hispanics, union members and young voters. Can this race really be as tight as “experts” tell us?
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