“We are not powerless as American Muslims. We are powerful. We don’t only have the money, but we have the actual votes. And we will use that vote to save this nation from itself,” Hussein said. “Families and children are being wiped out with our tax dollars,” he added. “What we are witnessing today is the tragedy upon tragedy.”
From behind a lectern that read “Abandon Biden, ceasefire now”, leaders from Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania issued similar warnings that the president could not afford to lose the support of the Arab-American community in states critical to his chances for re-election.
A recent poll showed Biden’s support among Arab Americans has plunged from a comfortable majority in 2020 to 17%.
About 3.45 million Americans identify as Muslim, or 1.1% of the country’s population, and the demographic tends to lean Democratic, according to Pew Research Center. Like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are also home to significant Arab-American populations and critical to Biden’s re-election mathematics.
“The anger in our community is beyond belief,” Hussein, who is Muslim, told the Associated Press. “One of the things that made us even more angry is the fact that most of us actually voted for President Biden. I even had one incident where a religious leader asked me: ‘How do I get my 2020 ballot so I can destroy it?’”
Against a backdrop of pro-Palestinian protest in the US, Muslim leaders gathered in Dearborn said Biden or the likely Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, were not their only choices next year, and they could choose to sit out the election.
On the one hand, their pro-Palestinian politics are morally valid and increasingly popular as the world watches horrifying human rights violations in Gaza- I agree with them, it’s important to put pressure on the Democrats to get on the right side of this issue.
On the other hand, I honestly think we are one GOP sweep victory away from an end to democracy in the USA- and my take on that is that the establishment-Dems probably think a 4-year stint of being punished by Republicans will teach those uppity leftists and minorities to toe the line better and in the interim they’re pretty sure they’ll be fiiine.
The reason I lose sleep over this sort of thing is I believe that once political power becomes decoupled from the consent of the governed, the rights and protections that arise in the constitution will become instead favors granted by an unaccountable power, contingent on whether or not they find you supplicant enough. Also we shouldn’t count on being able to vote our way out of a situation where the rules prevent voting from making a difference- should it come to that, it’s dark days friends
I would argue it is actually the opposite.
The establishment understands how massively fucked we are and are trying to do whatever it takes to survive.
The progressive branch are openly attacking the President and inadvertently strengthening third parties (aka “spoilers”). This has largely been the case since 2016 (once there was a progressive/“progressive” candidate who actually stood a snowball’s chance).
I have a hard time telling muslims they are wrong for being angry at Biden. Hell, I am angry at Biden. But it isn’t like it will accomplish anything. Not voting for Biden is effectively voting for trump. And trump is openly hateful of Muslims.
Maybe its just the East Asian mentality. But we long ago learned that you more or less have to support the lesser evil, even if they are actively shitting on you and attacking you. Because the alternative will do so much worse.
Is this an East Asian mentality? It would explain a bit about about my beliefs (although I suppose technically I was raised with a South Asian ethos)
Being a bit too pessimistic is not good for the human brain.
What ever happens we humans are good at adapting.
Some of us on the far left see the blues/reds as the same, corrupt and paid for. RFK Jr. is also pro-war, so he is in the same bracket, to a degree.
End of democracy talk has been said for decades, nothing new. Looking at what both parties, we know we live in an oligarchy already.
I would still suggest to watch and learn from people out of your bubble so as to have a more general view of what people think.