This past Tuesday, Michiganders unwilling to play a part in Biden’s genocidal war on Gaza chose the “uncommitted” option in their ballot boxes. By the time the polls closed, the cross-state movement had overwhelmed its aspirations for 20,000 votes and reached over 101,100 votes.

Each one of those votes represented a voter who left their home in the middle of the 10°C Michigan weather, got in their car or public transport, and hauled over to a polling booth in order to send a clear message to the Biden White House.

What is an 'Uncommitted' Vote?

According to Nathaniel Rakich, senior elections analyst at FiveThirtyEight, an “uncommitted” vote means a voter is saying, “I don’t want any of those candidates. I want my delegates to the convention to go in uncommitted,” which in turn “sends a message to Biden about Gaza…which is the number one issue, the number two issue, and the number three issue” for some Michiganders.

Back when Obama was the incumbent in 2012, the uncommitted vote did not surpass 2%, with 20,000 votes. This time around, with 101,000 votes, and a 13.3% share, the consequences for Biden’s reelection campaign are foreboding.

Accountability for Biden

Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, Americans who are non-interventionist, and all Americans who believe in freedom and justice for the Palestinian people have had to watch in horror for the past 145 days as Biden gave an unblinking green light to Bibi’s rabid genocidal war on Gaza.

Throughout the onslaught that has seen +30,000 Palestinians butchered, most of whom are women and children and with thousands more still under the rubble, Biden has steadfastly supplied the weapons, ammunition, personnel, diplomatic cover, and media support for the genocide to continue.

From that sentiment of sheer anger arises the #Listen2Michigan movement begging Biden to reconsider his unconditional support of "Israel", as well as the #AbandonBiden movement, which argues that whatever happens from now till November, all Democrats must abandon Biden and vote for any alternative.

Why Michigan Matters

Over the past two national presidential elections, the outcome has hinged on a few voters and even fewer states. In 2016, Donald Trump carried Michigan with a 0.23% margin, or 10,704 votes. In 2020, Biden successfully flipped the state with a margin of 2.78% and 155,000 votes at a time when Trump was at an all-time low in favorability polls.

The Republican Primary concluded on the same day with Trump edging out Biden in sheer number of votes with a margin of 138,000, a number that will be higher once Nikki Haley drops out of the race.

Therefore, the number of democrats voting uncommitted, and the number of people who decide to sit out the election altogether currently point to a Biden loss on the 5th of November.

The Lesser of Two Evils Argument Fails

As a response to the movement to punish Biden for refusing to rein in Netanyahu’s genocidal war on Gaza, some Democratic pundits and political talking heads took to X in hopes of dissuading Michiganders from “handing it to Trump.”

Matthew Yglesias, co-founder of Vox and Bloomberg columnist, said in a post:

It’s interesting that in the 2024 cycle the people most aggressively working to sabotage Biden’s reelection over Israel don’t even deny that Trump would be worse — it sort of leaves us without much to debate.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) February 28, 2024

In a follow-up post, Yglesias wrote:

“I keep starting on drafts that are like ‘why you should hope Biden wins if you care about Palestinian human rights’ but then I check and everyone actively working to defeat him has actually already conceded that point.”

However, is that true? Even though Trump was responsible for launching the normalization accords that completely ignored the Palestinians, spearheaded the campaign to defund UNRWA, moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, and recognized the Golan as Israeli, is he so much better than Biden, that Arab Americans are stupidly condemning themselves by voting uncommitted? The answer is an emphatic no.

Biden is Worse than Trump on Palestine

In a closing monologue of his February 21st Rumble Show, System Update journalist Glenn Greenwald said:

“If you’re somebody who vehemently supports Israel, I truly believe that you owe the Biden administration a lot of gratitude, support, and praise because [...] there is no other country on earth that has done more, and that has been as steadfast in support of Israel.”

Biden has, in his efforts to aid "Israel", launched strikes on Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. While Trump tried and failed to pull US troops out of Syria, and abandon U.S. military entanglements in the region, the Biden admin has increased the number of active military in the region.

While Trump moved the embassy and recognized "Israel’s" theft of the Golan, did the Biden administration revoke any of these decisions? No. Finally, which administration spearheaded the largest withdrawal of Western funding of UNRWA in the history of the organization's existence? Again, the Biden administration.

Unprovoked Hysteria

While some Democrats have gone to such lengths as calling Michiganders who voted uncommitted as “terrorists,” none have vocalized the clear alternative to the active campaigns against Biden.

If you voted “uncommitted” in Michigan instead of voting for Biden, you’re a Trump supporting terrorist.

— Dash Dobrofsky (@DashDobrofsky) February 28, 2024

If Democrats are worried about a second Trump presidency, then they must share in the struggle by actively calling for a ceasefire and increasing the pressure on the democratic establishment that has been wholeheartedly supportive of "Israel".

A potential Biden loss in November should not be prematurely blamed on a segment of the American population that is simply exercising its rights. The blame lays flatly at the feet of the Democratic establishment. Biden holds Netanyahu’s leash, and if he wants to find a way to get reelected, he must start yanking hard.