Shadee Elmasry – Election Week Interview with Robert Carter
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of protecting the election from fraud and political outcomes, as well as political reform, political climate in America and the importance of remaining patient and praying for Islam's success. They also touch on the current state of the US and Trump's war, with Trump winning the election, but the transcript does not contain any information or actions from the speaker.
AI: Summary ©
As you know, brothers and sisters, part of
our agenda at the Safina Sa'adi Nothing
But Facts live stream is the Prophet saying,
whoever is not concerned with the affairs of
the Ummah is not one of them, or
the affairs of the Muslims.
And of course, in the air and what
everyone is sort of on their mind is
the elections.
It's not specifically a necessarily 100% a
theological issue, but it is nonetheless an important
issue that affects people's daily lives, at least
the decision.
And mostly of all the Muslims in Michigan.
So we have today with us Robert Carter
from Five Pillars.
He's taken the flight from London to Michigan
to do some interviewing, to do some reporting
there.
And he's with us.
So we welcome on to the Safina Sa
'adi Nothing But Facts live stream.
Welcome Robert.
As-salamu alaykum.
Wa alaykum as-salam.
Great to speak to you again.
It's my pleasure to be here as well.
Let's dive straight into it.
So what are your findings regarding the debate?
Just like what is what are the main
questions around the debate?
I know the Michigan Muslims sort of made
waves, not all of them, but some of
their leaders in supporting Trump.
Have you found that to be a divisive
issue in Dearborn?
Yeah, there's no doubt that the debate around
how Muslims should mobilize in America is raging
here.
There is a wide variety of opinions.
And I think it's very interesting to witness
it.
It's similar to the British general election, which
also happened earlier this year, where again, we
saw Muslims mobilizing there to politically punish the
establishment amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
It was a single issue movement, which was
Muslim led, and it had quite significant impact
on the election and was one of the
main features of that election as well.
It was described by some as a kind
of pro-Gaza vote, but in reality, it
was a Muslim led anti-genocide vote, because
it was not just about pursuing the Palestinian
cause, but was actively condemning the British establishment
for literally supporting a genocide.
So there's no doubt about that.
And it seems as if that is also
happening now here in the States.
So it's impressive to see.
And it's also potentially unprecedented.
I think many Muslims, a huge chunk of
Muslims here, all agree that they need to
punish the Democrats because obviously they were in
power whilst the genocide was unfolding.
But the debate is, how is that best
achieved?
And obviously you have some Arab Americans, a
recent viral video of a Yemeni imam based
here in Michigan who publicly endorsed Trump along
with several other local religious leaders.
That is one option to punish the Democrats
by siding with Trump and the Republicans.
But it's controversial because of Trump's Islamophobic positions
and also because he's an untrustworthy character, but
also he has pursued Israel's interests as well.
So it's harder to argue that.
But from what I've seen from meeting locals
here is that probably most Muslims who want
to punish the Democrats are going to vote
for Jill Stein and the Greens.
But at the same time, it's not a
perfect position either because the Greens have some
cons as well as some pros as well.
So on genocide, on foreign policy, on breaking
the two party system, this is where the
Greens are really strong.
But the cons would be they're a smaller
party, a weaker force.
Could they ever actually achieve meaningful change?
That's highly doubtful.
And also on social issues, they're very liberal
when it comes to things like LGBT, the
trans issue.
That is contrary to the teachings of Islam,
quite frankly.
So very awkward for Muslims to get behind
the Greens in that regard.
So I don't think there's any perfect option
for Muslims.
And I think the debate can get very
heated, but that's what I'm here to witness
and to learn about and also just to
see how it plays out.
Because, of course, as the debate rages, we
will learn on Tuesday how that debate fell
and where the Muslims will vote.
And regardless of what the findings are, we
have to study it and learn and to
learn lessons for future elections as we hope
that the Muslim vote will continue to have
some kind of meaningful impact, not just here,
but also globally in the West as well.
Who else is in the third party?
Who else is running?
There's Cornel West.
Is that is that is he even on
the ballot?
I believe so.
I must admit that, you know, the the
election process is something new for me to
learn about.
I haven't heard many Muslims focusing on other
alternatives apart from potentially boycotting the vote.
So there is a chance that Muslim voter
turnout will be very, very low.
I haven't heard much talk about any additional
options other than either voting green or voting
Republican or basically not voting at all.
Those seem to be the main popular options.
But sure, I imagine that there is another
alternative.
And the other candidates you mentioned could be
on the ballot paper, but I'm not too
sure about that, to be honest with you.
Green Party, I mean, OK, let's say you
do win the presidency.
What about the Senate?
How are you going to get any?
How are you going to get any traction
for your agenda?
Wouldn't it make sense to go from the
ground up and and get a congressman in,
get a couple, maybe a senator at some
point?
Even if you were to ever win the
presidency, you wouldn't have anyone in the Congress
or the Senate to do your bidding.
Right.
So it seems to me like the approach
is questionable.
Yeah, absolutely.
Like I say, the Greens, they're not perfect.
There are no perfect options.
And I think the Greens weakest is that
similar to the Greens in the UK as
well.
It's a bit of a to be honest
with you, it's a bit of a loser's
party.
It's questionable about whether they can actually ever
achieve anything meaningful.
They they have good rhetoric.
They have good foreign policy positions.
They're very admirable, but they never particularly win
very much in their ability to make change
is highly doubtful.
So, of course, there's weaknesses there.
But I think I think it's an understandable
position because the Greens rhetoric on genocide, on
punishing the Democrats and the two party system
has been so intense.
It makes sense that many Muslims would vote
for that.
And I think that Muslims want to do
something.
So, again, the argument for not voting at
all will be a hard pill for many
American Muslims to swallow, I'm sure, because they
see the genocide.
They see kids being killed in large numbers.
They want to do something, even if it's
a bit of a useless measure, if you
like.
But they have to do something.
And if throwing their vote into Jill Stein
just to send a message to the Democrats
that if you back a genocide against Muslims,
then it will cost you politically.
If that's all they can do, then I
guess that's better than nothing.
