Donald Trump became the first of the two major candidates to visit the nation’s so-called Muslim capital when he stopped at a halal cafe in Dearborn, Michigan, to court Arab-American voters.
“This is Trump country,” one guest shouted as the former president toured The Great Commoner restaurant.
Trump told reporters traveling with him that the visit was part of an effort to make progress among the Lebanese people and Muslim voters.
It was an extraordinary moment for a man still hated by many Arab-Americans for the “Muslim ban” imposed when he took office in 2016.
But the war in Gaza has upended politics in Dearborn, where the population is 55 percent Muslim.
Former President Donald Trump visited the Great Commoner restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, on Friday. He is seen here with owner Albert Abbas.
There are votes to be won in an area that has long been reliably Democratic. Many voters are hostile to Joe Biden’s support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war in Gaza, and so far unconvinced by Kamala Harris’ efforts to change the message.
The Trump campaign senses an opportunity with young voters like Ali Hamie, 21, a medical assistant who arrived early at the restaurant to reserve a spot.
He sat down to eat a burger while explaining how things had improved during Trump’s presidency, including peace in the Middle East.
‘The economy was excellent. He is a strong leader. Gas prices. I have never seen so many people in the mall before. Now, that’s how it used to be,” he said.
He sat with 21-year-old Joseph Hamed. Both said their families came from Lebanon, which has been the recipient of Israeli airstrikes in recent weeks.
Both said the region would be in safer hands under Trump than Harris.
‘What’s happening with Biden right now is that he’s given them all these billions of dollars. That won’t happen. “I don’t see Trump giving them billions and billions of dollars for war,” Hamed said.
“I see him giving billions of dollars in aid to people who are actually dying, not to Israeli forces and things like that, to keep killing children.”
Metro Detroit is home to the largest Arab-American population in the country, much of it centered in Dearborn.
Four days before the election, Trump was courting the Arab-American vote in Dearborn
They could decide the outcome of the vote in a state that went from Donald Trump in 2016 to Joe Biden in 2020.
During the Democratic primary, thousands of people stayed home rather than back Biden in a protest vote against his handling of the war in Gaza.
In a state decided by such narrow margins (just 10,000 votes in 2016), Trump is failing to win over many disaffected Arab-Americans. Maybe I just need them to not bother voting.
Which is better.
Divisions in the community were on display as Trump’s motorcade stopped in front of the historic brick facade of The Great Commoner.
Fawzy Mohamad appeared out of nowhere with a billowing white plate. “Free, free Palestine,” he chanted amid a crowd of pro-Trump onlookers.
A handful of young people across the street responded with theirs: ‘Free, free Palestine.’
Mohamad went further and shouted, ‘Fuck Trump,’ much to the dismay of the red, MAGA-crowned majority that made up the rest of the crowd.
“It’s still a free country,” Mohamad said, “isn’t it?”
Trump signed a cap and posed for selfies during the visit
Fawzy Mohamad unfurled a Palestinian flag as part of a protest in front of Trump’s visit.
Hassan Abdallah, 25, was among the supporters who came to see the former president.
He later explained to DailyMail.com that he planned to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
“If you are a true Muslim, if you have any decency, you will not vote for Kamala Harris,” he said. “You won’t vote for Trump either, because they’re both the problem.”
The visit is not the only part of the effort. Earlier in the week, Trump wrote a letter to the Lebanese American community pledging to “stop the suffering and destruction in Lebanon.”
But after Trump addressed a rally in Warren, it emerged that several Arab-American leaders had refused to meet with him. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, a Democrat who has not offered any endorsement this year, and Arab American News editor Osama Siblani said no, according to the Associated Press.
Kamal Mustafa, 57, who used to own a restaurant in the Great Commoner’s place, watched the process unfold with a wry smile.
“Only in the United States,” he said, explaining how it was a faction of Shiite businessmen from southern Lebanon that supported Trump in Dearborn. Other groups may not like Harris very much, but it would be a stretch to see them vote for the president who limited travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, separating families until the courts intervened.
‘Me? I’m right in the middle,’ he said.