RICHARD ESKOW, rjeskow@gmail.com, @rjeskow
Eskow is host and managing editor of “The Zero Hour” and was the lead writer for the Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign. He recently wrote the piece “Dems Are Afraid Gaza Will Cost Them the Election. They’re Not Afraid Enough.”
He writes: “It should be self-evident that genocide is bad because it’s genocide, but apparently it isn’t — at least, not to everyone. There is, however, another reason to demand an immediate ceasefire: Unless they change course, the Democrats are much likelier to lose … than most people seem to realize. That thought should terrify anyone who dreads the prospect of another Trump presidency — potentially with control of both houses of Congress.
“A recent poll from the Arab American Institute received some much-deserved attention (if not enough) because it showed a massive decline in support for Democrats among Arab American voters because of White House support for Israel’s attack on Gaza. That decline could cost the Democrats several swing states.
“The AAI poll has, it seems, gotten some Democrats’ attention. The Washington Post reports that this voter shift is a ‘huge concern’ for a Harris campaign that, in the Post’s words, ‘sees the images of dead civilians as complicating her path to victory in key swing states …’
“That’s a rather cold-blooded way for the Post to phrase it, but it’s certainly accurate. As an unnamed advisor to the campaign told the Post, ‘It comes down to people saying, “I can’t support anyone who supports a genocide.”’
“The problem is even bigger than they think. The U.S.-backed violence in Gaza will also cost the Democrats votes in other groups — I estimate more than 60,000 total lost votes in Michigan alone — losses that could demolish Democrats’ chances.”