In interviews with NBC News, prominent members of the "Abandon Harris" maintained they made the right decision to either not vote for Vice President Kamala Harris or cast their ballot for Donald Trump despite previously being in the Democrats' camp.
As NBC's Jillian Frankel reported, members of the movement withheld their votes from Harris primarily because of President Joe Biden's policies involving the war in Gaza and now they are hoping for the best after Trump assumes power although there is a great deal of uncertainty.
According to Uncommitted National Movement co-founder Layla Elabed, the sister of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), "There’s been many ways in which Harris chose the path of Liz Cheney and the donor class on a range of issues, and abandoning working families in places like Dearborn, who make up the people Democrats claim to be fighting for. And I think at the same time, Trump came in and fed a community that was grieving and in despair with lies and false promises.”
Bryarr Misner, who worked as a campaign manager for the Abandon Harris campaign in Pittsburgh, admitted they voted for Trump, with NBC reporting, "He said the point of the Abandon Harris campaign was to punish the Democrats for supporting Israel during its war in Gaza, which the campaigners view as a genocide, and he hopes the Trump campaign will be more willing to negotiate with group leaders."
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As Misner explained, "President Trump, he continuously came and he was in the community. While I don’t believe that he’s going to enact policies that will benefit the community, he at least showed that he was willing to show up for the community."
One leader of the movement did admit some doubts now that he has seen some of Donald Trump's Cabinet appointments.
"Farah Khan, a co-chair of the Abandon Harris campaign in Michigan, said she’s been a lifelong Democrat, but not anymore. She viewed voting against Harris as a moral issue as the war continues to unfold," telling NBC, "Anybody with their right mind would not go back to the Democrats, because they have not shown any change, and they’re going to have to work really, really hard to win their votes back."
Addressing how Trump appealed to the Muslim community, she stated, "He at least, at least came and spoke to the Muslims. He heard them and said, ‘Okay, I will finish. I will end the war in Middle East,’ even if he didn’t say, you know, a genocide, but he said he will bring peace. And that’s what the people wanted to hear, and that’s why he got the votes.”
She did express reservations over the president-elect's choice of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an ardent evangelical Christian, as ambassador to Israel, and ex-Rep Tulsi Gabbard to oversee the Department of National Intelligence (DNI).
“It is very troubling. It’s worrisome. And some of his Cabinet picks, like Tulsi Gabbard and then Mike Huckabee, have made Muslims anxious, but we still have to wait and see how things pan out, because it’s too early to say anything about Trump, and we all know that Trump only listens [to] Trump,” Khan admitted.
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