All the action in the presidential primary this week is on the Democrats’ side, as President Joe Biden is calling in all the cavalry to head off any potential embarrassment in Michigan, where an organized campaign is begging Democrats to vote against him in the primary.
Here’s the problem: it’s nonsensical virtue signaling. The campaign, spearheaded by a group called Listen to Michigan, questions “Biden’s funding of the war and genocide in Gaza.” As a result, the group wants Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s primary elections, rather than vote for any other fictional presidential candidate.
But opposing Biden in a primary where he has almost no rivals is fundamentally frivolous because the stakes are so low. So I contacted three dozen locals supporters members of this alleged movement to ask whether they plan to support the Green Party’s presidential candidate in November or whether they will oppose Republican Elissa Slotkin’s Senate campaign because she has virtually the same position on Israel as Biden. Either situation would have potentially shocking consequences – do organizers think their cause is worth handing the White House to Donald Trump or the Senate to Mitch McConnell?
As you might expect, they didn’t make it that far. The two responses I received are telling. One, written by Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, misspelled his congressman’s name as “Shri Thenadar” and seemed to allude to the anti-Semitic theme of Jewish money controlling our government. The Michigan Democrat lamented to me that “our government’s decision has been hijacked by a power structure that represents the will of a minority group.”
The second, from Dearborn City Councilman Mustafa Hammoud, showed that Slotkin doesn’t seem to be taking his position all that seriously – even as he faces a potentially stiff primary rival from newfound Michigan State and actor Hill Harper. “I am not aware of any outreach or requests for support received by her campaign to organizations or elected officials that I personally know,” Hammoud told me.
But will he oppose Slotkin in November for the same reasons he opposes Biden in February? “It’s not a public discussion at this point,” he said, especially given its lack of coverage. This seems to suggest that the White House’s endless pilgrimages to Michigan to meet with enraged activists could backfire. Slotkin is giving them the noiseless treatment and is getting away with it for now.
Ghalib and Hammoud’s group is supported by some Michiganders, such as Republican Rashida Tlaib, as well as failed politicians such as former Ohio state senator Nina Turner. Both Tlaib AND Turner have an extensive history of human trafficking for the purposes of anti-Semitism – and in Tlaib’s case, support for Palestinian terrorists – so they’re an odd pair to poach.
Interestingly, the donation link on the Listen to Michigan website – which leads to the Arab Americans for Progress website – lists only 16 supporters out of a target of just 25. On the other hand, statewide Democrats like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer they supported Biden, even arguing that a “disengaged” campaign could lend a hand Trump.
What impact will this major action have in November? According to some Michigan political observers, almost nothing. One Republican strategist in the state predicted that “until they stop singling out Biden and stop protesting against similar candidates on the ballot, I guarantee these people will be in line.” Fortunately for Michigan Democrats, it seems to be working. Slotkin, along with both senators, Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, exactly ignore requests for comment on the “uninvolved” push.
The disconnect between potentially short-lived opposition to Biden and simultaneous support for Democrats with indistinguishable political positions is noteworthy. “It’s telling that many of the outspoken Uncommitted/#ListenToMichigan voices are not opposed to other candidates who share the exact same views as Biden, and some have even been involved in some of these efforts in the Middle East,” the Michigan Republican notes. “For example, Elissa Slotkin supported Israel and campaigned on her CIA credentials for many cycles…Her foreign policy views are the complete opposite of these protesters’ foreign policy views, and yet she avoided their anger, which leads us to its logical conclusion, that this is simply a senseless and baseless effort to undermine support for Israel.”
While Joe Biden has no risk of losing his renomination to Dean Phillips or even Marianne Williamson, the fact that he bends his foreign policy to cower to a few high-profile activists in Michigan should tell voters across America where his priorities really lie – regardless how many disengaged voices in Michigan have the president’s ear will lead to the collapse of America’s relationships with our allies around the world.