But what I have noticed is that there
was a poll released a couple of days
ago by CAIR, the Council on American Islamic
Relations, which disappointingly appeared to show that many
Muslim Americans are still intending to vote Democrat,
possibly because old habits die hard.
That's been their natural home, I think, in
the past.
So even though there's been a year of
genocide, we may actually find that although there's
a very good effort currently underway to punish
the Democrats, the Democrats may still absorb and
keep many, many loyal Muslim voters in this
very key election.
And that is quite damning, I think, on
the American Muslim community if they're going to
do that.
If a sizable chunk of American Muslims still
vote Democrat, despite this year of genocide, that's
going to reflect very poorly on the community,
I think, if I'm being honest, going forward,
coming out of this election.
I have a couple of questions.
First of all, I want most people who
follow, who are connected to the Safina Society,
they're connected to it because of the dean.
So I want to have to give it
a deany lens through the whole thing.
All of this is its opinion.
People are trying to get to the best
possible course of action.
So just on that, the framework of this
is that it's all opinion, right?
I don't think there's anything religious about, you
know, specifically that anyone should feel that, you
know, this is a religious issue.
They have to vote one way or the
other.
It's just about whether this is a guided,
a good, beneficial decision or not.
It's all matters of opinion.
So that's just the framing right there.
Secondly, is that the one thing I did
feel that I had a strong opinion about
is that loyalty, after you've seen what your
party has done, it just seems to be
the dumbest approach to politics.
Now we're just going to stick with you
regardless, because what it does is this allows
you to ever sway these people.
You'll never walk away in any negotiation.
The one who has some degree of power
is the one who's willing to walk away
from the table.
And that's where I actually preferred.
I liked what Imam Tom had to say
in contrast to what Mahdi Hassan has to
say.
Although Mahdi Hassan has been great on the
Palestine issue and probably one of the best
debaters that the community has.
But on this point, I think he's way
off.
I know a lot of his supporters got
so sensitive about it.
I like Mahdi Hassan as a debater.
He's probably the best, right, but on political
issues.
But this loyalty thing, that's not a political
strategy for anybody.
Right.
So you're saying that the CARES survey noted
that that's still the position of most Muslims.
Is that what you're saying?
It looks like it's obviously it's just a
poll.
I think.
How many people were in the poll?
Under 2000 people, but it was a quick
poll.
And where, like just like on Twitter or
what?
I think it was probably conducted by their
their circles.
They probably have a subscription system where they
can speak to Muslims.
I'm not 100 percent sure about that.
Less than 2000 were questioned, but it was
over a short period.
It was over, I think, about a 24
hour period.
So, you know, that's a pretty good turnout
for a quick poll.
And it's it could go a different way.
But it suggests quite highly in that poll
that many Muslims will still vote Democrats.
And if that's the case, they could help
win them the election.
And I think that that would be an
appalling result.
Quite frankly, I think that I remain hopeful
that the Democrats will lose.
And I agree with you that Mehdi Hassan's
position is not one that I personally find
very honourable, to be honest with you.
And it's very hard to justify continued support
for the Democrats because they the genocide is
on their hands.
Ultimately, you can you can slam Trump as
much as you want, but he's not been
the guy in charge for the past year.
That was the Democrats and Muslims have to
politically punish them.
There's no doubt about that.
But I also find it very distasteful on
Mehdi Hassan's part, how in an interview with
the Michigan imam that backed Trump, he was
very harsh, refused to let him talk, gave
him a real grilling because ultimately he disagreed
with him on the political spectrum where he
stands.
But again, although Trump is a major Islamophobe,
he's majorly pro-Israel, he too has many,
many problems that Muslims should condemn.
I just don't feel as if Mehdi Hassan
or the liberal type of Muslim has any
right to look down their noses at someone
who is on a different end of the
spectrum, who is trying to lobby on behalf
of the Gaza issue just because they're not
voting the way that Mehdi Hassan agrees with.
I mean, the situation in America just looks
awful for Muslims.
I actually don't envy American Muslims having to
vote in this because whatever position you take,
it's not ideal.
You can be condemned in any direction you
go in.
But I think that we have to understand
that as long as you're trying to do
something, there is a logic behind it and
you're trying your best for Gaza.
We have to show a degree of respect
for that.
Yeah.
And I also, a couple of points I
want to make.
I also think that the next period of
maybe a decade and I think forever, Muslims
will always have divergent opinions on this because,
A, we're so large in number, right?
We're so vast in number.
There is no set theology to this, right?
There's no set Sharia law on this subject.
And I think our strength will be in
being able to have divergent opinions and what
that will disallow, I think it will disallow
the Muslims to ever be a single bloc
that swings elections, maybe in a pocket, like
a state, like they say Florida in 2001,
maybe Michigan in 2024, maybe.
But it does also cause Muslims to always
be relevant because there is a threat.
There is a negative.
All right.
You want to punish the Democrats.
The Republicans couldn't care less about you in
the first place.
If you boycott Democrats, you go with the
Green Party.
You don't pay any attention to Republicans.
You're irrelevant, right?
So the diversity of the community on political
issues, I think it does guarantee that you'll
be involved everywhere, but you just won't necessarily
be one unified bloc.
You need to be really small, I think,
to be a unified bloc.
And I don't think we have that.
So, but I want to ask you another
question.
Does it really, does the war on Gaza
even matter who's president in the United States?
That's a fair question to ask, right?
That's basically it.
That's why I don't agree with how Mehdi
Hassan has conducted himself.
This idea that, oh, if you don't vote
Democrat and you vote Republican, then you're some
kind of idiot or you've got it completely
wrong, because ultimately backing the Democrats is surely
the most deplorable position that anyone can take
at this juncture.
Arguably, it's way worse than anyone wanting to
back Trump.
And again, I'm not sitting here saying that
I'm a Trump supporter from Britain.
You know, I recognize that he is a
rabid supporter of Israel and that he has
pushed the Zionist agenda under his presidency as
well.
But if you're talking about the genocide and
punishment for political punishment for allowing that genocide
to happen, then surely the Democrats have to
be the target.
And I think as Muslims, like you say,
we're a minority.
