On Sunday, President-elect Trump announced his selection of Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos as his senior advisor for Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. This appointment has garnered significant attention from media outlets both within and outside the United States, including in the Arab world and in Boulos’ homeland, Lebanon.

Trump wrote on his social network, “Truth Social”, “I am pleased to announce that Massad Boulos will serve as the president’s senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs”, describing the Lebanese billionaire as a “skilled lawyer and a respected leader in the business world, with extensive international experience.”

Trump noted that the new advisor is a “staunch supporter of Republican and conservative values”, highlighting his active role in renewing “tremendous alliances” with the Arab American communities.

“Massad is a deal-maker and a steadfast supporter of peace in the Middle East,” he added. “He will be a strong advocate for the United States and its interests, and I am delighted to have him on our team.”

The appointment of Boulos to this new position serves as a reward for his success in persuading a number of Arab American voters to support the Republican Party’s candidate during the election, especially in swing states like Michigan. He also influenced voting patterns in Florida and Texas, states with growing Lebanese and Arab American communities. Boulos made numerous visits to Arab and Muslim communities in the Detroit area amid the intense competition in the race for the White House between Trump and Vice President Harris.

In parallel with Trump’s campaign in the Great Lakes State, Boulos played a pivotal role in restoring relations between Republicans and Arab and Muslim communities. This culminated in an unprecedented visit by the Republican candidate in mid-October to Hamtramck, where Muslims hold the entire executive and legislative branches of government. This visit followed an endorsement by the city’s Yemeni American mayor, Amer Ghalib, in late September.

Boulos also succeeded in attracting Arab and Muslim communities in the predominantly Lebanese Dearborn area. A slight majority of votes there went to Trump, who visited a café owned by a Lebanese American businessman in Dearborn in early November. Prior to that visit, he appealed to Lebanese Americans through a message promising to bring peace to their homeland. It’s noteworthy that Trump also received the endorsement of Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi, who is also of Lebanese descent.

The most significant change occurred in cities with large Arab populations, specifically in Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Hamtramck. This shift reflects the dissatisfaction of Arab and Muslim communities with the current administration’s stance on the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon for the second consecutive year. This discontent led many Arab and Muslim Americans to turn away from Harris, compared to the 2020 presidential elections, where they overwhelmingly voted for President Biden.

In this context, Reuters reported that officials and supporters of Trump’s campaign stated that among the reasons for Trump’s victory in Michigan was Boulos’ contribution to attracting a broad segment of Arab and Muslim voters, who had largely supported Biden in the 2020 elections, but showed strong opposition to his policies regarding the Israeli aggression against Palestinians and Lebanese since the renewed Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023.

Boulos previously participated in Republican political activities as a university student, volunteering in George W. Bush’s 1994 campaign for governor of Texas. He considers this a significant milestone in his biography, as it was “his first political experience as an American”, according to various statements he made to U.S. media outlets.

Massad Boulos

Boulos: Upbringing and roots

Massad Boulos was born in 1971 in the village of Kfarakka in the Koura district of northern Lebanon to a Greek Orthodox Christian family. He left Lebanon as a young man and moved to Texas to pursue his academic studies at the University of Houston, graduating with a law degree.

Boulos hails from a well-known family in northern Lebanon, where his grandfather and father played roles in Lebanese politics. Despite moving to the United States at an early age, he maintained personal and political ties with his homeland and previously sought political positions in Lebanon.

In his hometown, Boulos’ political activities were not surprising, given his family’s long-standing political engagement. His father served as the mayor of Kfarakka until his death in 2011, and his eldest uncle was a deputy and minister. Boulos himself attempted to run for a parliamentary seat in Lebanon twice without success. But his family’s political and business connections in Lebanon significantly shaped his approach to international diplomacy and business strategies.

He developed a strong friendship with Suleiman Antoine Frangieh, the head of the Marada Movement and a former member of the Lebanese Parliament, and maintains regular contact with the Lebanese Forces Party and the Free Patriotic Movement, along with various other relationships across the Lebanese political spectrum.

A successful businessman

After graduating from the University of Houston, Boulos joined his family’s company, founded in 1926. In 1997, he moved to Africa to oversee the operations of his family’s group, “SCOA Nigeria”, valued at $1 billion and specializing in the distribution and assembly of vehicles in West Africa.

Boulos rose to become the CEO of the family company, alongside managing his own eponymous company, based in Nigeria. His company specializes in distributing and assembling motorcycles, tricycles and scooters. In addition to his companies in Nigeria, Boulos owns several businesses in the United States.

Holding Lebanese, American, French and Nigerian citizenships, Boulos is married to Ara Fazal Boulos, the daughter of another Lebanese tycoon with businesses in Africa, spanning West and Central Africa, as well as Europe and Lebanon. Boulos and his wife have four children: Faris, Michael, Oriane and Sophie.

Boulos entered Trump’s inner circle for the first time in 2019 when his son Michael was romantically involved with Trump’s youngest daughter. Trump invited him to attend private Christmas celebrations at the White House.

Michael Boulos and Tiffany Trump met during a vacation on the Greek island of Mykonos at actress Lindsay Lohan’s club, according to People Magazine. In November 2022, the couple married in a grand ceremony at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, following their engagement in the Rose Garden of the White House during Trump’s first term.