On consequences

I remember on Nov. 5, 2024. Our own Rational Left texted me the first exit poll. It hit me like a gutpunch. It was the poll which showed Latino men voting for Trump by ten points.

At first I had a hard time processing it. You know how off exit polls can be. Surely there's a spanner in the works. This can't be right.

As it turned out, it was incorrect. Data afterwards showed Latino men going for Trump 50% to 49%. But it was cold comfort. Aside from Florida, which is filled by my fellow Cubans, in 2020 Latino men voted for Joe Biden by nineteen points. In 2024, in Texas and Florida, Latino men went for Donald Trump by the same margin if not more.

This was when I knew that we had to suffer the consequences of our actions. We betrayed not only ourselves, but groups—specifically Black and Jewish communities—which had been our allies. We betrayed Latinas, who voted in landslides for Kamala Harris. We betrayed this country. We betrayed our cousins in Latin America. We voted for a man who ran on not only inflicting pain on our community here in the United States, but on the nations of our ancestors. As we say in Spanish, nos jodimos. And no amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth once the ramifications of our decision became apparent would suffice as atonement. It had to get as bad as it could get for us. It had to be driven into us that we are not, never were, and never will be "white". That whatever privilege our light skin might accord us in Peru or Mexico or Cuba meant nothing in a country built on white supremacy, in a country where we're "wetbacks" and "spics" and "beaners". We were going to have to suffer the dire consequences into which we walked willingly and with eyes open. Too many of us forgot the cages from the first regime. And now we were being thrown into rat-infested dungeons, or deported to the Central African Republic and other "shithole countries" which were more than willing to get paid by the Trump regime to be our jailers. We had to suffer humiliation and violence, and be purged by that fire. Why? Because we deserved it. Most often in life one gets what one deserves. Cause and effect is the general rule.

Which brings us to Mehdi Hasan.

How did Muslims vote? This is from CAIR, the main Muslim lobbying organization in the US:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today released the first set of results from its 2024 exit poll of 1,575 verified American Muslim voters.

The national results show Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein received 53% of the Muslim vote, followed by President-elect Donald Trump with 21% and Vice President Kamala Harris with 20%.

CAIR also released Michigan-specific responses from 502 registered Muslim voters, revealing that Dr. Stein received 59% support, with Trump at 22% and Harris at 14%.

And what did CAIR say about these results? This:

“We applaud American Muslims for their participation throughout the 2024 election season despite deep disillusionment due to the Gaza genocide. Through their activism during the primaries, their engagement with various presidential candidates, and their high turnout in the general election, American Muslims made their voices heard and reaffirmed their important place in our nation’s politics.

“Our final exit poll of American Muslim voters confirms that opposition to the Biden administration’s support for the war on Gaza played a crucial role, leading to a sharp drop in support for Vice President Harris compared to the support President Biden received from Muslim voters in 2020, and a sharp rise in support for third party candidate Jill Stein. President-Elect Trump also managed to make in-roads with Muslim voters.

“All elected officials and political parties must recognize the importance of engaging with Muslim voters about issues important to the community, from critical kitchen-table topics like the economy, healthcare and student debt to legal issues like civil rights and religious freedom to global issues like the genocide in Gaza. We encourage our community to keep making their voices heard in the weeks, months and years ahead.”

First and foremost: there is no genocide in Gaza. What there is in Gaza is a tragic war which was begun by the governing body of Gaza, the terrorist organization Hamas. A war begun with the slaughter of over one thousand Jews, the rape of women, the killing of children, and the kidnapping of over two hundred people, not all of them Israeli Jews.

Secondly: Jews are often accused of having "dual loyalty". They're more loyal to the "apartheid state" than to the US. But read the above statement. What is that other than "dual loyalty"? And what did these Muslim voters thing would happen once Trump was elected? Trump, who was a great friend to Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu? (Less so now, as usual, because "friendship" is only one-way with that orange subhuman.)

Muslim voters se jodieron in the same way that Latino male voters did. And now they must suffer the consequences we did. They must see innocent members of their communities ripped from their homes and thrown into dank dungeons. They must see innocents sent to foreign gulags. But more importantly, just like we have, they must see their alliances shrivel up and wither. They must finally realize that, whatever the blandishments of the US Census, they are not in fact "white". They never were. They must slough off their racism towards Black Americans. They must leave their hatred of Jews. In the aftermath of 9/11, whose 25th anniversary is tomorrow, people of good will across ethnic and racial and gender lines stood with American Muslims against hatred. During the first Trump regime, we likewise stood with them against the Muslim ban. And this is how we were repaid. I would have had more respect for them if they had voted for Donald Trump openly. Instead they were too clever by half, giving the majority of their vote to that wretch Jill Stein. "See, we didn't vote for Trump! We voted for another option!" That's a distinction without a difference.

So no, Mr. Hasan. I frankly don't give a fuck about your community. It has been offered an open hand time and again, and responded with a closed fist. Just like my community is having to learn a hard lesson, so must yours. Maybe then we can talk. But until then? Que se joden.