On Monday, at a hip Arab coffee shop in Dearborn, Mich., Nihad Awad, a co-founder and the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, told me that as a Palestinian American Muslim who voted for Joe Biden in 2020, he feels “betrayed bitterly” over the administration’s position on the war in Gaza.
So he was in the Detroit area this week to support the campaign to get voters to choose “uncommitted” in Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday.
But as our conversation progressed, it became clear to me that his objective is not simply to send President Biden a message about the war and make him shift his policy, as is the aim of many I spoke with in Michigan in the past few days.
Awad wants more.
He doesn’t only want Biden to be politically corrected; he wants him politically crushed.
Persons:
Nihad Awad, Joe Biden, “, Biden, Awad, Dawud Walid, Jesus
Organizations:
Islamic Relations, Palestinian, Palestinian American Muslim, Democratic, CAIR’s
Locations:
Dearborn, Mich, Palestinian American, Gaza, Detroit, Michigan, CAIR’s Michigan