If you’re Muslim, here are logical reasons why you shouldn’t vote for Trump
So it turns out that many Muslims have been flocking to the polls and voting for Donald Trump. Here’s my list of reasons why you shouldn’t vote for four more years, based on arguments I’ve heard from Muslim Trump supporters.
“Trump has done a lot of good for Muslims living overseas. He pulled troops out of Afghanistan!”
Pulling troops out of Afghanistan is a big deal. There’s no belittling that, especially when we consider how many of our Afghani brothers and sisters have been traumatized by over a decade of occupation.
But…
Keep in mind that this same president just blacklisted the International Criminal Court when it announced it wanted to prosecute war crimes committed by Americans against innocent Afghanis.
In simpler terms, Trump does not want American soldiers punished for the drone strikes, torture, and secret imprisonment of civilians. And he’s willing to go as far as to slander the International Criminal Court over it.
This shows that Trump doesn’t care about the Middle East or the people who live there. He was ready to bomb Iran at the beginning of this year, let’s not forget that. The only reason he pulled troops out of the MidEast is because he wants to put America first.
To him, that means funneling money into uplifting wealthy white America, while keeping Black and immigrant communities under his heel. He has never been subtle about this goal. A quick Google search is enough to paint a full picture of Trump’s advocacy for the rich, instead of the working class.
“Yeah, but Trump has made more humane foreign policy decisions than Obama did.”
Let’s not forget that Trump is the driving force behind some of the most cruel foreign policy decisions in U.S. history, and the evidence is right at our Southern border.
I won’t get into the whole debate surrounding the issue of immigration. (That’s a whole other article.) But no matter what your stance is on that, no one can deny that what’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border is edging into the realm of genocidal.
Here’s a list of some of those offenses:
- Trump is keeping children in cages. Literal cages. With bars on them. We’re talking about human children who have no access to basic hygiene supplies, medical care, or basic human comfort.
- The abuse, sexual assault, and forced sterilization of Latino refugees is an everyday occurrence in these detention centers.
- As of October 23rd, 2020, a total of 545 children cannot be reunited with their parents… because ICE doesn’t even keep record of where their parents are. There’s no way to sugarcoat this. You would have to be a monster to separate even one child from his/her mother and father. To do it to 545 kids, with no regard for how young they are — what are you, a disciple of the devil himself?
This is a well-documented human rights abuse, and it should not be ignored. Doing so is a crime against humanity.
“But what about facilitating peace deals in the Middle East between Israel and other Arab countries?”
Trump supports Israel, and all but handed Jerusalem — the Holy City, which is revered by three separate religions — over to a nation that is ethnically cleansing the land of Palestinians. As if to validate their extensive list of crimes against humanity. This is inexcusable, no matter what.
And yes, other presidents may have supported Israel, but they did not unequivocally allow Israel to claim Jerusalem as its capital. That was a huge blow to not just Palestinians, but to the entire ummah.
Also, keep in mind that what’s advertised as a “peace deal” really just means that the nations in power — i.e. America and Israel — are the ones who decide the terms for peace. Rarely is the oppressed minority taken into consideration. A read into the history of Israel-Palestine relations is enough to prove that.
Long story short: These “peace deals” are mainly for show, and for Israel’s benefit. They do not change anything for Palestinians, who continue to be bombed, held up at checkpoints, publicly humiliated, and killed at whim on their own land by Israeli soldiers.
Think of police brutality in America… and then multiply that by at least a hundred times, with bombs and tanks and power outages and water shortages thrown in. Now you have an idea of what kind of threat Palestinians deal with on a day-to-day basis.
Don’t call that peace. That’s just delusion.
“It’s not like Trump supporting white supremacy is actually hurting anyone.”
White supremacists are not just emboldened by Trump. They’re actually beginning to take action. We all saw the news about the militia (aka, white terrorist group) that attempted to kidnap a government official just recently. We all saw how 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse gunned down two progressive demonstrators and was celebrated for it.
This is only the beginning.
The New Zealand mosque shooter cited Trump as inspiration in his manifesto — and Trump did nothing to distance himself from that. In fact, Trump’s the one who happily relayed a story in which he said, “Kill them with bullets dipped in pig’s blood” (2017). And Trump was the one who signed off on the Muslim Ban.
Allowing Trump to remain in office is asking for four more years of growing the power of white supremacists. We are actively increasing the risk of other Muslim communities worldwide suffering tragedies similar to New Zealand.
Don’t put that on your record on Judgment Day.
“But compared to Joe Biden, Trump has Islamic values. He doesn’t drink or smoke, and he’s pro-life and believes marriage is only between a man and a woman!”
Let’s remember that simply not smoking or drinking doesn’t make someone automatically a good person.
Another Islamic value is keeping your hands and eyes to yourself. Trump has 26 accusations of sexual assault against women on his record. He has made multiple lewd, disparaging comments about interactions with women, which I would type out, but it’s honestly so lewd that half of it would be censored anyway. (But if you Google it, you’ll find lengthy lists of the accusations, along with the disturbing details.)
And to those who say, “But accusations aren’t the same as actual charges!” I want to ask you if even one person had accused another person of rape, would you allow your daughter to marry him? How about allowing your daughter to put all her rights into his hands — by voting for him as President?
On the topic of abortion, please refer to this fantastic article by Yaqeen Institute, which will show you that the topic of abortion is nowhere near as black and white as Republican Christians would like you to believe: https://yaqeeninstitute.org/omar-suleiman/islam-and-the-abortion-debate-infographic
And on the topic of the LGBTQ community, just know that voting in a Republican president won’t change what people do in their own personal lives. That is between them and Allah. For more thoughts on this, Yaqeen Institute has yet another article on the topic (but do read it till the end): https://yaqeeninstitute.org/jonathan-brown/lgbtq-and-islam-revisited-the-days-of-the-donald
“But Trump has been good for the working class!”
This is not even beginning to cover the spending cuts he plans to make on education (which directly impacts ALL communities, which means fewer opportunities for all children of all backgrounds), and spending cuts on healthcare, which again directly impacts every single one of us.
Human life is cheap to Trump. He’s loud and proud about that.
He has proven that time and time again.
“But the alternative is Joe Biden, and I hate Joe Biden.”
I know Joe Biden is not at all an ideal choice. In fact… he kind of stinks.
However, let’s remember that a Democratic president:
- CAN block harmful measures put forth by the Senate, which is currently controlled by Republicans and their agenda.
- CAN be more openly supportive of younger, more local representatives who are more in touch with their communities (including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley, both of whom are non-Muslims who are strongly vocal about Muslim rights).
- CAN appoint a liberal Supreme Court Justice, who would be able to help overturn any future racist/discriminatory measures like the Muslim Ban
Lastly, there are a lot of comparisons that have been drawn between Trump and Hitler prior to the Holocaust. There’s a lot of them. And the differences aren’t as subtle as you might think.
Even though we are not seeing widespread death and targeting of a community right now, it is entirely possible see this happening on a large scale to minorities in America. This is not a hypothetical, this is learning from history.
A nation does not start killing its minorities out of nowhere. There is a slow buildup first. And it always, always begins with a fear-mongering, hate-spreading leader, whose base is so loyal that they would be willing to take up arms for him.
