A report published by the Associated Press highlighted the growing role of Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos in swaying Arab voters in Michigan to vote for former President Trump in the upcoming presidential election. This effort is amid their strong dissatisfaction with President Biden’s policies towards the brutal Israeli war on Gaza.

While Trump visited Detroit last weekend attempting to attract Black voters, Boulos continued his meetings and communications with Arab American activists, trying to persuade them to vote for the Republican candidate in November. The Arab American vote is likely to play a decisive role, especially in swing states like Michigan.

Massad Boulos — father of Michael Boulos, the husband of Trump’s youngest daughter Tiffany — uses his connections in the Arab American community to change its leaders’ views towards Trump, relying mainly on their disappointment with Biden, whom they helped win the White House four years ago.

“Family members are fine,” The Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani told the AP. “But at the end of the day, we have to sit down with someone who’s going to be a policymaker. And knowing Trump, only Trump can sit down and talk about his policy.”

Siblani said that convincing Arab American voters that Trump is a good choice would be very difficult due to Trump’s past policies toward this community and their interests.

Commenting on this, the Associated Press said that Trump’s chances “might be limited”, as many Arab Americans still resent some of the former president’s policies, including the Muslim travel ban he imposed on several Muslim-majority countries as soon as he took office in 2017. Moreover, most Arab Americans have not gotten over some of Trump’s statements, which they consider offensive. Additionally, Trump himself has repeatedly criticized Biden for his hesitation in supporting Israel during the ongoing Israeli brutal war on Gaza.

Trump

Many of those who met Boulos, in their responses to him, referred to Trump’s statements about Arabs and Muslims, reminding him that Trump questioned the loyalty of Muslim lawmakers in Congress. Even during his current campaign, Trump criticizes Biden at times for not being supportive enough of Israel and has threatened to deport pro-Palestinian protesters whom he labels as Hamas supporters.

The Associated Press quoted Siblani as telling Boulos that “he is unable to convince Arab Americans to come to Trump’s side because Trump hasn’t offered anything substantial to the community.”

Conversely, Boulos and the Trump campaign are counting on the setback Biden experienced during the Democratic primary elections on February 27, when more than 100,000 Democratic voters chose “uncommitted” across Michigan, especially in cities with a high Arab American presence, where the “uncommitted” option prevailed over Biden. These cities include Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Hamtramck, among others.

A poll of 527 Muslim voters conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Michigan in February showed dissatisfaction with Biden. According to the polls 94 percent of the voters, surveyed after they exited polling stations, said they voted “uncommitted”, while only 4.6 percent said they voted for Biden.

Another CAIR poll showed that if the elections were held now, 40 percent of Muslim voters would prefer an unnamed “other candidate”, followed by 25 percent voting for third-party candidate Dr. Cornel West, then  Trump (13 percent), Biden (8 percent), independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. (8 percent) and Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein (7 percent).

Other polls, including a survey by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), show improving chances for Stein among Arab voters who feel there are alternatives other than just Trump and Biden. Stein visited Dearborn several times this year to meet leaders and participate in solidarity events with Gaza. She recently held talks with Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud about the possibility of him becoming her running mate, only to discover that he does not meet the age requirement of being at least 35-years-old.

As the presidential election approaches, “some Arab American donors and activists are not just urging Arab American voters not to vote for Biden or a third-party candidate, but are considering asking voters to elect Trump,” according to an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

In the latest poll conducted by the New York Times of a small sample of Muslim and Arab American voters in the states with fierce competition between Trump and Biden, the poll showed signs of “massive defections from Biden.”

Overall, Trump leads by 57 percent to 25 percent among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Muslim voters, according to the New York Times poll. Most of those stated they voted for Biden in the 2020 elections, but will not vote for him this November.

When Arab or Muslim voters who did not support Biden were asked about the most important issues concerning them, about 70 percent pointed to foreign policy or the Israeli war on Gaza.

Trump’s allies believe they can capitalize on the discord within Biden’s Democratic base over his support for Israeli aggression on Gaza, which has claimed more than 37,000 lives, according to conservative estimates.

“It’s clear that the top priority within the Arab American community is the current war in the Middle East,” Boulos said in an interview. “The question is: Who can bring peace, and who brings war?… They know the answer to that.”

For Republican Party strategists, Arabs voting for the Republican candidate is not new, but rather a return to their electoral traditions because “until 2000, they generally voted for the conservative Republican party,” according to Dominic Cadino, a specialist in Muslim and Arab American communities at the Center for Studies and Research at the University of Marseille in France. According to Cadino, “Arab Americans view some conservative American ideas positively, especially those related to defending traditional family values or economic freedom and investment without restrictions.” He noted at the same time that the September 11 attacks and the Iraq war changed their voting traditions, making them more supportive of Democrats over the past two decades.

Who is Massad Boulos?

Massad Boulos speaking in front of a group of Arab and Muslim activists in Troy two weeks ago. On his right is Dr. Yahya Basha. Seated on his left is Dr. Bishara Bahbah, national chairman of Arab Americans for Trump.

Massad Boulos was born in Lebanon and then moved to Texas shortly before attending the University of Houston and obtaining a doctor of jurisprudence degree. He is known for his calm demeanor and humility despite overseeing a billion-dollar group of companies. He actively supported Republican policies while he was a student at the university. After graduating, he joined his family’s three-generation company and became the managing director and CEO of the conglomerate SCOA Nigeria, which specializes in the assembly and distribution of motor vehicles and equipment.

