CRINGEWORTHY: Trump and Harris try wooing US Muslim voters

Alameen Templeton

Donald Trump remains an avid fan of Markaz Sahaba, it seems, picking up Tuesday on our earlier advice that Muslims should delay voting in the US election until the last hours, “The Don” is urging his supporters to vote early.

Don’t listen to him!

If US Muslims delay their vote until the last hours, they’ll know who’s leading in the polls. Differences in the support margins for both candidates are so thin that the peripheral Muslim vote could become the deciding factor on November 5.

Polls have Harris edging out Trump by less than a percentage point – 45% to 44%, the UK’s Independent says.

And, our earlier article predicting the two main candidates – Republican Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris – would start trying to woo the Muslim vote at the race to the finish, also appears to be on the money.

Don’t mention the genocide

They’re both appealing the Muslims and Arab-American voters in key voting blocs in Michigan, the state with the biggest concentration of Muslims in America. And they’re studiously avoiding the word “genocide” while trying to appear as sincere as possible.

Harris Friday pledged anew to “help end the Israel-Hamas war”, Newsweek reports.

Politico reports, if elected president, Harris pledged to “do everything in my power” to release hostages and initiate a ceasefire. Most Muslims who traditionally lean towards the Democrats, however, doubt she’d be any more impactful than her current boss, “Genocide” Joe Biden.

“Trump and Harris both crisscrossed Michigan on Friday in an effort to net support from the swing state’s voters ahead of the election. Trump’s focus included enclaves that have significant Arab American and North African American populations.

“Though Muslim Americans in Michigan have tended to cast ballots for Democratic presidential candidates in the past, recent polls have shown a fissure in that loyalty amid concerns over how the Biden administration’s has handled the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Newsweek reports.

Trump has some heavy lifting ahead, mainly due to who he is and what he has said in the past.

“For his part, Trump is working to make inroads with a group who was directly impacted by a travel ban during his administration targeting Muslim countries. He has since said he would reinstate the ban and broaden it to include refugees from Gaza,” Newsweek says.

His own worst enemy

He saved his famous “best words” to do a thorough job of shooting himself in the foot, meandering from his prepared speech to observe Yahya Sinwar “was not a good person”, adding: “Biden is trying to hold (Israeli fuhrer Benjamin Netanyahu) back … He probably should be doing the opposite, actually.”

So, Trump appears personally to have given up on even trying to woo Muslim supporters. But that’s not stopping the GOP from ensuring its candidate has visited all areas where Muslims are concentrated.

Of course, there are always individuals willing to buck the general trend, and both candidates have bought off a few willing quislings.

Times of India reports Harris, during her Michigan speech, singled out a lone outlier, Wayne County deputy executive Assad Turfe, whose name she mispronounced, as one Muslim supporter.

Trump mentioned his endorsement of Hamtramck mayor Amer Galib, but had difficulty identifying Muslims, asking Brian Pannebecker, a die-hard fan and founder of Autoworkers for Trump: “Do you have a little Arab blood in you?”

He also delivered a backhanded insult to Muslims, observing during remarks about Harris. Muslim were likelier to vote for her “because she doesn’t know what she is doing”.