The Kamala Harris campaign kicked out a prominent Muslim Democrat from the vice president’s rally in Royal Oak on Monday, further driving a wedge between the Democratic Party and Arab and Muslim Americans.
Ahmed Ghanim, a Democrat, says he accepted an invitation to the event and was seated in the Royal Oak Music Theatre when a campaign organizer ordered him to leave.
“She took me to the door, and she closed it, and I found two police officers waiting there, and she said, ‘You have to leave right now,’” Ghanim tells Metro Times. “I asked why she was kicking me out. She wouldn’t answer. I was very calmly asking why I was being kicked out.”
These things don’t just happen and get decided from anyone in a political party and rhey singled him out so they knew his face. This definitely came from someone with a senior position in the party. There’s no doubt about that. On top of that there seems to be a consistent trend of Harris and the Democratic party silencing Arab-Americans from speaking up, I wouldn’t just naturally assume this was some kind of accident.
Would you agree that inviting a prominent Muslim and then kicking them out has only downsides for the campaign? Like you think they are going to self sabotage because fuck that one guy in particular? That would be the stupidest campaign team ever.
I mean, yes? That’s kind of why we’re having this conversation.
And Harris and her team did respond this incident. It’s in the article. They did acknowledge that it was wrong and he was welcome back. But like I said above, her team has a habit of silencing Arab-Americans, and actions speak louder than words.
It doesn’t add up. I know they said he was welcome back but everyone is just spiderman pointing at one another about what actually happened. Why he was removed. Who made that call and why are they still with the campaign after sabotaging it would be my question.
These are questions only the Democratic party can answer, and the fact that they didn’t answer them in their statement is very telling. It’s very clear they do not want any Arab party members to speak up and are actively silencing them.
I mean… I think it’s more nuanced than that, but let’s say I’m on board with that. That doesn’t explain why they would make an unforced error here. It’s not logical. Whoever invited him when they didn’t want him there or kicked him out when they did, that person has royally fucked up. Feasibly cost her the election, perhaps.
So why protect them? Until someone can provide a narrative that makes some kind of sense, it looks to me like jumping to conclusions without enough facts to paint a coherent picture. And I’m not going to accept any “clear” conclusions until the pieces add up.
Which isn’t to say you’re wrong but I don’t have facts to support that you’re right. It doesn’t add up and when it doesn’t it always seems fishy to me that folks claim to draw clear narrative in murky water.
But I’ll also cop to a certain amount of distrust of any anti-Harris message these days. I don’t think she’s perfect, but I do think an awful lot of the people making hay over her imperfections are not being honest about their reasons for doing so.
I’d be inclined to agree with you and give her, and the Democrats, the benefit of the doubt if this was an isolated incident. It’s not, there’s a pattern here, and this was just the most recent one.
Okay. I think we’ve probably taken this discussion as far as we can given what information we have now. I hope you feel I’ve acknowledged and respected your position. I hope you can respect mine. Have a good night.
Fair. Have a good night as well.
Yes, Democrats never make unforced errors.