Boulos has a political background in his home country, having run for a parliamentary seat in Lebanon in 2009 without success. The Lebanese businessman describes himself as a friend of Suleiman Frangieh, a main candidate for Lebanon’s vacant presidency position.

Boulos has supported Trump since his first campaign and became more directly involved after meeting Trump at a White House Christmas party in 2019. At that time, his son Michael was dating Tiffany Trump before marrying her in November 2022.

Boulos has given no recent donations, according to campaign finance records obtained by the Associated Press. But in a trip to Michigan this month, he attended what he described as a “private fundraising event” with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, (R-LA.), U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, (R-Romeo) and some Arab American Republicans.

Boulos helped in Trump’s 2020 campaign, but his role has expanded significantly since his son married Tiffany Trump, especially as Arab American dissatisfaction with Biden provided what Trump allies believe is a significant political opportunity.

“One less vote for Biden is an additional vote for Trump,” said Bishara Bahbah, chairman of the National Arab Americans for Trump group. Bahbah also said that Boulos maintains a “very close working relationship” with the group, which is independent of the Trump campaign and active in Michigan and Arizona, considered priority states.

A May meeting held in Troy included Massad and Michael Boulos as well as Richard Grenell, who was Trump’s ambassador to Germany and is a key foreign policy adviser to the former president. Approximately 40 Arab American Republican-leaning activists from across the country attended.

While Arab Americans for Trump was involved in the event, Boulos said that it had primarily been initiated by Grenell. The gathering received mixed feedback, with some attendees saying it lacked substance and failed to address their concerns regarding Trump.

“Grenell didn’t say what they would do, but he kept reminding us that when Trump was president, there was no war whatsoever and that he launched the biggest peace effort in the Middle East. But most Arabs and Muslims don’t consider the Abraham Accords a peace agreement,” said Khaled Saffuri, an Arab American political activist who was in attendance.

On June 4, Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social: “Weak Joe Biden is only now scrambling to fix the DISASTER he created in the Middle East because he’s afraid of losing the election. He is an incompetent person who chose to fund Iranian Terror with our Tax Dollars. We HAD Peace in the Middle East, and we can have it again, but it won’t be with Joe Biden in office. NO NEW WARS WHEN I WAS PRESIDENT – A FIRST IN MODERN HISTORY! NO MORE WARS. NO MORE TERROR. NO MORE CIVILIANS DYING. NONE OF THIS SHOULD EVER HAVE HAPPENED. It’s all because of Weak Biden’s INCOMPETENCE. I will fix his mess, and bring Peace to ALL Parties once again, and we’ll get it done FAST!”

Trump’s statement on Truth Social on June 4.

Trump’s statement did not go far enough and he continue to be ambiguous for multiple community leaders who met with Boulos.

The number of Arab Americans in Michigan is about 310,000, prompting Boulos and Bahbah to visit the state several times.

Bahbah launches National Arab American for Trump group

Ambassador Richard Grenell, a senior Trump aide, with Dr. Bishara Bahbah during the first in a series of meetings with Arab and Muslim Americans in Troy in May. Amb. Grenell is rumored to be Trump’s secretary of state in a new Trump administration. – Photo courtesy of Arab American for Trump

Bahbah who is furious with President Biden’s complicity in the genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza, decided to form Arab Americans for Trump. He told The Arab American News that he switched party affiliation only months ago and decided to “work relentlessly to ensure that Biden is not reelected for president in November.”

Bahbah said he wanted to send a clear message to Washington and U.S. officials that “providing unwavering and unquestioned support to Israel has its consequences at the ballot box.” Bahbah said he believes that in this presidential election and because of their significant presence in the key swing states of Michigan and Arizona, Arab and Muslim Americans have a unique opportunity to potentially determine who will win in November.

“It is not enough to abstain from voting for Biden; there is a need to actively vote for Trump to make an effective difference in both Michigan and Arizona,” Bahbah told The Arab American News.

“The community has been forthright in its demands that, in return for voting for Trump, he must call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza when elected,” Bahbah added. He said he believes that Trump, unlike Joe Biden, “will force Netanyahu’s hand and end the killing of civilians, which Trump has called for in a June 4 post on Truth Social.”

Leaders in the Arab American and Muslim communities, however, have been insistent on a clear statement from Trump regarding his position on the Israeli war on Gaza and the issue of the Muslim ban. Both Ambassador Grenell and Boulos have indicated during meetings with leaders in the community that “Trump has no Muslim-ban policy, and the issue was manipulated by the media.” They noted that what Trump called for was “heightened vetting of individuals coming to the United States from several states who happened to be Muslim,” Bahbah said.

Bahbah said he is working closely with Massad Boulos under the umbrella of Arab Americans for Trump. He said that they are working on securing a statement from Trump that addresses these concerns. They would like to organize a meeting with a group of Arab and Muslim leaders with Trump. Additionally, they would like for Trump to visit the community in Michigan and address them directly.

Arab Americans for Trump appointed Mike Hacham, a local Republican activist as their Michigan coordinator.

Hacham, a political campaign strategist with experience on both Republican and Democratic campaigns, served as the vice president of the West Warren Avenue Business Association. He is of Lebanese descent, born and raised in Dearborn.