This comparison will offend some of you, sorry. Also, if you are a supporter of either Trump or Hamas, maybe skip reading this.

Most sensible people are both anti-Trump and anti-Hamas. But here’s the rub: I’d wager that many people who will put a cross next to Trump on November 5th are also anti-Trump, and many Palestinians that tolerate Hamas’ leadership are anti-Hamas.

It’s just that, in both cases, the people in question cannot see a better option than to support a person or cause which many see as beyond the pale. 

Take a resident of the Gaza strip that has seen successive political leaders fail to achieve Palestinian statehood, has experienced ongoing harassment and attacks from Israeli forces, and has been subjected to settler colonisation about which they feel utterly powerless to do anything.

In some ways* a comparison can be made with a resident of Kansas City who is about to vote for Trump. Perhaps their mother worked as a dressmaker at the Donnelly Garment Company in the 60s. As they grew up they watched this and other industries leave Kansas City, with little of note replacing them. The resident has seen successive political leaders seem to flat-out ignore the lack of decent work in the city in favour of importing cheap clothes from other countries. Successive promised reforms and opportunities never seem to reach from the two coasts inland as far as Kansas City.

And here, I think, is where both the Israeli government and Kamala Harris are failing in political leadership. In different ways, both are simply continuing the trend of “look at our opponents. Aren’t they awful! You simply can’t have sympathy with them, support me/us instead.” 

What almost never seems to be asked of our two residents is: “What is it that makes you pledge your support to such a flawed political project as Hamas/Trump? How can we address your legitimate grievances with the way things are such that we remove the power base from Hamas/Trump?” Just because the answers that Hamas and Trump offer are deeply wrong and immoral, it doesn’t mean they are asking the wrong questions.

I see very little sign that either Israel or Harris have any real understanding of why their opponent can’t be decisively defeated. And whilst this is the case, just as killing successive leaders of Hamas will not make the idea of Hamas go away, even if Harris defeats Trump in a couple of weeks, some form of Trumpism will keep returning until an American political leader can provide a better answer for some of the questions Trump is asking.

So what odds for a Trumpian President after a one-term Harris, if he doesn’t win this time? And will Trump still be around? His apparent cognitive decline suggests not; in which case, should Vance be the favourite next time round? Or will a Democrat emerge that can actually grasp the nettles that have been growing for a generation or two in Kansas City (and many other places besides)?

Max H

*Obviously not in all ways.