Michigan's Arab Americans Seek 'Change' With Trump

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The key battleground state of Michigan might be turning back to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who is reportedly finding new respect from its growing Arab American community.

"Many of my friends who were solidly blue Democrats are approaching me asking, 'How do we support Trump?'" Lebanese American John Akouri told The Guardian.

"People want change."

The reported support is coming even as Trump is siding with Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas and Hezbollah terrorism in the Middle East and attributable to grassroots efforts of Arab Americans for Trump and Arab Americans for a Better America, The Guardian reported.

"After almost two decades of wars and watching [the Islamic State] cause devastation in Syria and in Iraq we needed someone to come in and clean things up," Akouri told the paper. "So, I thought on a foreign policy and national level he was saying the right things. He was a breath of fresh air."

Trump, while calling for the votes of Christians and Catholics at the Believers summit Friday night, said the Republican Party is a big tent for all types of followers of God and faith.

"I thought last night, as I was speaking to this incredible group of evangelicals and a lot of others of faith," Trump told his St. Cloud, Minnesota, campaign rally in a speech that aired live and in its entirety on Newsmax and the free Newsmax2 streaming platform.

"Wow, you like that, don't you?" Trump said, pausing his story to marvel at the enthusiasm for faith. "Well, wow — that means our country is coming a long way, because you put faith back, you put religion back into our country, it's going to be a much better place, I'll tell you that."

Social conservatism is appealing to Michigan's open-minded Arab American community, especially on the issue of religious liberty.

"We plan not only not to vote for [the Democratic candidate] again, as we did in 2020," Bishara Bahbah told The Guardian.

Massad Boulos and Bahbah combined to establish the Arab Americans for a Better America PAC in May, according to The Guardian, hoping Trump helps "put an immediate end to the war in Gaza."

Detroit, which boasts a large Arab American community, is an important battleground in the state and GOP conservatism has its appeal.

"Arab Americans have common things with the Democrats and common things with Republicans," Dr. Yahya Basha, a Detroit Arab American community leader, told The Guardian.

"We have a lot of Middle Eastern Christians, and Muslims. For family issues, they lean with Republicans. It's a very diverse community."

Also, as The Guardian admitted, Trump's own family has Middle Eastern diversity at its core. Tiffany Trump's husband is Michael Boulos, the son of Lebanese American billionaire Massad Boulos, and Ivanka Trump's husband Jared Kushner is Jewish.

And Trump lawyer Alina Habba is the daughter of Iraqi Chaldean immigrants and "proud first-generation Arab American," she said at the Republican National Convention earlier this month.

Two Arab Americans served in Trump's Cabinet: former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper (his father's family immigrated from Lebanon) and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar (whose family also came from Lebanon).

Biden's Cabinet has no Arab American representation, The Guardian noted.

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