That imperiousness spilled over into Harris’s brusque and heartless response to protestors over Gaza, clearly heard when she responded to demonstrators at a rally, “You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.” The point was clear: if you criticize me on this issue, you’re just asking for a Trump win. When she mentions genocide, it’s only twice, in reference to protestors, like the time they showed up at a Detroit rally as what she describes as a “noisy group” (well, yes, they were protesting!): “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide. We won’t vote for genocide.” She paints their opposition to her on the issue as “reckless,” and otherwise avoids mentioning them. They were there, and it was annoying, but what can you do? is the attitude.

Like most liberals and Democrats, Harris assumed Gaza would not matter to enough voters. She seems to have assumed that the issue would never have a reach beyond, perhaps, Dearborn, Michigan, which has a high concentration of Arab Americans. She speaks of pity for dead children, which is a standard liberal response, but stakes her political position close to Israel. She did not allow even the anodyne Uncommitted group of pro-Palestine voters to speak at the convention, but praises herself for having received praise from the Washington Post’s David Von Drehle for how she tackled the issue: “And, behold, she had her boat through the impossible strait.” Yet, she maintained complete silence on the matter of genocide. As with gay men and trans people, she banked on the idea that no one would care about insignificant numbers of people.

In 2016 Dearborn voted 63 percent for Clinton. In 2024, Harris got 36 percent, while Trump got 43 percent. Meanwhile, Rashida Tlaib, a vocal critic of Israel and a staunch advocate for trans rights, won her seat by 63 percent.

spits on the Biden and Harris campaign

what an embarassment, on so many levels…