It's limited how much we can achieve with
our votes, power.
We have to pick our targets selectively and
intelligently.
That's why in the UK, despite the fact
that the Conservatives were the ones in power
prior to the election, despite the fact that
Labour is the traditional home of Muslims and
that Muslims in Britain tend to lean to
the left if they are political, the Labour
Party were the ones that we could punish
significantly more so than the Conservatives because the
Labour Party relies on Muslims much more than
the Conservatives ever does.
So pushing a boycott of the Conservative Party
in Britain would have been a waste of
time, quite frankly.
I don't think they would have cared either
way.
But pushing a boycott of the Labour Party
was and did have a significant impact and
really rattled cages and showed that British Muslims
are not going to be treated like a
doormat when it comes to the issue of
Gaza.
In fact, they actually sent major shockwaves right
up to number 10 and to Westminster.
We actually succeeded in achieving some.
There are five pro-Gaza independent MPs that
were elected in key seats that the Labour
Party was hoping to win in order to
further their majority hold on government.
So, again, that's an example arguably of a
targeted campaign which achieved some successes and sent
the right message to the British establishment.
And that's what I urge American Muslims to
try to do.
But I really just do not accept the
Mehdi Hassan position because it was similar to
the position of British Muslims who remained loyal
to the Labour Party, even though the leader
of the Labour Party is a notorious supporter
of Israel as well.
And they were going against the community's efforts
to push a boycott campaign.
So I think whatever you decide to do,
hopefully that is the bottom line here is
punishing the Democrats is a simple goal.
It's a realistic goal.
It's one that can be achieved.
But obviously not with the likes of Mehdi
Hassan if he's going to lead the way.
You know, what set me off is when
he responded to Imam Tom, the arrogance of
these liberal Democrat, Democratic leaning people, whether they're
from journalism or academia, they are just so
arrogant.
Right.
It sets you off.
And that's really what set me off on
everything up to that point that he said
on Gaza and Palestine was great.
I loved it.
I see his shorts coming up every night
when I get home.
And I turn the TV on.
I see his shorts coming up.
He's great.
But the arrogance, right, talking down on everybody
like that.
So but that's the that's the quality.
And that's what set me off from these
liberal types from 15 years ago.
Like, I cannot even stand coming near them
or listening to a word that comes out
of their arrogant mouths.
That's number one.
Number two.
We all have been saying the right doesn't
care about Muslims.
There's no point in interacting with them.
Right.
Then you got Donald Trump going into Michigan.
Three, four times.
And we know his father, his daughter's father
in law is now a Lebanese Christian, and
he helped facilitate these things.
Right.
A lot of Lebanese in Michigan.
But he had, I guess you could say,
the gall to go there after all of
what he said about Muslims.
I'm telling you, the guy relies upon the
short term memory of people.
And the gullibility of some community leaders.
And he goes in there and one guy
says, I don't know if you saw this
clip.
What do you have to say to the
Muslim community?
We love you.
Right.
What are you going to do about this
war?
We're going to end it.
Right.
We want peace.
Why didn't the Democrats do this?
Why didn't Kamala go there?
And it's almost like they're trying to be
consistent where Trump is almost like this postmodern
type where nothing matters except this feelings at
this moment in time.
No consistency matters.
Right.
And he was able to get these people
to stand up there and be pro and
give a pro Trump rally basically in Michigan.
So he went three, four times, according to
what I know.
Some of it was publicized and some of
it wasn't.
But he went three, four times and he
had his guy working, his whatever, new family
member.
Why did Democrats completely drop the ball on
this?
Why didn't they go number one?
And then when they did send in Clinton,
oh, my gosh, they're where are they?
He totally basically shot them in the foot.
What are your thoughts on how the Democrats
just never even tried?
Whereas Trump, the obvious he's got a laundry
list of anti Muslim things that he said,
has the gall and the nerve to go
out there and just say the opposite things
and things we all know is not true.
It's just incompetence from the parasite.
It could be.
I mean, obviously, I don't know Harris personally.
I've only seen her interviews, but she comes
across as the kind of typical, fake, dishonest,
establishment backed mainstream politician that we've had many
times in the past.
And, you know, I think that they're they're
perhaps she comes from a political line of
thinking where they just can't think outside of
the box.
They're kind of restricted.
Everything has to be scripted.
Everything has to be by this kind of
traditional playbook that politicians have always gone by
in the past.
Trump, for whatever his many faults, he is
an outsider.
He's from a business background, wasn't a polished
politician with a big political career prior to
becoming president.
And one of his strengths is he speaks
off the cuff, speaks unscripted.
He comes and meets you and shakes your
hand.
And he's trying to use that to his
benefit this time around.
And it actually appears to be winning over
some Muslims, although it's a minority.
There are there are videos going around during
his trips here in Dearborn and elsewhere in
Michigan where Muslims appear to be reacting relatively
positively to his, you know, behind closed door
promises to deescalate and to move away from
war.
So, you know, I think Trump knows how
to read a room.
He knows how to exploit weaknesses, especially when
he's dealing with 2D caricature, fake style politicians
who don't know how to talk publicly.
They're not very good at public speaking.
And they have to kind of pretend to
be what Trump is, which is good people,
an entertainer, a good public speaker, at least
an entertaining public speaker, if not a good
speaker and a bit more genuine.
So perhaps that's why I think that they're
rigid in how they can campaign the Democrats.
And that's what's now against against them.
But that's something we've seen many times in
the past.
And they just can't seem to break away
from that, can they?
I have to say, like, I want to
ask this question.
Are we sort of overestimating our Muslims, overestimating
their relevance in the whole in the whole
thing?
Possibly.
That's what I'm interested to see play out
on Tuesday.
I don't think I'll be here long enough
or have the experience of the, you know,
the Muslim community in this country in the
short time I'm here to kind of give
you an answer on that.
Quite possibly it is.
But we will see on Tuesday how it
plays out.
And I think that because of the significance
of swing states in the election system here,
I think the Muslims do have a significant
ability to create some kind of upset in
the American political system.
And I hope that it happens this time
around, even if it means Trump having to
come away as the winner.
