Joe Biden’s Israel position has sparked significant discontent among Arab-Americans, perhaps posing a significant threat to his chances in the upcoming US presidential election. This population holds electoral sway in crucial swing states and is increasingly turning in opposition to him.
“Over the weekend, the Democratic incumbent’s campaign manager traveled to Dearborn, Michigan — home to the largest concentration of Arab-Americans in the United States — and was snubbed by a group of a dozen or so officials, including the Detroit suburb’s mayor,” Barron’s reported.
Biden has asked Congress for billions of dollars in additional military aid to Israel and his government has vetoed multiple UN Security Council calls for a ceasefire in the conflict, leaving many Muslims and people of Middle Eastern heritage feeling betrayed by the Democratic Party, their former political home.
A woman with the NGO Samaritanos Sin Fronteras talks to illegal aliens from all over the world in Lukeville, Arizona. She was with a guy from the NGO Humane Borders who was filling water tanks. Blue flags at the water stations lead illegal aliens to BP pick-up spots. The water… pic.twitter.com/PIGjFydkEI
— Just Jeff From Cali (@liberty_clarion) January 30, 2024
“When elected officials view the atrocities in Gaza only as an electoral problem, they reduce our indescribable pain into a political calculation,” Mayor Abdullah Hammoud articulated on X, elucidating his decision to abstain from meeting Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
Dearborn people enthusiastically applauded his remarks, expressing deep distress over the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. These atrocities have been occurring since Israel initiated a military campaign in response to the deadly bombings and hostage situation orchestrated by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7th.
“It is a genocide that’s happening against our families and our people, and people have been responding very strongly,” stated Amer Zahr, an AFP interviewee who is both a legal academic and an entertainer.
“We’re not supporting Joe Biden under any circumstances — or any politician frankly — that is not willing to simply call for a ceasefire,” Zahr said.
“Come November 5, Biden faces a tough rematch against likely opponent Donald Trump. Swing states like Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Virginia, with significant proportions of Muslims and Arab-Americans, could be crucial,” Barron’s report continued.
These socially and economically conservative groups were once seen as natural Republican voters, but their allegiances shifted after 9/11 as a result of the surveillance policies and perceived Islamophobia of the George W. Bush administration.
Biden won decisively among Arabs and Muslims in 2020. But according to an analysis by Youssef Chouhoud, a quantitative social scientist at Christopher Newport University who looked at polling data from sources including nonprofit Emgage and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, many could stay home or vote for a third-party in 2024.
“In Michigan, for example, that could mean Biden would lose about 55,000 votes, or about a third of the 154,000-vote margin of victory he earned over Trump in 2020,” Chouhoud stated on the website, The Conversation.
“Biden’s speeches and campaign events meanwhile are increasingly marked by pro-Palestinian disruptors, exposing the faultlines within Democratic circles with younger, more progressive corners of the party highly critical of the president,” the outlet added.
Not even the prospect of a second term for Trump — who enacted an immigration policy widely decried as a “Muslim ban” that he says he’ll bring back with a vengeance if elected — is enough to dissuade voters like Zahr.
“We’re not going to respond to the lesser of two evils argument, we are going to reject that,” he stated, further emphasizing, “We’re not going to be held responsible for the alternative.”
“Samra’a Luqman, a 41-year-old community organizer who co-chairs the “Abandon Biden” movement in Michigan, went further, suggesting some of the community may vote for Trump in protest,” according to the site.
“The goal is ultimately not just to abandon Biden, but to ensure that we oust Biden,” she told AFP — adding that she was still proud of some Democrats, including Hammoud and congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
According to a recent report, there are indications that Michelle Obama, the former First Lady, is considering a potential presidential campaign in 2024. This speculation arises as both Michelle Obama and her husband, former President Barack Obama, keep the option open of persuading President Joe Biden not to seek reelection.
Meanwhile, Michelle Obama has been seeking the opinions of influential Democratic contributors in New York to assess their level of support for her unconventional campaign, as reported by Cindy Adams, a columnist for the New York Times. According to Adams, the strategy entails a Manchurian incumbent who remains in the race until May and then willingly withdraws, enabling Michelle to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination at the national convention in August.
“Around May, Biden announces he’s not running (even mentally). The so-called plot is that come the August convention, Michelle gets nominated.
Next step, Hunter’s father — the temp — drops out just before that convention.
For now, he still play-acts like he’s a real candidate.”
Adams asserts that her informants have verified that “Obama has polled donors,” including they are “credible sources few have access to and usually not meant for the noses of the media.”
The former first lady attracted attention recently by expressing her profound fear of a potential second Trump administration.