Why Mehdi Hasan’s “Lesser Of Two Evils” Election Advice Is Wrong

In a recent monologue, Mehdi Hasan criticized political analyst Sami Hamdi and a coalition of imams who signed a petition to abandon Kamala Harris due to the ongoing crisis in Gaza. Hasan argued that Trump’s return to power wouldn’t improve—and might worsen—the situation in Gaza while installing a leader with a clear history of anti-Muslim bias during his presidency.

Hasan further contended that causing the Democrats to lose wouldn’t shift U.S. support for Israel, either now or in the future. He claimed that the Muslim community was too small and disorganized to effect such major changes, citing examples such as the Muslim vote for Bush, which did little to affect the Iraq War, and the limited impact of Bernie Sanders’s movement on the overall Democratic Party.

1. Morality

In a viral CBS interview, Ta-Nehisi Coates stated there’s no excuse one could make against the Palestinians that would cause him to support apartheid. At some level, there must be red lines we simply cannot cross.

There’s no disagreement among us about the immorality of the Biden-Harris administration’s actions: subsidizing the devastation in Gaza, replenishing Israel’s military arsenal, and turning a blind eye in daily briefings to the war crimes their soldiers brazenly broadcast.

State Department officials have been abandoning Biden and Harris throughout this past year of conflict and are actively working outside to pressure the administration:

The former officials who resigned publicly – Josh Paul, Harrison Mann, Tariq Habash, Annelle Sheline, Hala Rharrit, Lily Greenberg Call, Alex Smith, and Stacy Gilbert – said that they felt their perspectives, expertise and concerns were not being heeded, and that the administration was willingly ignoring the humanitarian toll caused by Israel’s military campaign. They spoke of the damage they felt US policy on the war is having on the country’s credibility and a sense that the administration did not fully grasp that impact.

Out of sheer principle, it should be obvious we cannot support people who abet such devastation and must call them out for what they are. The argument that Trump will be worse is moot—we must first deal with what is and state unequivocally what they are.

A question for Mehdi Hasan: We agree that the policy is bad, but are you willing to state on Zeteo and other platforms you frequent that Biden and Harris are fundamentally immoral and depraved? Or is remaining silent part of this lesser-evil pragmatism?

Mehdi also criticized the Imams for “weaponizing faith” to push against voting for Kamala Harris – where was Mehdi when Muslim Dem operatives were telling the community it was a religious obligation to vote in the 2012 elections for Obama – I was certainly there ridiculing it well over a decade ago.

You would be right to call out some type of hypocrisy on my part – why call it out back then and not now? Three key reasons:

1. This isn’t a group of low-level brown-nosing Dem operatives who live and die on photo-ops with politicians as in 2012 – these are real, grassroots community scholars, imams, and community workers.
2. The issue being called out isn’t simply a matter of religious interpretation by one group of people – people of all faiths, philosophies, and ideological persuasions the world over, human rights groups, and the ICJ all know how immoral and depraved this is – it would be odd if our faith didn’t have guidance to offer us on this for something so clear and obvious.
3. As a matter of authority, the people we trust to render religious verdicts and advice go to those best trained to understand and interpret it, and it certainly wasn’t self-interested political operatives in 2012.

I ask you again Mehdi, can you recognize not only the evil of the policies, but the people themselves? Can you draw a red line and call on others to abandon joining this spineless zionist serving administration?

2. Accountability

Continuing to vote for the Democratic Party because the Republicans are always worse by a degree means that, regardless of what they do, they will never face consequences when they step out of line. Not only will our vote be taken for granted, but Democratic leadership will feel entitled to our votes to the point of patronizing and talking down to voters, as Barack Obama recently did with young Black men.

Democrats need to learn that our votes must be earned, regardless of who’s on the other side. They also need to understand that the electorate has limits to what it will tolerate, and anyone who supported the devastation in Gaza doesn’t deserve our support. This party must face severe consequences for discarding decency and humanity for a cynical roll of the lobbying dice with AIPAC.

The Democrats don’t care about Gaza, but they do care about holding onto power and influence for themselves and their supporting lobbies. Punishing them means they’ll also have to live with Trump and all that comes with it. When the dust settles, if that’s the price they must pay, then pay it they must in order to feel the consequences of their actions.

3. 3rd Party Voting

Should the Green Party gain 5% of the vote, they’ll be a constant thorn in the Democratic Party’s side. They’ll be granted automatic ballot access in many states and given federal funding for future elections. If Democrats are afraid of spoilers now, just wait and see what happens when a third party is entrenched with more legitimacy and given the chance to speak during debates and receive further publicity.

There is no doubt the Stein/Ware vote cannot win in this election, but Mehdi again chooses to miss the real point: that is, when voters opt for a 3rd party in significant numbers, it means one or both parties will need to pay attention to exit polls and understand who left their party and why. They will also be most interested in voters that wouldn’t come out for either, but came out for Green.

Democrat operatives make disparaging remarks against the Green Party, calling them spoilers. They also turn them into scapegoats along with “Russian disinformation”, and not actual bad policy positions such as unconditionally arming this ongoing genocide in Gaza.

4. Punishing Zionism

As Sami Hamdi pointed out in his interview on the Thinking Muslim podcast with Muhammad Jalal, Zionists are punishing Democratic candidates like Jamaal Bowman who try to both-sides this crisis, let alone act pro-Palestinian. They spent millions to take out Bowman and are spending millions more trying to recapture the narrative of being America’s unconditional ally. They’re terrified of the volume of media materials, student campus protest movements, and algorithm overwhelm from the sheer number of Muslims and non-Muslims who see this crisis for what it is.

The way we challenge Zionism and break its grip of invincibility is by letting the Democrats know that AIPAC and the pro-Israel lobbies and affiliated military-industrial complex aren’t the only ones who can hold them accountable, and our vote is not to be taken for granted.

This gets to another point Mehdi raised: aren’t we just small and without enough power and influence? Shouldn’t we just get some incremental wins, be happy, and perhaps hope they’ll give us some minor positions in government, considering it a win that we’ve gained some foothold of influence?

If this were the pre-9/11 era when both Mehdi and I were college students, that would make sense, but his comparisons are off-base. Here’s why: This movement isn’t just Muslims in an MSA campus or Arabs in Michigan. It includes Jews, Christians, Indians, African Americans, Latinos, Indigenous people, and more. The encampments, worldwide protests, rulings from the ICJ, humanitarian reports, and more that Mehdi cites in his excellent debates with Piers Morgan or Zionists remind us that the outrage against this crisis is felt strongly by many and has broken through to the mainstream.

If there was ever a chance, even tiny, for Muslims to push back and win, that time is right now.

Final Thoughts

The entire point of the lesser of two evils incrementalism is that we expect Democrats wouldn’t do what Biden Harris is doing. With Trump being “Hitler”, we expect that the one who subsidizes a genocide unconditionally is the Republicans – the very reason we choose to be Democrats is to avert what’s happening right now.

I look forward to the day Mehdi denounces this White House as we do Netanyahu – genocidal monsters for which a red line has been crossed, and not to simply reduce the discussion down to “bad on this policy, better on these policies, on balance the lesser of two evils”.

[Disclaimer: this opinion article does not reflect the views of MuslimMatters, a non-profit organization that does not endorse candidates and welcomes editorials with diverse political perspectives.]

 

Related:

– For Harris, Genocide Must Come With A Political Cost

– Imams Call To “Abandon Harris” As American Election Looms