Asra Nomani is a Muslim Reformer for many past positions I’ve been a supporter of. She’s one of the founders of the Muslim Reform Movement (MRM). She’s also appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher.
And so I was really startled when I read the headline in this tweet:
.@AsraNomani comes out as a Trump voter: “I’m a Muslim, a woman and an immigrant. I voted for Trump.” https://t.co/GrMApBtCJj
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah)
Asra Nomani’s recent vote for President Elect Donald Trump was to me, very disappointing. I of course, respect her right to vote her conscience. We all should. No one is suggesting that she should be harassed for her vote, or that she didn’t have the right to vote for her preferred candidate.
I imagine if that if Asra Nomani could have supported some core Republican policy positions via a different candidate — say one with the poise and grace of a President Obama — she would most certainly have preferred that option over the personality that is President Elect Donald Trump.
I know that if I woke up and we had a President Elect Rubio, Ryan or Kasich, it wouldn’t have bothered me as much. With any of them, we at least knew that they would conduct themselves with a civility and class befitting this high Office.
From what I know of Asra’s positions, she’s not defending the obvious and larger than life character flaws of President Elect Trump; she wants health care that she can afford. She’s a single mom and the Affordable Health Care Act isn’t very affordable in her particular circumstance.
I encourage you to read her opinion piece in the Washington Post. You’ll see legitimate policy reasons for her decision.
I accept that the Affordable Health Care Act has its flaws, as President Bill Clinton famously relayed. I think the ACA is a compromise with good intentions that falls short of what could really work much better: a single payer system like Canada and the rest of the G8 countries have.
So I don’t blame Asra for wanting to go back to the pre-Obamacare status quo if that worked better for her. I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that if a single payer option was on the table — a very liberal idea — she’d quite possibly like that the best.
Asra is also concerned with a political status quo that most of the country would likely agree with her on: the awkward coziness of Washington with the likes of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Distracted by the appalling rhetoric of Donald Trump’s campaign and character, is it possible that us liberals chose to downplay Clinton’s flaws and ties?
Many of us I’m sure, would have preferred a Bernie Sanders, or wished that Elizabeth Warren or Corey Booker had been in the running instead. But would even they be bold enough to change anything on the international front with Saudi Arabia, for example?
My weighing of priorities are different. If I was an American, I would have voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. But democracy means that everyone who is a citizen has the right (and I’d say duty) to exercise their vote.
I’m glad Asra Nomani was able to exercise her civic right, even if it was a choice different than the one I would have made.
From Asra’s opinion piece:
No, I reject Trump’s “locker room” banter, the idea of a “wall” between the United States and Mexico and a plan to “ban” Muslims. But I trust the United States and don’t buy the political hyperbole — agenda-driven identity politics of its own — that demonized Trump and his supporters.
My humble suggestion to Asra is to list out and acknowledge in a comprehensive way, the many character flaws of President Elect Trump and explicitly distance herself from those traits and statements so that there’s no confusion that her choice is about policy.
Provide us with the real clarity that her vote is not an endorsement of Trump’s character as a role model for her son. Acknowledge in no uncertain terms how flawed Trump’s character is. Acknowledge in no uncertain terms how Trump’s bluster and “locker room” talk offended. Be explicit and be clear. Then, perhaps the backlash received, will subside.
Consider this video from Scott Clifton‘s Theoretical Bullshit YouTube channel, where he lists the same flaws that I too see in President Elect Trump. Scott gives us a thought exercise as we go through the next four years of a Trump presidency.
Asra Nomani is a talented enough writer to have been able to put more nuance across. So far, I’ve not read anything explicitly distancing herself from the litany of character flaws in Donald Trump. I do wish that she would have at least issued a statement like this:
I voted for core Republican policies, such as repealing Obamacare, because it didn’t work out for a single mother like myself. I voted for the courage that the Republican party platform has on naming the dangerous ideology that is our enemy: Radical Islam. Not the Islam of the majority of my fellow Muslims in America; but the political Islam that is at war with secularism, freedom of religion and human rights.
I recognize that Obamacare’s goals were noble: to give every American access to healthcare. But absent of a single payer system, I have to opt for the pre-Obamacare status quo because that was at least, affordable. My family is one of those for whom Obamacare didn’t work out so well financially.
I wish that I could have voted for these Republican policy positions without having to vote for Donald Trump, but since Trump won the Republican party’s nomination, I had no other choice. To be clear, I would have preferred to vote for a Republican president who demonstrated a respect for the truth, for women, and for the physically disabled (to name just a few).
I would have preferred to vote for a Republican president who believed that climate change is real and that creationism should not be taught in schools.
I would have preferred to vote for a Republican president who wasn’t a constant and pathological liar.
I would have preferred to vote for a Republican president who didn’t make statements indicating that he intends to commit war crimes or that he admires authoritarian dictators.
I would have preferred to vote for a Republican president who didn’t threaten journalists with lawsuits. I was once a full time journalist myself and so I understand how wrong this was of President Elect Trump.
True, Donald Trump seems to be less beholden to the political establishment, and so my vote is somewhat a Hail Mary prayer that he’ll be immune to any influence from the likes of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other special interests. This hope will be eroded of course, if he appoints to his cabinet, the very lobbyists that he used to blast.
Yes, I voted for Trump. But mostly as a means to an end. I really voted for some Republican policy positions, and unfortunately, the flawed person that is Donald Trump, came along with the package.
Just like we need to name the enemy before we can defeat it — as I advocate with naming Radical Islam — we also need to acknowledge that Donald Trump’s conduct in this campaign has been disgusting. Addressing the elephant in the room is the first step in constructively working together to have the President Elect address these glaring flaws.
Asra, you can still make such a statement. Your non-regressive-left liberal allies are hoping that you do.