The victory of veteran socialist George Galloway in a British parliamentary special election may be a positive sign for Donald Trump's chances of victory in November.
Galloway, who is a former Labour Party MP and staunch opponent of Israel, ran a successful campaign on Thursday in Rochdale, a town with a heavily Muslim population.
The message of his campaign was absolutely unequivocal: that if elected to parliament, he would be a voice for Palestinians and the Muslim communities he will represent.
⚡️ George Galloway after winning Rochdale by-election:
— COMBATE |🇵🇷 (@upholdreality) March 1, 2024
"KEIR STARMER, THIS IS FOR GAZA!" pic.twitter.com/a1HMyFukWf
His victory also comes at the expense of the Labour Party, which is currently torn by internal divisions of its leadership's support (albeit half-hearted) for Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
So what does this have to do with Donald Trump's election chances? Conventional wisdom would suggest that although British and America are great allies, their politics run pretty much independently of one another. What's more, Galloway is a socialist firebrand who has more in common with Fidel Castro than he does with Donald Trump.
It's seems that in this election leaflet George Galloway has forgotten to mention what he'll do, if anything, for the people who live in and around Rochdale. pic.twitter.com/Nkdo7fLcGZ
— Helen (@Hells4Heroes) February 29, 2024
Much of the answer can be linked back to Tuesday's Democratic primary results in Michigan. Joe Biden, who has also provided lukewarm support for Israel, had his campaign rocked by the more than 100,000 people who voted "uncommitted" as a form of protest.
Although some of these votes will come from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, many of them will also come from the state's large Muslim population, the majority of whom are furious at Biden's handling of the crisis in the Middle East.
The result has been widely analyzed, including by left-wing media, as a disaster for the Biden campaign ahead of November's presidential election. Michigan is, of course, one of the key battleground states in the electoral college map, and Biden and the Democratic Party as a whole are heavily dependent on the support of its Muslim population to carry them to victory in key races.
"British MPs are quick to change their stance (on Palestine) due to lobbying .. Galloway has been consistent with Palestinians for over 50 years"
— Robert Carter (@Bob_cart124) February 29, 2024
A Palestinian Rochdale resident, who survived the latest Israeli onslaught on Gaza explains why she will be backing George Galloway… pic.twitter.com/lCaiNuj3LH
Most Muslims in Michigan are unlikely to switch their support to Donald Trump, who is a far greater ally of Israel than Biden himself. However, there is a serious risk that tens or even hundreds of thousands simply refuse to turn out for him in November, potentially handing the state and its 16 Electoral College votes over to Trump.
So, how does this link back to a British special election? Well, Galloway's victory was also turbocharged by Muslims who have settled in the West and feel aggrieved at its support for Israel's war on Hamas. It is, therefore, a reminder that no matter one's thoughts about immigrants from Islamic countries, Muslims represent an important voting bloc who are determined to make their voices heard.
While America's Muslim population is proportionally smaller than that of the United Kingdom, there are still over 4.5 million living in the United States. Combine that with the millions of Democrats who feel passionately about the Palestinian issue, and Joe Biden has a serious problem on his hands.
