If Harris loses, she will have only herself to blame
Kamala Harris is currently heading for defeat in two weeks. We saw the reasons why clearly this week.
Donald Trump staged a photo op at a McDonald’s and another at a neighborhood barber shop in the Bronx. It was all staged, all phony, as mainstream media—which gave all this a TON of coverage, showing how they’ve learned nothing from their prior failures—took great pains to point out.
And that doesn’t matter, because these stunts played very well for the audience Trump was aiming for. That is, people who lean toward voting for him, but are unsure.
And Harris? She sat chatting charmingly with one of the farthest right politicians in the U.S., Liz Cheney. This only alienates the voters who might vote for her but are unsure. The voters who like this sort of thing—willing to sacrifice principle for the sake of a sham “bipartisan unity” or are basically conservative but are opposed to Trump’s desire to become king of the U.S.—are already voting for Harris.
They’ve been part of the Democratic voting bloc for eight years already. It’s progressives and, especially, those who care about Palestinians, the poor, and other marginalized and endangered communities who are uncertain to vote for Harris, even though most know full well how horrible Trump will be.
Harris, as I’ve noted numerous times in recent days, was gifted an opportunity by the letter that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant noting the many ways Israel is not living up to the standards it is legally required to meet in order to continue receiving military aid from Washington.
Of course, there’s no real threat there to the flow of arms, but Harris could use that letter. She need only say that as a former prosecutor, she will hold Israel to these standards as she will for any other country that receives U.S. aid.
She would not be going against the policies of the President, since this letter came from Biden’s own cabinet. But it would be a meaningful promise to supporters of Palestine. Polls have shown that taking a stance of real pressure on Israel to stop its genocide in Gaza would be met favorably and make people in swing states more likely to vote for her. Blinken and Austin gave her a way to do that without opposing Joe Biden.
But Harris would rather pal around with Liz Cheney and her father, two of the farthest right figures in the country. It’s worth noting that Cheney, while she was in Congress, voted with Trump almost all the time, 93% of the time. By contrast, Elise Stefanik, seen as one of the great far-right leaders in the House, voted with Trump 78% of the time. Cheney supports Trumpism with all her heart. She just wants someone other than Trump to lead it. That’s what Harris is making common cause with.
Harris is literally throwing this election away. And if she loses, as she appears likely to do, do not blame Muslim, Arab, and other pro-Palestine advocates who found it difficult or impossible to vote for someone who was so deeply involved in the genocide in Gaza.
The fault, my fellow Americans, lies not with the anti-genocide voters, but with a candidate who has run a campaign that made such obviously self-immolating decisions.