Reading The New York Times’ Weekend international edition two days before the US Presidential Election one can feel the sense of acute anxiety, despair even, among its top writers. On the frontpage of the November 2-3, 2024 edition, veteran columnist pleads to Arab Americans not to punish Vice President Kamala Harris for the Biden administration’s continued support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
“If Donald Trump is elected president on Tuesday, one factor may be anger at Biden administration policies in the Middle East,” Nicholas Kristof wrote. “Some Arab Americans, including those in swing states like Michigan, are enraged at President Biden’s support for Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Their taxes are paying for weapons that may be killing their relatives…”
Kristof went on to cite Save The Children that “3,000 children in Gaza under the age of 5” have been killed in Gaza so far.
Kristof was quick to remind his readers that Trump is not better than Biden-Harris when it comes to Palestinians, and Arabs in general. “It was [the Trump] administration that moved the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, that closed the Washington office of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.” He then recalled how under the first Trump administration, the US government “instituted the so-called Muslim ban, seeking to block travel to America by citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.”
Kristof apparently has failed to convince enough Arab Americans to vote for Harris as many of these angry voters wanted to punish the Biden-Harris government for what they have been doing over the past year in the Middle East.
On page 10 of the same paper, another desperate opinion piece was penned by Jonathan Stevenson, a National Security Council staff member during the Obama administration. Stevenson imagined a doomsday scenario when hours after Trump took office “mass deportation of undocumented immigrants” took place.
Apparently, many American voters were more concerned about the undocumented immigrants stealing their jobs.
In a country where poor people are struggling with over 20 percent inflations, have little access to medical care, and feel that their country’s “sole superpower” status is under severe threat, if not already consigned to history, due to failed management and growing challenges from China and other powers, Trump’s MAGA 2024 mantra of Make America Great Again resonate with more voters, particular the less-educated white working class voters. They want a leader who could show China not just the door but give her a middle finger.
(Bernie Sanders said: “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party that abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.)
I couldn’t help but notice a rough resemblance between Pheu Thai voters who prioritized bread and butter issues over human rights issues such as reforming the lese majeste law that’s demanded by many young and educated Thai voters who support what is now People’s Party.
There are more factors as to why Harris lost. Entering the race midway to replace Joe Biden, she didn’t seem to have enough time to communicate to the voters clearly as to who she was and how she differed from Biden if allowed to run the country.
If the US under Trump restoration turns out to be more isolationist, the world will have to learn to adapt. The EU, for example, will have to take greater responsibilities in helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia. This is not all necessarily a bad thing as it will enable the world to become even more multipolar. The world doesn’t really need a sole superpower or a global policeman patrolling the seven seas and poking its nose into other people’s business. Other nations will have to, and should, learn to be more independent and forge new alliances, and friends, in case of an insular America under Trump.
Thais are bracing for a possible 20 percent Trump tariff and will have to seek new markets abroad instead of becoming too complacent and dependent on the US market. This is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly in the long run.
Americans who didn’t vote for Trump will have to learn to coexist with Trump and Trumpians. They did manage between 2017 to 2021 and should know how to deal with Trump the second time around. I trust these Americans are adequately resilient and resourceful to endure and wake up to the reality of the failures of the Democratic Party and eventually create a more fair and just America in the future.
