During an election meeting for Donald Trump’s campaign in the state of Michigan, at the end of last October, and a few days before the decisive day in the US elections, a number of Arab and Muslim representatives in the state took the speaker’s podium, causing a surprise that most political observers did not expect.
“Arabs support Trump” and “Muslims with Trump” were some of the slogans that were loudly raised by attendees at that election meeting, which ended the Democratic Party’s monopoly on the votes of Americans of Arab descent or those who convert to Islam.
The most prominent preacher at that election meeting, after Trump, was the Islamic preacher Bilal Al-Zuhairi, an American of Yemeni origin, and the imam of the Grand Mosque in the city of Hamtramck, Michigan, who gave a short, enthusiastic speech, in which he called on Muslim Americans to vote for Trump.
“Our voice has arrived”
Al-Zuhairi confirmed to the Al-Hurra channel correspondent that the voice of Americans of Arab descent played a decisive role in determining the outcome of the recent elections. He believes that we should not only look at Arab Americans, but also at American Muslims who have had an increasing social role, whose participation in the elections has translated into important electoral weight.
Al-Zuhairi said that the election results “stirred the stagnant waters,” and that the voice of American Muslims had arrived, and this is exactly what he wanted to do, through the remarkable political stance that supported Trump, which had an impact on the outcome of the elections.
In response to the criticism he faced after announcing his political position, Al-Zuhairi said that most of it relied on “the language of treason,” in reference to abandoning traditional support for the Democratic Party, and that his political position gave American Muslims “a place in history.”
Al-Zuhairi explained that American Muslims decided to support Trump because he decided to support them on a number of issues, which they consider important. He added that this support came after agreeing with Trump on 5 points that were announced during a meeting that included representatives of Muslims in the United States and a group of imams.
The five points include working hard to stop the war in the Middle East, especially in Gaza, and also in Ukraine, and preserving the identity of Muslim children in schools and educational curricula. These points also included the inclusion of a number of Muslims in the next Trump administration, and combating the phenomenon of Islamophobia.
Compatibility with many segments of American society
Al-Zuhairi believes that the Democratic Party not only failed to deal with Muslims, but also failed to deal with the rest of the minorities in American society.
Al-Zuhairi says that among Democrats there was a feeling that Arabs and Muslims’ votes were guaranteed, and that they would support them as usual in any elections, “even reluctantly,” given the negative statements made toward Muslims by some Republicans.
But the situation changed with the Republican Party’s openness to minorities and its entry into the dialogue between Arab and Muslim Americans, who were given the opportunity to express their political conditions.
In Michigan, one of the swing states whose results were decisive in determining the identity of the winner of the presidential elections, estimates indicate that Trump obtained 47% of the votes in the city of Dearborn, compared to 28% for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Compared to the results of the 2020 elections, when Arab and Muslim Americans provided significant support to the Democrats, Biden won about 75% of the votes in Dearborn, and Trump was unable to obtain more than approximately 25%.
This major shift is due to the agreement in political positions between Arab and American Muslims on the one hand, and the American conservative public on the other hand. Al-Zuhairi confirms this by saying that there is consensus with conservatives in the United States about supporting family values, “protecting children in schools, and preserving their nature and psychological structure.”
However, the major shift in the position of Arab and Muslim Americans in the state of Michigan did not prevent Democratic candidates of Arab origin, such as Rashida Tlaib, from maintaining her seat in the House of Representatives and winning again in her electoral district, which is considered a stronghold for the Democrats.
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