As long as the Democrats are punished, are
humiliated, that will send the right message, at
least from the Muslim community.
The American political establishment, this two-party system,
is not good for the Muslims at all.
Both candidates, like you say, are very pro
-Israel.
They both have problems with how they treat
minorities.
They both have their many, many flaws.
But as Muslims, we have to show that
we are a force to be reckoned with
as well.
And one thing which in general I am
encouraged by as a kind of Westerner and
a Muslim from the UK, is that the
Muslim vote in the Western world, the white
Western world, appears to be growing in significance
and power in a way that it never
has before.
We could be witnessing the first baby steps
to what in the future, in 10, 20
years from now, could be a seriously effective
Muslim vote system, a Muslim movement that if
rallying behind certain key issues could have serious
impacts.
And I think that already the establishment is
getting a little bit scared of this.
We could see a backlash, but this is
something that we're going to have to step
up and deal with because, quite frankly, Doctor,
I don't know about you, but I'm getting
sick and tired of the way Muslims are
being treated, not just in Gaza, but also
here in the West as well.
We have so many problems.
The way we're treated is essentially like second
-class citizens in the UK.
I don't know if it's like that in
the US.
I imagine it probably is.
But we need to step up.
We need to force a change and we
need to be the moral saviour for the
West, quite frankly.
If left to its own devices, the West
is going to continue along its imperialistic agenda.
Its foreign policy is still going to be
abysmal.
It's still going to be a force for
the bad on the world stage.
I certainly say that in England.
I'm sure many Muslims would argue that in
the States.
So Muslims may be the only way to
morally save these countries by growing our community,
spreading Islam a little bit, doing a bit
of Dawa and also getting politically active and
trying to make our vote count.
I 100 percent agree with you in that
it's going to come from all angles.
It's going to come from everyday life.
It's going to come from relief work.
It's going to come from being involved in
everything, being visible in every sphere of life.
Doctor, I only have four minutes left on
my side.
So what I might do is jump in
here and just ask you for your predictions
on the election.
While I have a few minutes left, how
do you feel it will play out?
Either that or we could send you a
link, a Zoom link.
Yeah, fine.
Why don't we send you one so we're
not too jammed up?
Yeah, and then we can take 10-15
minutes.
All right, so I'll kindly send Robert a
Zoom link there and then he'll log off.
He'll log back on.
And then in the meantime, I'll just give
our viewers a little bit of an update
that there are six swing states.
You had viewers.
There are six swing states.
Wait, did I count right?
Seven.
Pennsylvania.
Georgia.
Omar, are you going to send him a
Zoom link?
OK.
Pennsylvania.
Georgia.
Michigan.
Nevada.
Arizona.
North Carolina.
And Wisconsin.
OK.
These are the swing states.
Pennsylvania is—I think if she loses Pennsylvania, Harris
has no route to victory.
I personally—I actually wanted to ask you about
another thing.
Actually, this is really important.
Did you see the video with the guy
clicking Trump many times and not being able
to click Trump?
And then he clicks it and it actually
goes to Harris.
Did you see that one?
No.
Oh, you didn't see that one.
Omar, I have to send you—you need to
show this one, Omar.
So this one was like, wait a second,
what is going on here?
And is that just a glitch?
It seems to be a little bit of
a funny glitch.
This election thing is not so difficult.
This election thing is—to make a machine that
clicks, it's not so hard.
Anyone who works in coding can do this.
But, Omar, I'm about to send you this.
Can you play this?
Because that is a little bit fishy, at
the very least.
Because— It's always talk about election fraud, isn't
it?
It's election, yeah.
It's—I think it's been like a conspiracy for
a long time.
We even talk about it here, but it
appears as if there are some genuine issues
that come up every time there's an election.
We also have issues with postal voting here
in the UK, which gets investigated.
Right-wing parties—we have a party called Reform
UK, which is a pro-Trump party headed
by Nigel Farage, who's a British right-wing
politician who's a very big fan and a
personal friend of Trump.
He pushes the same argument every election, that
vote rigging is some kind of issue.
And it seems as if there are issues.
And I'll be honest with you, I think
that the West often will never take election
processes in the Middle East or Africa.
They'll assume the worst.
They'll assume it's definitely rigged.
That part of the world is very corrupt.
Everything there is untrustworthy.
But I wonder—human nature is the same wherever
we go in the world.
I question how honest our democratic processes are.
And I wouldn't put it past our establishment,
the deep state, if you like, to rig
an American election or to rig a British
election.
Certainly, it's possible, very, very possible.
It's within the—and Omar, let's play that clip
for us, please.
OK, while you join the New Link, Omar
will play this clip for everyone to see.
And in the meantime, you've got to look
at Kamala's—Harris's route to victory requires Pennsylvania.
So the election outcome may be known very
early on East Coast time.
If she loses Pennsylvania, that's going to be
the worst possibility.
All right, here we go.
Let's take a look at this.
Two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Look at that.
Rewind that real quick.
Not to the whole thing, not the whole
thing, just that—yeah, there we go, go.
Look, he clicks it.
And what?
It goes to the opposite candidate.
That's messed up.
How is this not a huge story, right?
How is this not like—how is this not
all over every news outlet, right?
What's the second video he has, Omar?
Paper card rejected.
The guy puts his ballot in and it
got rejected.
All right, is our man back?
OK, this is what I see, and tell
me if you agree with this.
One of the first things Muslims set up
when they came to the United States, simultaneously,
they set up Masajid and they set up
conventions.
Conventions are really important.
Bring all the minds together, bring all the
people together, and you ended up with two
conventions, Isna and Ikna.
And that's human nature.
A whole bunch of conventions start, you end
up with two.
Human nature, we need to simplify.
So it's like the Coke and Pepsi of
the world, the Nike and Adidas of the
world.
You always end up with two.
Then you went to Muslim schools, Islamic schools.
Then you went now to the next institution
building was seminaries and colleges and Darulums and
those types of Sharia specialty studies.
Now, I think the next route are the
political action committees.
And I think in the next five, six,
seven, eight years, you'll have every other person
starting a political action committee.
But it'll end up in two, right?
