Uncommitted Co-Founder Says Trump Is "Preying on the Pain of Arab and Muslim American Voters"
Abbas Alawieh says he will vote for Harris “as a Democratic strategist and as someone who’s in a swing state,” but is “still terrified by the vacuum that she’s leaving.”
In These Times Staff
In an interview with CNN this week, Uncommitted national movement co-founder Abbas Alawieh described Donald Trump as a “purveyor of hate and white supremacy who’s actively preying on the pain of Arab and Muslim American voters right now.”
Alawieh said during the interview that he will vote for Harris “as a Democratic strategist and as someone who’s in a swing state,” but is “still terrified by the vacuum that she’s leaving.”
“I’m urging fellow Democratic voters to pair their vote, their support for Vice President Harris with a public commitment to pressure her to stop sending weapons should she become president,” Alawieh told CNN.
In contrast, Layla Elabed, who also co-founded the Uncommitted national movement, said in an interview on NBC about a week ago that she will not vote in the presidential race but will vote in down ballot races.
“I have decided that I will be skipping the top and focusing on candidates down ballot that align with my morals, align with my beliefs, that are champions of racial justice, climate change, an end to forever wars. So my focus will be on the down ballot candidates here in Michigan,” Elabed said.
The Uncommitted national movement announced last month that it would not be endorsing Harris, but recommended against a third-party vote and warned of a Trump presidency.
In These Times has been covering the Uncommitted national movement closely since its inception in Michigan, reporting that largely began in February with this interview between Elabed and In These Times columnist Eman Abdelhadi.
The interview transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.
A recording of the October 29, 2024 CNN interview with Abbas Alawieh on CNN.
ABBAS ALAWIEH | UNCOMMITTED CO-FOUNDER: The Uncommitted Movement has made clear from the beginning that Trump is not right for our community and is not right for the anti-war movement in this country. He wants Netanyahu to, quote-unquote, “finish the job.”
It’s clear to us that he’s a purveyor of hate and white supremacy who’s actively preying on the pain of Arab and Muslim American voters right now. And it’s resonating not because he’s particularly convincing, but because he’s filling a void that’s being left by Harris’s absence on this issue — the absence of support for families like my own, who have family in Lebanon right now, or who have family in Gaza or the West Bank right now, who are on the receiving end of U.S. weapons that are being used illegally to harm and kill civilians. …
As a Democratic strategist and as someone who’s in a swing state, who’s voting for Harris against Trump, I’m still terrified by the vacuum that she’s leaving. And so I’m urging fellow Democratic voters to pair their vote, their support for Vice President Harris with a public commitment to pressure her to stop sending weapons should she become president.
JOHN BERMAN | CNN ANCHOR: So you just said something interesting there. You’re voting for Harris, but your organization is not exactly endorsing Harris. What’s the difference there?
ALAWIEH: In our view, an endorsement is a very specific thing, and we made a public offer to Vice President Harris that if she embraces a different approach — if she endorses a policy that would truly implement international law, truly implement U.S. law, and stop the flow of weapons to Netanyahu for his mass killing campaign, he’s killing babies to the tune of over 16,000 babies — then we would come out and publicly endorse her.
That would mean we would mobilize people here in the state of Michigan and elsewhere. And what we did in the Uncommitted campaign here in Michigan in February, we made 1.5 million voter contacts and drove out 101,000 voters to vote for peace and against war — Democratic voters. And so what we were saying is: empower us to run that kind of mobilization campaign here in Michigan.
I was astounded that the Harris campaign told us in no uncertain terms that they do not want the endorsement of the Uncommitted Movement. I was surprised by that, and I hope that when we look back on this moment, we don’t look back at that specific decision by the Harris campaign and think, “Wow, it’s unfortunate that they left those votes on the table.” But I think we need a reckoning in our country of why is it that Democratic leaders would rather appease the AIPAC pro-war lobby in our country instead of siding with the majority of Democratic voters who want to stop the unconditional flow of weapons to Netanyahu’s murderous campaign.
I think we need a reckoning in this country, and my hope is that President Biden, ahead of Tuesday’s election, does something — it’s not too late to save lives — does something, takes decisive action to distance this administration from Netanyahu so that we can apply real pressure to save lives.
BERMAN: How much are you willing to do to help get Harris elected?
ALAWIEH: So, the Uncommitted campaign has been extremely clear about the threat of Donald Trump. Donald Trump not only is himself a purveyor of white supremacy, but he also is promising to potentially criminalize pro-Palestinian advocacy in our country. And so what we are doing here, through the Uncommitted movement, is the kind of advocacy that we did at the Democratic National Convention. We have a pro-Palestinian, anti-war movement from within the Democratic Party that is clear: we’ve got to block Donald Trump to continue our organizing to pressure the Democratic Party to take an approach that does not fund the genocidal actions of Netanyahu.
And so we’re engaging folks, we’re encouraging them to go out and vote. We’re making clear that a third-party vote, unfortunately, in our broken Electoral College system, a third-party vote in a swing state like Michigan does help Donald Trump.
We’re not recommending a third-party vote, and we’re continuing to stay engaged, to have the nuanced conversations with communities that are in an immense amount of grief. The number of funerals that I have attended here in southeastern Michigan, John — people who are actively mourning not just one or two, but multiple family members. I’m among those people. This is an immensely painful moment for us. We need Democratic Party leadership, and Vice President Harris and President Biden, specifically, to do more.
It’s on them to mobilize voters in this last stretch by signaling clearly that they value Arab lives, Muslim lives, just as much as anyone else’s life.
Disclosure: Views expressed are those of the interviewer and interviewee. As a 501©3 nonprofit, In These Times does not support or oppose any candidate for public office.
