As Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign gains momentum, a growing number of pro-Palestinian protesters have turned their attention toward her, vowing to make their voices heard at her campaign events and at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Their frustration is understandable: The Biden administration’s support for Israel has been a source of deep disappointment for many and as vice president, Harris has been a key part of that administration.
Pro-Palestinian protesters are free to claim credit for President Joe Biden ending his reelection bid, or Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro not getting the vice presidential nod from Harris. But their consistent efforts to undermine Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee only serve to ultimately harm their cause—both by increasing the odds that Donald Trump will win the election and generating the kind of bad blood that will make a Harris administration less likely to want to work with them.
“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students,” GOP nominee Trump said at a May 14 fundraising event. “As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave.”
Calling the pro-Palestinian protesters a “radical revolution, he added, “Well, if you get me elected, and you should really be doing this, if you get me reelected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years.”
Talking with Time magazine, Trump said he’d deploy the National Guard against protesters and expressed skepticism that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the right approach.
“Most people thought it was going to be a two-state solution. I’m not sure a two-state solution anymore is gonna work,” Trump said. He also promised to ban Gaza refugees from entering the U.S.
And of course, Trump has been virulently anti-Muslim since forever.
“[Barack Obama] doesn’t have a birth certificate, or if he does, there’s something on that certificate that is very bad for him,” Trump said way back in 2011. “Now, somebody told me—and I have no idea if this is bad for him or not, but perhaps it would be—that where it says ‘religion,’ it might have ‘Muslim.’ And if you’re a Muslim, you don’t change your religion, by the way.”
His first act as president was an attempt to ban citizens from seven Muslim countries from entering the United States.
And on July 7 of this year, Trump posted a screenshot on his Truth Social account of a Biden tweet that said, “Jill and I wish a Happy Islamic New Year to all families who celebrate. May the arrival of the 1446 Hijri New Year bring you love, peace, and prosperity.” His MAGA followers knew exactly what to do, launching into a steady stream of Islamophobic hate.
The thing is, none of these pro-Palestinian leaders claim Trump is with them. There is clear-eyed realism about the danger he represents. In fact, they think he is so dangerous that they’re afraid to protest him.
It is absolutely true that protesting a Trump rally would be dangerous. But if people fear Trump and his goons while they’re out of power, what do they think will happen if he regains it?
Or put another way: Why are they afraid of him while he is campaigning, but not afraid of him being back in power? The former is scary, but the latter is downright terrifying.
Protesting Harris rather than Trump is strategically flawed. November’s election results will absolutely have an impact in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is desperately wishing for Trump’s return to the White House. (It will have a similar effect in Russia, where Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is praying for Trump to save him from Ukraine’s ongoing resistance.)
In both of those cases, maniacal and murderous leaders are facing widespread global condemnation for their warmongering—efforts that will be cheered on by a Trump administration. Remove Trump from the board, and both Netanyahu and Putin face a bleak path forward. If Harris’ campaign is weakened to the point where she loses to Trump, the protesters will have inadvertently facilitated the rise of a leader whose policies are unequivocally detrimental to Palestinian rights.
Sure, they’ll disavow any responsibility and claim it’s Harris’ fault for not listening to them. But the reality on the ground will be stark. It won’t matter whose fault it is if a newly elected Trump further fans the flames of war and destruction in the Middle East.
Good luck protesting him then.
And this isn’t getting into the damage Trump, hell-bent on avenging old grievances and backed by his extremist Supreme Court, would do to marginalized communities and our constitutional rights during a second term in office.
Protests are more than a simple expression of self-righteous anger: Their goal should be to effect change. Right now, the greatest chance for change is a Harris presidency. It’s not asking much for protesters to lay low for less than three months, wait for Harris to win the election, and then protest away the day after the election. At least they’ll be protesting someone with the power to potentially deliver on their demands. And a Harris administration will be far likelier to work with protesters who gave her space to win, rather than those who attempted to sabotage her efforts.
Ours is obviously a free country with a right to assembly—for now. There are no guarantees it will stay that way if Harris loses and Trump slithers back into the White House.
Help ensure that Donald Trump stays out of the White House by donating $5 to Kamala Harris today.