They'll end up in two main camps, probably
one left-leaning and one right-leaning.
Alano's best.
Although I think that a real political action
committee should not have any leanings.
It should be whoever gives us the best
deal.
That's really what it should be.
But what do you think of that analysis?
You think we're headed there too?
Yeah, quite possibly.
Like you say, we tend to need to
simplify things.
And I think that maybe that's the best
way, because I think it's like calls for
reform.
I mean, right now, there's calls to change
the political system in Britain.
I think there are calls to change the
way the political system operates in the states
because of the electoral college and how that
works.
And no one's happy because those systems are
very complicated.
That's the bottom line.
And there's a lot of people who vote
but then might not be represented and things
like that.
So, yeah, absolutely.
I think that there's serious reforms that are
needed as well as all these other issues.
And it's all part of the fact that,
you know, people know what they have an
instinct and they know when the system doesn't
work.
And that's one of the things I actually
learned while I was here, to be honest
with you, is that speaking to most Americans
about the political system here, no one's particularly
happy with it.
And I think that that speaks volumes because
we talk about how to vote, who to
back, changing allegiances.
But if the system itself no one's happy
with, then it's all a bit of a
waste of time, really, isn't it?
And I think that there are we know
that the system, there's a lot of money
involved.
There's questions about in Britain, for example, there's
even questions about whether the two main parties,
Labour or the Conservatives, are even fundamentally different.
They're ultimately they have the same bottom line
agenda and the same worldview about how they
run the British economy.
Some minor differences which they communicate to you
during election time about taxes or where their
spending will go.
But ultimately, they are the same.
It's the same side, two sides of the
same coin.
There's no meaningful change.
And I think that that ultimately is the
bottom line issue here is that the concept
of Western democracy, whatever form it takes, it's
not pleasing anyone and it's lacking in credibility.
And I think that when will this change?
Because as we know, again, in human history,
systems break, they fall down, they get reformed
and they come to an end.
How it will end and when it will
change and in what form will it take
a change would be very interesting to see.
But it seems like we're going into very
authoritarian times now.
And I think that the war on Gaza,
the way that the situation is being dealt
with in Ukraine as well, and how the
deep state may be acting, it seems like
we're going into a very authoritarian times and
that people are willing to abandon some of
their freedoms and their rights in order to
kind of based on arguments of, oh, well,
we just need to trust in the state
to rule us.
And I worry very much, though, definitely about
the future in that regard.
Politicians tend to be followers.
They have to follow public opinion to a
degree, lobbies to a degree, corporations to a
degree.
They have to follow.
Now, military complex, they end up having to
follow more so than effect a serious change,
right?
A serious change has to come from the
ground up, cultural changes.
And so politics runs, as they say, downstream
from culture.
Wherever the culture is, the politician has to
reflect that.
And wherever the lobby is, wherever the money
is, the politician has to reflect.
So politicians are actually followers.
If anything, the election is not where we're
headed.
It's just a barometer of where we've been
culturally and socially and lobbying, lobbying work, et
cetera.
All right.
What do you have to ask for me
as you're reporting on Americans here?
Yeah, I guess I just wanted to know
about your views on the split.
We discussed it a little bit already.
This split.
How do you think the Muslims are actually
going to vote?
How should they vote, in your opinion?
I really don't have.
I just I only felt strongly about one
thing, which is to punish the Democrats.
I felt like if you're going to vote
Democrat after all that's happened, right, then you
are a lackey.
You are a doormat.
Nothing you ever say will ever matter again.
You're like an abused wife.
Now, I have friends who work in the
Democratic system and they say, hold on a
second.
No, we got a lot of people in
place in the Democrats have allowed a lot
of people in place in different important positions
who are able to help Muslims in different
ways, which you guys don't see.
And it doesn't really make and that's what
we'd be losing.
So it's not like we like Harris or
we're just loyalists.
We have a lot in the infrastructure as
it is.
And we'd lose all that and we'd have
zero in the Republican White House.
I said to them, I totally get that,
but there's no visual there.
You can't convince people like how how can
you message that to the people?
How can you tell people we got 35
guys in important positions that can help that
can mitigate things at the very local and
individual and minor levels that you'd lose.
If you could communicate that, maybe you'd communicate
your point better.
Right.
But that's their argument.
The argument on the left side is on
the Democratic side is that we got all
these people in these positions.
The Democrats let us.
They give us some sway.
They give us some room.
And that's and we're trying to build this
out.
And that's why they're staying loyal to their
party.
Right.
So it's not 100 percent of blind loyalty.
But my argument counter that is that how
are you going to show this to people?
It's not something that the genocide is right
there in front of us.
What you're saying is not something that you
can package and place in front of everyone
and convince them to stick with the party
for that reason.
So that's their argument.
And I felt like it's very hard to
communicate that.
So the easy argument is that the counter
argument to that is that, all right, they
gave you these positions, but they don't really
care about your actual opinions on these matters.
So that's why they're going to end up
being punished.
So that's the only strong opinion that I
felt like that I have on this on
this election is that this you can't let
somebody can't give a pass to anybody who
allows this genocide to go on.
But then again, it's almost like you're ping
ponging back and forth.
Then again, no one is stopping Netanyahu.
Nobody could.
The Democrats can't.
The whole country.
You guys, you heard of Pastor Wiles.
I think his name is Rick Wiles.
I love this guy.
Right.
This guy says you want to know who's
in control in any nation.
Who can't you criticize?
Right.
You cannot criticize.
You can criticize Democrats all day long, criticize
Republicans.
You can make fun of the president, criticize
him all day long, no matter who the
president is.
It's one group you can't criticize.
Zionist lobby on both sides, Republican and Democrat.
I mean, I love this little summary.
That's a summary.
That's who's in charge.
That's why sometimes when I think about this,
I'm like, this whole thing is a moot
point because neither side is actually in charge
of what's happening over there.
If they wanted to, if they still couldn't
do it, they couldn't stop it.
I guess it's a very negative opinion, but
it's the most practical one.
Neither side.
It's almost completely irrelevant what happens here.
Zionists are going to do what Zionists are
going to do.
