Until now, the story of Michigan’s role in the election has centered on Arab Americans’ profound discontent with the Democratic Party over Israel’s relentless devastation of Gaza. The war has left deep emotional wounds.
Israel’s recent military incursion into Lebanon feels like another twist of the knife, intensifying the sense of betrayal and alienation of one of the most critical voting constituencies in the country.
Kamala Harris’s chances of winning the presidency will plummet if she loses Michigan, and current polling shows she and Donald Trump are neck and neck there.
Come November 5, I think we may look back on the weeks after Israel invaded Lebanon as the moment Harris lost significant ground in the race.
I had a fun person yesterday basically say that all the Palestinians who say to vote for Harris are supporters of Palestinian genocide. They didn’t come right out and say it, but that was the gist of what they were saying.
It was some real white savior stuff though.
Quite the privileged perspective, shaming Palestinians for trying to get what is arguably the best outcome for Gaza out of all the likely options. “Voting with your conscience” always seemed like a worse move than “voting with your brain.”
It was very much a “the only Palestinians that matter are my Palestinians” perspective and it was quite disturbing.