Mehdi Hasan opted not to remain at MSNBC in a reduced role after his eponymous show — The Mehdi Hasan Show — was cancelled at the left-leaning network. But Hasan has retained his influence online, where he has 1.4 million followers on X — and Hasan is using his platform to warn complacent liberals and Muslims against falling for the trope of false equivalence in the upcoming presidential election.
Hasan continues to be outspoken in protesting Israel’s conduct — and its American support — in the post-10/7 war in Gaza, asserting that American tax dollars are responsible for much of the carnage and tragic circumstances innocent Palestinians face as a result of the war.
Paid for with our taxpayer dollars https://t.co/WT3Fe84sdf
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 5, 2024
But Hasan issued a stark warning against conflating the two major American political parties, and their respective candidates for President in 2024. Hasan specifically cautions the two groups most aligned in protest against the plight of the Palestinians, urging them not to miss the forest for the trees, as the proverbial phrase has it.
No matter how much one may disagree with the Biden administration policies regarding Israel and Palestine, as Hasan vehemently does, it’s imperative, he argues, that voters don’t start to believe that Democrats and Republicans are equal offenders.
To illustrate his point, Hasan pulls out arch-conservative operative Laura Loomer‘s white supremacy-tinged quote about him, noting that Donald Trump Jr has “touted” Loomer as a potential White House Press Secretary in a second Trump term.
For folks on the left or Muslims who think there’s no difference between Dems or Republicans, or Trump & Biden, will be equally bad for minorities, this is what the woman who Don Jr has touted as Trump’s White House Press Secretary is saying about yours truly.
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 3, 2024
Totally normal. 🤷🏽♂️ pic.twitter.com/9KEJslgVOF
The News Literacy Project, an organization that promotes the goal in its name, says: “false equivalence is a cognitive bias by which events, ideas or situations are compared as if they are the same when the differences are substantial. Those differences can be either in quantity or quality. This form of flawed reasoning can sneak into conversations, and it can show up in news coverage, too.”