Regardless, who do you think is going to
win?
Well, you just never know.
It's like game seven in sports.
You just never know what's going to happen.
I don't even know, to be honest with
you, like I'm open minded to the idea
that some of these machines are faulty, accidentally
on purpose or on purpose.
I'm open minded to that idea as much
as some people say that's out of the
question.
How is it out of the question when
we just saw a video of a guy
clicking his candidate and not getting it right?
How is it out of the question?
So if it was actually totally representative, I
would have to say possibly landslide.
Because when I go on social media, I
see so much, so much, you know, Trump
support all over the place and Madison Square
Garden selling out in a blue state.
Madison Square Garden, you know about it?
It's like famous arena right in Midtown Manhattan.
Yes.
So I see that all over the place.
And it's almost like 2016 all over again.
The polls saying it's neck and neck.
Yeah.
But what am I seeing?
Your eyes are seeing.
I was here in New Jersey and we're
driving in for about three minutes.
Trucks go in the opposite way.
A thousand flags on every truck.
And we're like, this is New Jersey.
And I'm looking at the license plates.
New Jersey, right?
Supposedly a blue state.
Guaranteed.
So what is it like in Ohio?
What is it like in Pennsylvania, rural Pennsylvania,
outside between Philly and Pittsburgh?
Right.
What is it like in Florida?
So what my eyes are seeing, it reminds
me of 2016.
It's going to.
And there was no like COVID.
COVID really, that's what tripped him up.
He's totally screwed up on COVID.
And and also just exhausted everybody.
So people just wanted to put in Biden,
who's just we're not going to hear about
politics for four years.
Right.
Now he's on the outside again coming in
and you're seeing the same thing as 2016.
And I told my friends in 2016 way
early.
I think I think he's actually going to
surprise a lot of you guys, because what
your eyes are seeing, you can't deny.
Again, YouTube, even they're trying to shut him
off and downgrade everything.
But the rallies, they're strong.
Harris side, you don't see that kind of
thing.
You just don't see it.
That same energy.
So that's why.
If if the I would say pretty much
I think it may be a landslide.
Right.
But you can never discount anything.
It's like going into a game seven.
Right.
It's like going in and you just you
never know what's going to happen.
On the day of, although the election, they're
trying to stop any rigging by having early,
early voting.
And that's already happening.
So in some states, at least.
And how powerful do you predict the Muslim
vote is going to be?
I think they'll probably push him over the
top in Michigan.
That's the only place anyone's ever talked.
Well, why don't we ask this?
Where is he going?
Right.
Where where are they going?
They sent Clinton to Michigan, so they know
Michigan's important.
Right.
Which is ridiculous to pull a guy off
the bench who hasn't played politics in how
many years in any significant way and then
put him in the most important swing state
that you got that you're just losing.
Right.
And you're going to send this guy who
hasn't played politics in years.
You guys are the New York Jets.
The Democrats are the New York Jets of
politics like that move particularly.
You know, the New York Jets in American
football.
These you probably don't know about this.
Anything they touch goes to the garbage.
You give them the best roster, they'll put
in the garbage.
Whatever they do, they'll screw it up.
And I felt like that was their New
York Jets moment.
Send it trotting out all Bill Clinton out
of the nursing home to give boomer talk.
I mean, he's total boomer on how much
Hamas is guilty.
Right.
For are you like, what are you guys
doing?
So that was their New York Jets moment.
But Michigan's got to be the the main
one because that's where they're going.
And their their polls, their their analysts are
going to know where to go.
Trump going there three, four times, sending Clinton
out there.
It's got to be Michigan that I think
they'll that the Muslims will push it over
top to the red.
Obviously, one of the things that I think
shocked so many onlookers outside of the states
was the attempted killing of Trump.
I think there was at least two attempts
made.
Yeah, it was one was very, very close.
I mean, how how was that received here?
Do you think that there is some kind
of conspiracy to to assassinate Trump by, I
don't know, the deep state?
I mean, that's how it's got.
That's what many people are wondering.
My personal feeling was that it was two
things.
Number one, it was probably something like that
because the story never adds up with this
random kid who's previously had pro-Trump sentiments
and wanted to kill both president ends up
dead.
So you can't even ask him questions.
And it was so incompetent the way he
was literally shooting from on top of this
the Secret Service headquarters or camp where they
where they put themselves.
He's literally on top of that building.
Nothing added up and it never adds up.
Right.
And then the person ends up dead.
So nobody can ask questions.
That always tells you that something fishy behind
the scenes, not some lone person acting that
way.
That's one perspective.
The second perspective is that Trump did get
himself in order and seemed to be very
pretty much no longer an X factor.
Whereas before he was a wild card.
And it seems like that's off the table
now.
I think he's just establishment.
He's always been establishment, but within establishment, a
little bit of a wild card.
But I think that that's maybe scared him
off.
And then lastly, the most important thing was
that the images that came out, you can't
discount politics is all perception and image.
The posters, the T-shirts that came out
of that, and he knew how to take
advantage of that moment to produce T-shirts
and images of him putting his first fist
in the air.
You know, a lot of people are just
gullible people, right?
They're just like, whoa, what a picture.
Right.
And they're just going to go with it.
And they're jacked and they're pumped.
It's one of the arguments against democracy.
The rule that you give an idiot to
vote.
That's the truth.
You give him that really people are just
moved so easily with emotion.
Same thing, my opinion on the jury system.
Why don't you just cancel the whole jury
system and just make it a profession for
lawyers?
Have five lawyers sit on every trial.
Lawyers are not going to be fooled by
emotion.
But he won at the end of the
day.
At every turn, no matter what happens, look
at the people.
What are they doing?
They're celebrating that.
Trump goes in and says some totally, probably
non-factual thing, like they're eating the cats,
they're eating the dogs.
And what does it turn into?
A TikTok dance craze.
Why are these people voting, right?
Why do they have the right to vote?
But that tells you where the country is.
TikTok dance craze.
To me, those are actual factors that you
got to look into because these are people
swaying a lot of other people.
Go into anything he says turns into a
TikTok dance craze.
And that's and you don't see that from
the opposite side.
