Dear Muslim and Arab Americans, voting in Donald Trump won't teach the Democrats 'a lesson'

Like many of you, I am horrified by Israel's crimes in Gaza and Lebanon.

As a Syrian American, I am all too familiar with the consequences of war not only on those abroad but also here at home. As we have seen time and over again, what happens in the region ultimately affects us here by inflaming anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hate, and giving permission to xenophobes to pursue harmful policies against our civil liberties.

For over a year now, our government has provided unconditional support to Israel’s most right-wing leader to date, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The results are before us: Gaza has been completely destroyed, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, including thousands of children, and a population of two million is now destitute and starving. 

The violence, as many have warned, has spiralled out of control and spilt into Lebanon and Yemen. In his bid to widen the war and escape accountability, Netanyahu has sought to bait Iran into a direct war and by extension, the United States. This is heartbreaking and harmful to the US national interest and it must stop.

At home, our national fabric has been torn and our students have become targets of smear campaigns and violence. A young Palestinian child was killed, and other students were shot.

Incidents of Islamophobia and antisemitism are on the rise, all during a Democratic presidency. The divisions this war has created have made the once unthinkable possible, which brings me to Donald Trump.

We do not need to be reminded of who Donald Trump is. The man who rode an anti-Muslim and Arab hate train to the White House, who banned our loved ones, who broke up families, and who blessed Netanyhau’s expansionism by breaching international law to recognise Israeli sovereignty over occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights.

During the current nightmare, Trump promised to give Netanyahu even more support and congratulated him on ignoring US calls for restraint. He even said that Israel should target Iranian nuclear facilities.

Beyond the Middle East, Trump and the brain-trust of Project 2025 have their sights set on destroying our pluralistic democracy. No more separation of church and state, no more equal protection under the law, and the Department of Education that funds our public schools will be eliminated.

A Trump presidency will make life worse

Believe it when Donald Trump promises to deport those who champion Palestinian rights, when his son-in-law suggests building condos over the graves of Palestinians in Gaza, and when his former and likely future ambassador to Israel says that Israel’s annexation of the West Bank is “based first and foremost on biblical prophecies and values.”

Some are advocating voting third-party as a way to absolve themselves of the difficult choices they have to make in November. But we know that either Harris or Trump will become president, and unless the intention is to reelect Trump, then a vote for a third-party candidate, especially in a swing state, will achieve just that.

In 2016, votes for third-party candidates helped Trump carry Michigan by only 11,000 votes, Wisconsin by 23,000, and Pennsylvania by 44,000.

The 2024 elections might come down to even smaller margins. I have heard some argue that, indeed, we should support Jill Stein or Cornell West to “teach Democrats a lesson”.

If Donald Trump wasn’t the likely beneficiary of such punishment, I can understand the sentiment, if not the reasoning. But to willingly help someone who has promised to do more harm to Muslims and Arabs at home and abroad is reckless because it places those we are seeking to help in even more danger.

There is a certain privilege that is required to accept another four years of Trump. His devastating policies had and will have a very deep impact on many, including immigrants, refugees, communities of colour, and the poor should he be reelected. Clearly, what Trump has in store for many of us, not to mention our pluralistic democracy, is not something we should readily enable.

Perhaps most importantly when seeking to “teach lessons”, is to make sure that we learn from previous ones.

In 2000, Muslim leaders urged the community to vote for Bush-Cheney. The Gore-Liberman ticket was viewed as inherently pro-Israel because Liberman was Jewish. The former senator was indeed a strong supporter of Israel, but so were many of Bush’s top advisors. Another rationale was the proclaimed socially conservative agenda of the Republican party, especially in regard to gay marriage and school vouchers. The argument, it went, was to vote according to our “values” and to secure a Muslim and Arab voting bloc to show our power. Despite plenty of signs regarding the ascendance of neoconservatives in the Republican party, the community went with Bush in an election that came down to a few votes.

The rest is a history that is yet to leave us. One that witnessed the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the 'War on Terror', the Patriot Act, waterboarding, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Countering Violent Extremism, and the list goes on. It allowed a cottage industry of Islamophobia to sprout and armed White Supremacy to flourish, as long as their automatic assault rifles were aimed at Muslims.

Only when they turned their guns on the rest of America, most infamously on January 6, did our country finally wake up to their danger? Abroad, the War on Terror taught other dictators and demagogues how to kill Muslims and Arabs with impunity by labelling them “terrorists”. Russia, China, and India all got in on the act and reframed their oppression of Muslims as counterterrorism. Even Arab dictators discovered that they could receive Western funding and support if they did the same. One can argue that the global phenomenon of rising anti-Muslim authoritarianism, including figures like Trump, are the product of 2000 and the forces they unleashed.

In politics, punishment is only effective if you can reap the benefits of the results rather than be squashed by them.

Should Trump win and pursue the policies he has said he will pursue, Muslim and Arab Americans and their civic, religious, and cultural institutions will be in great jeopardy, regardless of whether they voted for third-party candidates or stayed home. And if Harris wins, she would have won without their support, and therefore, will have less of an incentive to tackle historically difficult issues like Israel-Palestine.

The current fight before us is not between Republicans, Democrats, or third parties. It is within the Democratic Party, where there is a clear contest for its future orientation and positions on key issues, including foreign policy.

From a Green New Deal to universal healthcare to freedom for Palestinians, this fight is not even on the radar of the Republican side, and there is yet to be a viable third-party alternative.

This fight is happening in the Democratic Party where the Muslim and Arab community has made the majority of its political investments over the past 20-plus years. From running for office to serving in government to volunteering for campaigns to serving at nonprofits, Muslims and Arabs have engaged and become part of the “big tent” Party. The question before us then is whether to give up the fight now or double down until we get the change that we deserve. 

Wa’el Alzayat is CEO of Emgage Action, a voter mobilization organization. He previously served for a decade as a Middle East policy expert at the U.S. Department of State.

Follow Wa'el on X: @WaelAlzayat

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.