Frustrated by what they perceive as the Biden administration’s pro-Israel stance, some Muslim organizations have decided to actively undermine President Joe Biden’s campaign, apparently to teach the Democratic Party a lesson.
A national “Abandon Biden” movement aimed at defeating President Biden’s re-election bid in 2024 is gaining momentum among some Muslim activists and leaders, including several from Minnesota, a state that hasn’t voted Republican in a presidential election since 1972.
Their goal is to punish the president for his stance on the Israeli military offensive in Gaza after the brutal Oct. 7 assault on Israel by the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.
The movement’s leaders, who say they also oppose former President Donald Trump, acknowledge their efforts could inadvertently help Trump return to power. But they believe sending a message that “defending genocide” can cost a candidate the presidency is more important, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
“By defeating [Biden], it would signal to the entire political landscape that defending genocide could lead to your defeat, so beware,” Hassan Abdel Salam, a University of Minnesota human rights professor who quit teaching to focus on leading Abandon Biden, told the newspaper. “That’s my goal…promote the message throughout the nation and ensure it’s a consistent one.”
NEW: Muslim leaders from swing states have gathered in Dearborn, Michigan to launch a nationwide campaign to “Abandon Biden.”
The announcement from these Muslim leaders came in response to Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war
“We are announcing that President Biden has lost… pic.twitter.com/TDf0LSXlFO
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 3, 2023
Salam and other Minnesota Muslims launched the campaign after Biden failed to heed their demand that he he call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza by Oct. 31, less than a month after the barbarous Hamas attack killed about 1,200 Israelis and took more than 200 hostage.
While Biden recently paused an arms shipment to Israel, they say it was too little, too late for them.
According to Salam, the group is looking for third-party candidates to endorse in the summer.
Are you voting against Joe Biden?
Among the 14 Muslim voters interviewed by the Star Tribune, only three said they would vote for Biden in 2024. One of the men interviewed told the newspaper that the Democratic Party thinks Muslims will vote for Biden because they are scared of Trump.
“[Trump] will stay four years, but the Democrats will learn a lesson: They’re going to lose their base if they don’t listen to the people,” he said.
The group is now active in nine swing states like Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin where Muslim voters could potentially sway tight races.
“Our math right now shows really no pathway for Biden to win,” Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Star Tribune.
Biden got over 30,000 votes from Dearborn alone in 2020 on his way to winning Michigan by 154,000 votes overall. With a tight re-election battle expected, losing substantial Arab American support could badly undermine Biden’s path to victory in this critical swing state, according to The Washington Post.
“We’ve squandered the power that we have here for too long because Democrats were stringing us along saying ‘Vote for me, we’re not the other guy,’”one Abandon Biden activist told the Post. “This is such a dangerous time that we’re finally willing to use that card, and [Biden] thinks we’re bluffing.”
“But @POTUS is your only hope!” Nope. #AbandonBiden pic.twitter.com/ensDwCU9JK
— Dr. Omar Suleiman (@omarsuleiman504) December 4, 2023
A poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute in October showed Biden’s support plummeting among Arab American voters from 59 percent in 2020 to just 17 percent at the time of the survey — a staggering 42 percentage point collapse. His approval rating among the constituency also cratered from 74 percent to 29 percent.
The poll also showed that two-thirds of Arab Americans have a negative view of the president’s policies toward the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The findings could have major electoral implications, as Arab Americans account for hundreds of thousands of votes in battleground states like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania that may decide the 2024 outcome, according to a statement by the Arab American Institute.
Perhaps most striking, the poll marks the first time in over 26 years that a majority of Arab Americans did not say that they prefer the Democratic Party.
Arab Americans have put their hope in the false idol of the Democratic Party, assuming that their faithful allegiance would force the hand of U.S. policy against the enemies of Islamic countries.
Fortunately, despite Biden’s efforts to hold back aid to Israel and his attempts to control Israel’s ability to destroy its enemies, there are still enough lawmakers within both parties combined who understand the difference between support for a terrorist organization, Hamas, and a Democratic nation, Israel.
Now, Muslims in the U.S. are hoping that by helping to defeat Biden, they will bring the Democratic Party to its knees, ready to do their bidding in the future.
Their strategy may actually have some long-term merit in that it could increase their power in the win-at-all-costs Democratic Party. But that could simply clarify voting in future elections — and in ways Democrats might not like. Supporting dictators and terrorists over allies isn’t popular among the American mainstream.
In the short term, meanwhile, they are helping to gift-wrap a sure victory for former President Trump and the Republican Party.