So in terms of the assassination attempt, it
was a positive for him, I think, in
both ways.
He got the message.
There'll be establishment, no more wildcard stuff.
And he gets a picture out of it.
You know, that famous picture of him holding
his hand up.
That's my personal analysis of it.
I think that's pretty much it.
I mean, obviously, we're going to have to
wait and see now.
I think everyone's just waiting for the big
day.
So we will we can continue speculating.
But I think we've got still Tuesday, right?
So, yeah, two days away.
I think I'm hoping to go and see
some pro-Trump reaction next.
I've been hanging out with mostly Jill Stein
types who are backing her or people boycotting
the vote completely.
So, yeah, I'll be eye opening to see.
I think perhaps we should have another talk
before I head back to to the UK.
Yeah.
Why don't we look at it like this
exam?
OK, if if Trump wins.
Is anybody going to be happy?
Very few people in and the Muslim community,
if Harris wins.
Yeah, the loyalists will be happy.
Those are your two options.
And if it gets into, you know what?
It could get into some 2000 don't discount.
It could go into some 2001 Gore Bush
thing where.
Something contests, it's like remember, it's like in
the finals in game seven, you just never
know what's going to happen.
So there's a one percent chance that that'll
happen.
Right.
One percent chance that it'll get crazy.
Right.
And we'll see what happens.
But at the end of the day, not
going to affect Gaza in my personal opinion.
Nothing's going to change on that front.
And we're going to go back to life
as is.
And you want me to connect you with
Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad because, you know, he
is Trump supporter.
Yeah.
Yeah, please.
That'd be great.
I'd really appreciate that.
I just think that the only other thing
I've noticed here, I've just noticed that there
is a significant number of conversions to Islam
taking place.
This is something which we talk about a
lot in the UK because it's a phenomenon
which we've seen spike after Gaza.
Yeah.
I don't know if that same phenomenon is
happening here.
But I was in an Uber yesterday and
I met a Mexican who converted to Islam.
I visited a stall where there was some
pro-Palestine activists handing out leaflets and there
were two converts there.
So this seems to me like a phenomenon
that is happening in the States as well.
And if we can't achieve anything politically, if
we can't change anything on the ground for
the people of Gaza, then perhaps one of
our greatest weapons is to fall on our
religion, you know, and to rely on our
religion and to keep pushing that message.
That's something which I firmly believe now, especially
from someone who comes from a very politically
active background.
Perhaps the most effective thing we can do
is remain patient, pray, do our duty as
Muslims and just invite people to Islam.
Maybe it's a long term strategy, but it
looks like it's bearing fruit already with the
sheer number of conversions that's taking place.
And it's something which really worries not just
the establishment, but the Islamophobes, the right wingers,
the nationalists, you know, that they can't understand.
They kill Muslims in large numbers.
They're at war with the Muslim world.
They invade and occupy Muslim countries, yet the
religion continues to grow no matter what they
do, even though they have a media pumping
out Islamophobic narratives.
They have politicians treating Muslims like second class
citizens.
They don't platform genuine Muslim speech in the
mainstream.
We're still growing as a community.
And subhanAllah, I think that's a miracle in
itself.
Perhaps that's our most effective strategy, if nothing
else.
That's my philosophy, and that's why we got
the soup kitchen going.
Go down to the low hanging fruit, the
people whose hearts are open, the people who
are genuine, where there's no BS.
Politics is 99.999% lies and BS
and nonsense.
And win or lose that game, whatever happens,
happens.
I'm not against people being involved in it.
Muslims should be involved in everything, but really
where the low hanging fruit is.
Go there, Allah is sending you a message.
That's why we film out of a soup
kitchen, and we're attached to the soup kitchen,
and we want this to run seven days
a week, right?
Seven days a week, soup kitchen open.
Now we're now open one day a week.
But that's really what I personally believe in,
the low hanging fruit.
Go where people's hearts are open to talk
to you, where there's no nonsense, there's no
lies, there's no BS, right?
That's where you're going to go, because those
people, from them will come future governors, future
politicians, future millionaires.
If you deal with a million poor people
in your lifetime, from them will come very
influential people just by percentages, right?
And those influential people, you touch their heart,
you touch their lives.
They know you 100%, so it's more of
a long-term cultural result that you're going
to get.
And that's what I'm comfortable doing, that's what
I do, and I wish everyone the best,
regardless of what they're, all the Muslims, regardless
of what they're, how they're trying to help,
you know, as long as it's within the
fundamentals of Islam.
I give them support.
I pray that they benefit the people and
they're successful.
So I like to take that optimistic and
clean hearted approach towards all the Muslims trying
to do different things, even in politics.
Inshallah, Inshallah.
No, I wish you all the best.
And I wish I wish everyone here in
America all the best.
And I hope that however the vote falls,
it will send the right message to the
people of Gaza, Inshallah.
Likewise.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for coming on.
I appreciate it.
All right.
God bless.
Jazakallah Khair.
Maazalama.
All right, there you have it, folks.
We'll find out Tuesday.
Omar, what do you usually do on election
night?
Watching it as if it's like the Super
Bowl or something, right?
It's like a sports match, right?
And I had to admit, you know how
much I despise the arrogance of liberals.
It's not the liberal positions only, it's the
arrogance, right?
And there used to be a time when
liberals weren't arrogant.
They were like nice people.
Then they just became so cocky, so arrogant,
so highfalutin that I despise them.
You know that the Republicans used to be
the elites, elitist and arrogant.
That's what I remember from the first George
Bush presidency.
At that time, Republicans were just like some
elitists.
And the Democrat is always going for the
working class, right?
Everything shifted.
Democrats are the most elitist, arrogant people that
when I see them talk, I can't stand
looking at them or hearing them.
And now Muslims have copied them.
And I've lost friends like this.
I'm like, I don't want to be around
you.
You're so arrogant, right?
And on top of that, you're sort of
dumb because you're treating a matter of opinion,
political opinion, as if it's like gospel truth,
right?
As if it's like Qur'an and it's
something that's, if you don't have this opinion,
you must be the dumbest person in the
world, right?
As if it's like some heresy.
