With the presidential race so tight, I am pondering what an appropriate response to a Trump victory would look like. Trump has been so divisive and unhinged, and issued enough warnings and threats, that we all should be preparing for a nonviolent but determined resistance.
The American Muslim community better assume that it will not be spared the unleashed forces of bigotry. The attitude that Muslims survived one Trump term and can survive another is careless thinking.
Considering that the Nation may be in for some truly dark times, it is mind-boggling the number of Muslim leaders who want to see Kamala Harris lose, and are pushing the Green Party ticket.
The Abandon Harris movement wants to punish Kamala Harris for her failure to distance herself from Joe Biden’s sponsorship of Netanyahu’s war on the Palestinians. In their deep frustration and anger over the year-long massacre in Gaza, some have said or implied that any Muslims who would vote instead for Harris to forestall a greater evil are “sell outs”.
But should the movement succeed, the Palestinians will be in far worse shape, Netanyahu will be completely unchecked, and a very sick and vengeful man will regain the White House.
Is this the best American Muslims can do? No.
Other Muslim leaders and organizations have been more thoughtful and nuanced. Some readers would respond that this is no time for nuance. But nuance is an improvement over an out-and-out counterproductive strategy, which the Abandon Harris movement most definitely is.
The Uncommitted movement, while it specifically did not endorse Harris, did clearly imply that there is no other vote that makes sense. So frightening is the prospect of a second Trump term.
Two Muslims have told me that in their states, Texas (red) and Colorado (blue), it will make no difference for Harris if they vote Green. But Jill Stein cannot win, and voting for Harris even if you are convinced it will not change the outcome for your state, will at least allow you to honestly say: “Madam, President, I voted for you to avert a greater evil, and now I expect you to forge a new way forward on Palestine and Israel.”
But in the swing states, where it will count the most, there is only one vote that meets the demands of the hour.
Please, all of you who intend to vote for Jill Stein: the Palestinians cannot afford you acting solely out of moral clarity.
As I say often, politics is the art of the possible. Let’s give the rest of the country a civics lesson. Let’s hold our noses and do the right thing for the Nation.
Salaam,
Todd Buchanan
Reform CAIR 