What if Harris Had Won?

Would Things be Better or Worse for Jews + Israel?

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Back on my old and now deleted blog, I wrote a little piece of fiction called “538,” imagining what the world might have been like if Al Gore was called as the winner of the 2000 election. To this day, I blame Ralph Nader for every international tragedy which has befallen us.

There has also been much made of what the world might have looked like if Hillary Clinton won in 2016, likely preventing so much of the extremism and chaos we see today.

But, while I actively campaigned for Kamala Harris in 2024 and do not regret my vote, I have often wondered if her win would have made things better or worse in terms of antizionism, extremism, and the overall hellish experience for Jews in the diaspora.

While many argued at the time - and to this day - that Trump’s election was better for the U.S.-Israel relationship, I still beg to differ. And, sure, in the beginning I tried to remain hopeful that something good would come out of his second presidency.

There was the hostage deal and ceasefire, of course, likely only postponed so long due to Netanyahu using the U.S. election as a pawn. A “crackdown on campus antisemitism” at the same time Trump defunded the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, yielding lukewarm results and enraging everyone at the prospect of defunding research institutions.

I had imagined that all the other devastating damage Trump would do: defunding US AID, cutting health and science funding, spreading misinformation, trying to erase trans people, and emboldening reckless ICE crackdowns might refocus people’s attention to the horrors at home. A friend and ally said to me just this weekend, “Don’t you think they’ll eventually be distracted by the shiny new thing?”

No. Because as we were quickly reminded that nothing really mattered unless it could be blamed on the Jews. “ICE is trained by Israel!” “We don’t have healthcare because of Israel!” “My penis is small because of AIPAC!”

But then, with the start of joint operations against Iran, those of us who understood the real threat of the IRGC felt a momentary sense of hope. Maybe Trump would help take out the regime? Maybe we could free the Iranians and make not just the Middle East but the entire world a safer place? But, as usual, it all crashed and burned, making things arguably worse for everyone involved.

Naturally, the response to an extreme right-wing presidency is a left-wing backlash. We saw this in the midterms of 2018 with a House takeover and The Squad’s rise to stardom. I remember also working to help kick old white male Democrats out of the Pennsylvania legislature in favor of younger, progressive women and people of color. But back then, it wasn’t about any truly radical policy changes. It was about youthful energy, a kick in the ass, climate change action, and better healthcare.

It was not about Israel. (Well, maybe it was for Linda Sarsour and the Women’s March, but we naively thought we had bit that in the bud.)

So I have to wonder if the far left takeover would have had so much power if Harris won the presidency. Afterall, extremism leads to extremism.

But a casual poll of my Instagram followers, mostly Jews who tend to lean liberal, predominantly believe that nothing would have stopped things from getting as bad as they are.

One Harris voter wrote to me:

“I think it would have just expedited this trend, even though I voted for her. Considering she is already courting Mamdani and flirting with the “g*nocide” propaganda to stay relevant, I think it’s safe to say she would have caved to the DSA crowd a long time ago were she elected. The Iran war wouldn’t have happened but she very likely would have caved to IRGC manipulation and given them far more sanctions relief without any pushback on their proxies, ballistic missiles, or nuclear program.”

Another sees it differently:

“I think Trump winning just emboldened the antisemitism on the left. Democrats are now more willing to bend to the whims of the far left and the DSA is milking that for all it’s worth.”

I think they both make good points and the reality is that we will never know — and Jews probably would have been screwed either way.

If Harris had won, the left would have hounded her into less and less support of both Israel and the broader Jewish community. Maybe we still would have seen the rise of Mamdani and the domino effect he caused within the party, maybe not.

It’s hard to look back and predict what outcome might have been worse for the Jewish community. I mean, at least we could have had a fighting chance against measles and diarrhea lettuce. But it’s always by fire or water, as they say.

We are here and we can only look forward. I imagine it will take decades to turn this around — a future I may not live to see. But we will survive. We always have and we always will.

IN OTHER NEWS

College Dems Surprise Guest Speaker Hasan Piker!
Chef’s Kiss pick guys! Not problematic in any way for Hasan Piker to show up dressed as Chairman Mao and delivers a Mussolini/Dwight Shrute-style rant! Young Jews are rightly horrified. Sponsor JStreet thinks it’s no big deal. A streamer who raised a million for the Dems is denied entry. The right eats it up with a spoon. Remember, Hasan Piker, Mamdani, and all the other extremist DSA shit will only hurt the normal Democrats running in swing districts. Then they will tell you that they “didn’t win because they are normies.”

New York City’s Biggest Problem Continues to be Gaza
When asked how to fix all that plagues New Yorkers - from poverty and food insecurity to potholes and taxes, Mayor Zohran Mamdani told the New York Times that the real problem is Palestine. I don’t know, man, if I was a struggling business owner or food insecure parent I might beg to differ? Oh, also Mamdani wants to “arrest Netanyahu” which is not only impossible, but would only boost Bibi’s reelection prospects — which is exactly what Mamdani wants.

Positive Note: We Do Have Allies: Just Few and Far Between
This week I saw that a non-Jewish friend and ally bought Kara Jesella’s new book Feminist Antisemitism. Another non-Jewish friend wrote me to ask for a good article on the history of the Jewish people in Israel, saying “There are people I’m talking to who seem to think we just plopped all the Jewish people in Israel. It’s wildly Eurocentric and, of course, wrong. I need to know a little more about this history so I can do something besides look at them like they have lost their minds.” And, one of our most vocal and brilliant allies Van Jones has a new video about the regressive and dangerous rise of the DSA.
These people are out there, and I can only imagine what the world might look like if there were more “righteous gentiles” with balls.