But I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed watching in 2016,
that evening, all of these arrogant elitist journalists,
anchormen, whatever, on CNN squirming at the results,
that's what I enjoyed, right?
And I'm not, I'm not, I would never
be pro-Trump.
It would never happen, okay?
But I thoroughly enjoyed watching these people squirm
in their seats as they had to announce
it.
And that is likely what's going to happen
again, Tuesday.
Unless the wild card thing comes into play
and something crazy happens.
And that's basically what is possible.
I think there'll be a civil war if
that happens, to be honest.
Okay.
Let's play this out.
Civil war.
Go ahead, Omar.
I'm sorry to cut you off.
Maybe not in a literal sense, but there's
going to be a lot of, there's going
to be a lot of backlash for like,
because obviously the Republicans, they're, you can see
that they're sick and tired now, it's gotten
to like a breaking point and before they
weren't as organized as they are now.
And I think a big part of that
is X and Twitter, like formerly Twitter.
So you see like the Republicans now they're
like one body, which wasn't exactly the case
before.
There, there was more like a division between
them.
So they're organized now through X and these
platforms.
And if Trump loses, cause they're very confident,
I think that Trump's going to win, like
they're seeing the same thing that you and
I are seeing that everyone else is saying
that Trump is clearly like, he's public opinion's
leaning towards him.
And I think if he loses, right, they're
going to like, they're going to go crazy.
This is rigged.
And this, and also the way that they're
portraying it is like that this is the
last election.
That's how they portrayed it.
It's not just like, oh, you know, next
time.
No, they're saying this is the last election.
If you want your freedom, Trump must win
or else America's doomed.
Not only that this is the Republicans last
unified election.
No, one's going to unify them.
Like the way Trump, Trump, basically he came
in as a CEO of a company, basically
treated it like that.
If you disagree with me, you're out.
This is not a democratic operation here that
everyone has an opinion.
And as that's how it unified, because he
disagreed with you, you're out.
All right.
And he, and he continues to foray with
conflict against the Democrats.
The conflict fuels more loyalty.
Right.
And getting behind him even more.
But let's play this out.
Let's hypothetically say that some of these polls,
some of these machines were messed up.
And there's a lot of videos to prove
it.
We just have one, right?
Could possibly be just one, but could be
more.
How could there actually be civil strife?
Like, where would it be?
It would have to be in a certain
location where some crazy militia takes over a
civil building somewhere or a state building or
a county office or something.
Like how would the country's too big for
this, right?
It's too big for actual civil war.
Cause you know, the issue is that Republicans
have guns.
They got guns.
Okay.
How are you going to use it?
Are you going to take over like a
civil building?
Are you going to take over a state
Capitol?
Or is the state, is the state itself
going to refuse to play along?
Like one specific state that's super hardcore Trump
is going to refuse to play along.
I've been doing this for eight years now,
right?
Because you know that 2016 went around, there
was a guy on the internet.
His name was John Marks and John Marks
turned out to be, I'll tell you what
he turned out to be, but he was
playing this out.
Saying he's former military and I'm playing this
out.
What would civil war look like?
And he'd come out with a one hour
video of here's a possibility of civil strife.
Here's another possibility of civil strife.
Then finally he ran a huge event, this
humongous March and you had to sign up.
You have to put your email in.
He never showed up.
The channel got shut down the next day.
So we know he's a fed, right?
He was a fed.
I think he was a fed.
That's a, that's a predominant theory where he
was like a honey trap to see who
would show up, how many people would view
this, what are the comments like, is this
actual reality, goes to show us that the
government's probably leaps and bounds ahead of anything
that anyone else is saying.
So there will definitely be chaos, but would
the chaos ever take root in the ground
in, in, in physically, in any way, shape,
and form?
I mean, definitely rise.
I think, cause remember what happened with George
Floyd, for example, I think majority of those
people were Democrats, like pretty much like, like
a vast majority of those people that are
writing, they're Democrats and we saw a lot
of destruction and damage.
Like that was a pretty bad time.
We've never seen something like that in the
last like decades, a few decades.
And I think that it's going to be
worse than that.
Like without a doubt, if Trump is to
lose.
Yeah.
If he, if he, and especially if these
election videos come, if these videos come out,
it will definitely, definitely, there's going to be
issues, but I just trying to be trying
to think how, like what, what, yes.
Turn Yassine's mic on.
Yassine, what do you have?
Hmm.
So, it
can, the emotions of Trump supporters.
It can't go smoothly.
Yeah.
Situation like that were to happen again.
Yeah.
Well, that's a good argument.
January six already happened, right?
Yeah.
So naturally the progression is going worse.
It's the, the emotions towards Trump is not
going less.
It's increased.
Akil is saying there's this user here, a
viewer here.
No way that there's civil strife.
Yeah, I agree.
There's no way there's going to be a
civil war.
The state is way too strong, but there
will be, there will be something.
There's gotta be something.
It could be like at some very little
local pockets and it'll take two, three months
to just cool down.
The state is just too strong.
No one's yeah.
Protests like that skirmishes, like things like that
for like a month or two.
But then again, also, I really do think
that there must have been some behind the
scenes talks with so-called deep state signaling
that he's not a wild card anymore.
Don't let him have it.
That's another possibility.
I think they'll just let him have it.
He's not a wild card anymore.
Who, who is he going to stand in
front of?
Is he going to stand in front of
Israel?
No.
Is he going to stand in front of
who, who is he bothering?
What military complex is he going to bother?
Right.
I don't think he's a wild card anymore.
He's just an establishment.
It's just a different color of establishment.
We got to go to class.
Jazakumullah khairan everybody.
All right.
Ali Ahmed.
Um, go to Maliki, click QA for that.
You'll see an article right there.
Jazakumullah khairan everyone.
Subhanak Allahumma wa bihamdika nashhadu an la ilaha
illa anta.
Nastaghfiruk wa natubu ilayk wa al-asr.
Inna al-insana lafee khusr.
Illa allatheena aamanu wa aminu as-salihaatu wa
tawasu bil-haqq wa tawasu bil-sabr.
Wassalamu alaikum.